Learn Spanish (Latin America): Curiosamente, empeoró lo de maullar.

The phrase lo de translates roughly to "the matter of" or "the thing about." When you attach it to an infinitive verb like maullar (to meow), it turns that action into a general concept or an ongoing situation. In this sentence, lo de maullar perfectly captures "the whole meowing thing" or "the meowing situation."

Why is the verb empeoró placed before the subject lo de maullar?

In Spanish, placing the subject after the verb is very common when the subject is an abstract concept or a non-living thing. With verbs that express a change in state or something happening, like empeorar (to get worse), placing the abstract subject (lo de maullar) at the end of the sentence flows much more naturally than standard English word order.

Why isn't the verb reflexive here, like se empeoró?

Unlike many verbs that require a reflexive pronoun in Spanish to show a change of state, empeorar works directly. It inherently means "to get worse" (or "to make worse") without needing a reflexive pronoun like se. You just conjugate it to match the subject, which is why it is simply empeoró.

Could I say se puso peor instead of empeoró?