Cat help.... please!? :(

[featherB 1]

call a vet?

Yeah... well he will be going to the vet (Mount Lookout!) next week, so if there is anything 'up' with him healthwise, hopefully they will find out... I really, really don't think there is anything wrong with him physically, at all, though. And neither does my very-experienced-with-cats husband... his opinion is that the cat is just much more sensitive and intelligent than the other one (who is, also in his opinion, really not that bright, and therefore not given to adjustment problems!), and will take a while to get over his new home anxiety. Sadly he's not quite so sympathetic about it at 4am when he's been woken by meowing for the third time that night. I am going to call the woman from the shelter who looked after him when he was a baby, and see if she has any idea how we can make him feel better!

[Sinergy 3]

Dr_LHA, you are a bad, bad man.

Well if you have second thoughts I have a good method of drowned cat revival:

OMG!!!!!

[featherB 1]

Thanks loads for all the replies, by the way, everyone... I'm actually sure (well, almost sure) that he will be just fine once he starts to feel totally settled here... (he's been much better today, and is SUCH a happy, affectionate, playful, etc etc etc, cat... he just likes to yell the place down on occasion!) - I'd just love to understand exactly what it is that he's yelling about, and what I can do to encourage him not to.

[Miranda&James 8]

If you know your neighbors or are comfortable with at least approaching them you might want to ask if it has been a problem, but then again if I heard a cat meowing loudly in the night I'd definitely have said something about it, so that they haven't complained could be a good sign Ignoring really is the only logical option I can think of, they aren't like a child you can reason with about behavior, so you may just have to tell your man to be patient and leave the kitty alone when he does this meowing behavior and get some earplugs! I know first hand how much cats can test your patience at night, mine would always jump on the bed and wake me up throughout the night so I tried to lock her out of the bedroom, which resulted in her ripping holes in the carpet to get in, so I put her in the bathroom, which resulted in banging on the door to get me up, so finally we wedged the door so it couldn't move! Lol, we love them but they do test our patience

[featherB 1]

Try not to ignore him too much...he does still need to feel reassured and comfortable; hopefully once he's lived with you longer it will ease somewhat. Cats do normally "talk" to you to tell you when something is wrong and it can be difficult to figure out what it is, especially when the other cat(s) seems fine.

None of our other cats (and I've had a gazillion) have ever caused such a commotion but our deaf cat wails like he's being kicked or beaten all the time...are you sure yours isn't deaf? None of our other cats have ever wailed like he does. When Frankie (the deaf one) awakens, it is especially loud. He seems frightened and patrols the house looking for someone and when he finds us or the kids then he usually stops (although he does still like to have a conversation for a while).

Cats do still tend to be nocturnal, even when always inside the house, and he could also be searching for "prey" or still getting used to his new environment. Each becomes comfortable in their own time. Frankie still awakens us with his sultry tones at 3-4am, and when he finds us he graces us with his presence including but not limited to, jumping on our chests and laying down for a good purr. He just needs a good cuddle sometimes and he also HATES closed doors; he will bang on it and wail until it's opened. He will tuck into all sinks, baskets and boxes, sleep upside down in the most unwelcome of places and LOVES the vacuum cleaner (he'll follow you and continually lay upside down for you to run the vacuum hose over his tummy).

Frankie is one of the most bizarre cats I've ever lived with, and definitely the orneriest, but it's hard not to love him.

Here's Frankie, one of our treasures:

thanks loads for replying, and.... awww, Frankie is beautiful!!

Thinking about it... I've probably made the actual meowing (the sound of it, I mean) sound worse than it is - it's just very loud and will occasionally change to a bit of a howl before he stops doing it. He has been a LOT better today - a couple of little complainy meowing sessions, then he'll either come and find me (and be fine) or I'll find him when he's stopped, and he'll be going about his business perfectly happily! I think he's just taking longer to feel properly at home (this is a big, echoey, high-ceilinged, open-plan maze... doubt he's been in a place like this before, and must be confused not to be in a little room with all the other cats... my husband thinks he's a bit of a deep thinker and is taking a while to process the whole thing!)... he was doing really well yesterday, then had a Scary Experience (I'd gone to the store for a minute, and when I came back he was waiting right at the door and bolted past me into the huge, echoey corridor... he ran around meowing in a panic and wouldn't come to me, then when he did let me catch him and bring him indoors, he pretty much refused to come near me for the rest of the night, and acted like he was terrified of me... he was a bit like that first thing this morning, but has since returned to being a cuddly, purry little thing... thank god, I thought he hated me for a while there!!) and got very freaked out... so maybe that's set him back a bit in his adjusting. He has only been here a few days, after all, and I don't blame him for being a bit confused about his new surroundings! I suppose in the night... hmm, he's used to having a ton of other cats to play around with at any time of night or day, and now he only has two pesky humans (who want to sleep at 4am) and his brother (who also quite likes sleeping at night... and in the day, too, for that matter)

About the deafness thing... I will definitely get it checked out, but I am as sure as it is possible for a non-vet to be that that isn't the case. He's incredibly alert to sounds around him, and knows his own name, will hear you calling it even if he's facing the other way... nahh, he's not deaf.

He can, however, type. He's been sitting beside my laptop as I've typed this message, and keeps climbing on the keyboard, staring at the screen and watching the letters appear! He is too funny... and right now is trying to 'catch' my (computer) mouse

[Emancipation 2]

We hand fed a litter of kittens after their mother died of rat poisoning when we were children. I think they were 3 weeks old when she died.

