afaik it’s not that cats have evolved to meow at us, it’s much more simply that they notice that meowing is really effective at getting our attention, and if they happen to make other noises that catch our attention and help them get what they want, they’ll also use those noises.

like, go watch the channel “lucy and stitch”, Stitch consistently and almost exclusively makes little “eh” noises, it doesn’t have to be meows.