Hi Mary! The cat does have a setup inside to make a purring sound. There is a bit of a learning curve to the sound device in order to produce a realistic-sounding purr. The sound maker consists of what I am guessing is a ball inside of the puppet (it's inside the puppet so it can't be seen). The ball rolls back and forth across what sounds like a ribbed surface to make a purr-like noise. Here is a link to a video by Folkmanis demonstrating the sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-UlEHOqhHA. If you have any other questions regarding this item, please call us at our toll free number (866-534-6604) or email us at support@stuffedsafari.com. We do not monitor Site Jabber for questions every day so we may not see it for a few days if you post a question here. Emailing us at our support email address will get a reply much quicker. Thanks again for your business - have a great day!