Our vet said they would be psychologically deficient because their mother died when they were so young. We even had to burp them by petting their backs after feedings (mum's do this by licking apparently). Anywhoo.. the cat of the litter we did keep was very strange.. he wanted VERY much to be treated as a human thank you very much.. I don't remember him crying the way you described, but I do remember him crying out and us when he was in another room and us just saying "hey we are in here" or something else back, so he'd know where we were.. he seemed to really want to "talk" that way with us.

[Emancipation 2]

Dr_LHA, you are a bad, bad man.

Well if you have second thoughts I have a good method of drowned cat revival:

Tee hee.. my brother actually tried to teach a kitten to swim when he was younger. He took it to a mud puddle and promptly drowned it by accident. My mother took the kitten wrapped it in a towel and placed it in the oven!! It worked and the little kitten did revive.. My brother promptly got a spanking!

[mybackpages 0]

The Solution in Pictures:

+ +

ooooh Doc....you are gonna be in so much trooouble when Mags gets here!

[mybackpages 0]

We adopted two cats on Monday (yay!), and they are utterly fantastic, adorable, loving little purry things. Both boys (neutered, obviously... and they're not brothers but they think they are, 'cos they were hand-reared together by a volunteer from the shelter from two days old), and they're 10/11 months old now.

Have you called the volunteer who cared for them to see if he meowed like this before or is it just the change in environment?

I wish I had an answer, but I guess he is trying to communicate something. Now if we could just figure out what it is.

[Tinker 0]

My cat does that at night sometimes, he'll start out in the living room or the kitchen and keep it up till I yell at him or he comes into my room. He's been doing it since we moved into this apt 4 years ago.

He's not deaf, and he's actually the son of the other cat we have, so he's known no one but us. He's 11 years old, but he's just stupid, I mean it.....not too bright at all Pampered kitty who thinks he's pretty and all the other animals are alwasy picking on him.

FeatherB I feel for you, but I have to admit I'm cracking up here

GOT me really worried about when I move in 8 weeks!!!! yikes, Jim might shoot him, don't want him to see what Dr LHA is posting!!

[~*Maria*~ 1]

The Solution in Pictures:

+ +

your bad ..... mags will kick yer butt

Edited August 9, 2007 by MariaDane

[rika60607 215]

If you teach your cat to come to you every time you call his name - you will be able to stop this yelling in 1 min or less, every time. Say he starts a loud night session, you call him, he shows up, you wrap him in a blanket and take him to sleep with you.

Cats love it. Problem solved.

As for how to teach them to come - give out little prizes when you called and he showed up - his favorite munchies. Just a tidbit, as a reward, not as a lunch.

Rika

[pj1959us 0]

thanks loads for replying, and.... awww, Frankie is beautiful!!

Thinking about it... I've probably made the actual meowing (the sound of it, I mean) sound worse than it is - it's just very loud and will occasionally change to a bit of a howl before he stops doing it. He has been a LOT better today - a couple of little complainy meowing sessions, then he'll either come and find me (and be fine) or I'll find him when he's stopped, and he'll be going about his business perfectly happily! I think he's just taking longer to feel properly at home (this is a big, echoey, high-ceilinged, open-plan maze... doubt he's been in a place like this before, and must be confused not to be in a little room with all the other cats... my husband thinks he's a bit of a deep thinker and is taking a while to process the whole thing!)... he was doing really well yesterday, then had a Scary Experience (I'd gone to the store for a minute, and when I came back he was waiting right at the door and bolted past me into the huge, echoey corridor... he ran around meowing in a panic and wouldn't come to me, then when he did let me catch him and bring him indoors, he pretty much refused to come near me for the rest of the night, and acted like he was terrified of me... he was a bit like that first thing this morning, but has since returned to being a cuddly, purry little thing... thank god, I thought he hated me for a while there!!) and got very freaked out... so maybe that's set him back a bit in his adjusting. He has only been here a few days, after all, and I don't blame him for being a bit confused about his new surroundings! I suppose in the night... hmm, he's used to having a ton of other cats to play around with at any time of night or day, and now he only has two pesky humans (who want to sleep at 4am) and his brother (who also quite likes sleeping at night... and in the day, too, for that matter)

About the deafness thing... I will definitely get it checked out, but I am as sure as it is possible for a non-vet to be that that isn't the case. He's incredibly alert to sounds around him, and knows his own name, will hear you calling it even if he's facing the other way... nahh, he's not deaf.

He can, however, type. He's been sitting beside my laptop as I've typed this message, and keeps climbing on the keyboard, staring at the screen and watching the letters appear! He is too funny... and right now is trying to 'catch' my (computer) mouse

Ahhhhh...okay. I bet it is just an adjustment period. They do get freaked out very easily, especially at first...new surroundings, different litter (possibly)...a whole new world. A book I read said that to help adjustment, and not overwhelm the new cat, is to keep them to a certain room until they're ready to "venture out". You do this by keeping a door ajar a bit and when they're ready to explore, they will go through it and it's a bit easier to adjust. It sounds like you may not be able to do this, so just giving the lil stinker time is probably right. Each cat has his own time of adjustment (just like immigrants to the US!). If he's responding to noise and voices, then I'm sure you're right, that he's not deaf.

If your cat becomes scared again, it sometimes helps to crouch down to the cat's level (when first in the home) and just stick your finger out as he walks nearby, or close your hand into a loose fist (not to hit him, Dr LHA! ). Allow him to approach and touch his nose to your finger or hand.

Where's the piccies????

[LuzyC 0]

Q-tips

[Marilyn. 340]

do you know what type of cat he is.... some breeds like to meow a lot for attention....

I had a Siamese cat and he would meow when he wanted attention....

It is important to know that some cat breeds are just naturally more vocal than others. These breeds include the Balinese, Burmese, Cornish rex, Japanese Bobtail, Korat, Siamese, and Tonkinese.

http://www.pets.ca/pettips/tips-43.htm