Things there should be words for, but there aren't.

[amorpha]

The noise that cats make when they stand up and sort of shake their head, or shake themselves off, after they've been sleeping or lying down for a while, or if they've gotten wet, or something got in their ear. It's harder to hear if the cat has bells or metal tags on their collar, but there's definitely a distinct noise they make-- some of it is their ears flapping, I think, but I'm not sure what the rest of it is from.

Anyone else know what we're talking about here? Can you think of a good way to transcribe the sound?

Comments

[astrophe]

I've heard that referred to as "shaking their heads until their ears rattle", in a book by Diane Duane. Something like that anyway. (The Book of Night with Moon, and To Visit the Queen, are the most realistic cat-oriented books I've ever read. Not as in being perfectly accurate, but as in I can actually believe the characters are real cats, which I have serious trouble doing with other books from the point of view of cats.)