cat[] = meow meow meow meow meow
translation[] = feedme feedme feedme feedme feedme
meow, meaning "leave me alone I am trying to sleep", and
meow, meaning "behold human, I have deigned to bless you with a gift of this deceased rodent".
That app would make a FORTUNE!
Cats are a lot about body language.
For your question I just look at the ears and the tail. When the ears go lower and/or tail starts wagging, I stop. Or when my cat moves a small distance away, sits there and stares/smiles? I stop.
I've noticed that what I interpret as a desire for petting is often some other business. Maybe the litterbox is full. Or maybe it's playtime (thinks the cat). Or something else is amiss.
It maybe sounds stupid but when I can't read my cat, I usually just ask. I say repeatedly "show me", "where", "show me", "where" etc. and slowly walk behind my cat and let it lead.
For example, if the balcony door is open and cold air is coming in (my cat doesn't like cold), my cat sometimes takes me to first to the fridge and then leads me to the balcony door. When the litterbox is full my cat takes me near it and sits there facing it, within visual/smelling range, but never very close to it. And so on, one has to connect the dots from the context, and ask the question "what is there at this location that is meaningful to the cat".
Of course sometimes I can't fix what my cat wants. Like when the Sun has moved away and the sleeping place in the chair has fallen under a shadow. So my cat tries a few times, repeating the same behaviour, but eventually gives up, either gets bored or realizes I can't or won't help.
Regarding the water: he won't drink chlorinated water. In his previous home, he developed urinary stones because they didn't figure this out. Cue a BS prescription diet sold by "vets". Nope, he just needed fresh, non-chlorinated water.
That is an extraordinary level of symbolic communication for a cat!
You meowed at your cat when you wanted to walk outside?
I'm not the parent commentator but I understood them to do it before they let the cat out. I'm pretty sure that's pretty normal for training behavior, until you step up the training and stop letting the cat out unless it meows correctly
When my cat wants something, she'll meow uselessly until we chance on what it is. When my dog wants something, she'll come to me and touch me with her paw, and I'll say "Food. Water. Walk." and she'll bark at the one she wants. It's amazing.
Cats do communicate a lot, but it's physical and sometimes subtle; eye contact, body rubbing, head butting, contextual waiting, and so on. Our cats very rarely meow unless they haven't been noticed, or, with the Norwegian, when she wants attention and she has a toy in her mouth she wants to play with - she loves playing fetch with toy mice.
When we stayed in an RV while the house was being built, I had to put my fat boy Percy into the shower stall with the doors closed while the dogs ate otherwise he would annoy them (with headbutts) into not wanting to eat. He developed a habit of going into the stall on his own and meowing when he wanted to be fed because we always put him into the shower when food would appear for the dogs.
Even in the new house, he jumps into the tub and meows the same way when he wants to be fed.
He meows a different way when he sits at the gate or at the top of the stairs, as if for permission to interact. If you don't acknowledge him, he won't hop the babygate or come down the stairs. If you do respond, he trills a happy chirp and trots along.
He developed a whine meow where he basically is saying "I need attention now." Most recently he did it because a towel fell into his water bowl and he couldn't drink out of it.
That counts as 'food, water, walk' to me.
Oskar also has various different behaviors associated with meow types for things that get him the response that he wants. But both cats are Sphynxes and they are unusually talky... I doubt I would have gotten as much from other breeds. But they do clearly communicate what they want from you once they find a way to get that to come across.
We had a couple of high IQ cats who not only knew how to communicate they were also super-social, and made it very clear to us and to visitors what they did/didn't want.
Now we have a mid-IQ cat who is quite vocal and quite good at communicating, but we have to make more of an effort than with the previous two.
They have the intelligence to communicate but it’s typically on their terms.
Also here’s an example of a cat learning to speak with language buttons: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pvgfI9P377U
cat: I AM THE NIGHT, THE DARKNESS
owner: That can't be right, he is called Mittens.
The eagles and coyotes (I live in the middle of the city, go figure) would make short work of the cat if outside. The coyotes often hang out on the front lawn, and recently left a nice "you suck, Walter" message as a pile of poo by the front door. Had a bobcat wander by not too long ago. The coyotes don't approach me, but I'm not so sure about bobcats.
A couple weeks ago a gigantic eagle cruised by me at eye level, about 10 feet away. No way I'm going to tangle with that monster, and it's easily big enough to cart off the cat. The other cats in the neighborhood are indoor cats, too.
Once there was a juvenile coyote cut in half in the front yard. I figured it was that eagle.
Another time a ginormous owl decided to sit on the porch railing, staring at me, for quite a while. Yeah, it could easily have taken the cat apart.