Cat help.... please!? :(

[featherB 1]

Wow, loads more replies... thanks so much, everyone - any and all ideas that might help me get into the meowmonster's furry little head are much appreciated! Sorry I disappeared for a bit - was playing with the beast in question (and his brother), and then went to shower - sadly today was the first time since he moved in that my showering hasn't been overseen by my meowing friend (he's very interested in the water...), 'cos he'd passed out on the dining room table by that point.

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.

Aww... poor motherless kittens! These two were hand-reared by the lady from the shelter from the time they were two days old, so I bet she had to do the same thing... and what you've said about your cat crying from the other rooms and wanting to 'talk' does sound very much like mine! I think some our 'conversations' are actually back and forth 'come here!', 'no, you come here!', 'no, you!', etc etc, as far as he's concerned. When he first started doing it and I'd call him, he'd just meow back at me, a bit louder every time! He sometimes does come running through once we've 'answered' him and called him to tell him where we are... but just yelling back endlessly seems to be his preferred response. Actually, I did call back (in a nice voice, not a shouty/cross one) earlier 'Oi you, shut it!' when he did his yelling thing from the other end of the apartment... and he did.

He's been good this afternoon... barely any meow-athons at all, which will please my husband immensely if he's the same this evening.

[featherB 1]

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.

Did try her number earlier, but then it went to voicemail and chickened out of leaving a message (yeah, yeah, silly, I know!)... mainly because he's been SO much better this afternoon, and I don't want her worrying that her lovely kitty is unhappy! Hoping things keep improving like this... but if not, I will have to see what she thinks!

[featherB 1]

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!!

Now that first bit sounds like you could be talking about our cat! Except that yelling at him just makes him shout back louder, usually - he does seem to only respond to an in-person visit to tell him it would be nice if he'd stop bawling his head off, if he doesn't fancy coming into the bedroom to find us. Poor thing... and oh dear, yours has been doing it for four years...?!! Mmm, pleeeeease don't let ours do it nightly for four years, my husband will go insane!

Hopefully yours will turn over a new leaf when you move here.... yeah, right, that's going to happen, isn't it?! Best keep your husband away from this thread and Dr LHA's meowing reduction techniques!

[featherB 1]

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

Ooops, don't know how I missed your response earlier, sorry - and thank you!

Thinking about the neighbours... hmm, I've only properly met the girl who lives on one side of us (the people next door on the other side only moved in the other week, and we've said hello in passing but that's about it) - don't know her very well, but my husband's chatted with her a few times and she seems quite nice... nice enough, I think, that she'd mention something to us if she'd been disturbed by all the meowing (oh, he's just started again right this second.... ) rather than complain to the landlords or anything. That's a good idea, might say something to her - hopefully she'll say she's heard nothing at all, but if not... (ah, he's stopped yelling - that was quick! ) at least we can say it's (hopefully!) just while the poor meowing thing settles in and adjusts.

As for earplugs... after the first night of constant meowing (which is understandable, they only just got here!) I had a dig around the place and found the little socks/eye mask/earplugs kit that I got on my flight over here... and also managed to dig up another pair of earplugs that I'd put in my carry-on for some reason. So we were well-equipped the second night - my husband had never used earplugs before, but reported that he liked sleeping with them, regardless of the meowing situation - because they block out the noise from the air conditioning and it sounds like he's underwater. So at least he's not too put out at the need for earplugs... and it's also lucky that, even if he is getting his sleep disturbed constantly, it's his favourite of the two cats who's doing the disturbing! Like I said, he's decided this one's a deep-thinking sensitive soul, so I think he's forgiving all the nocturnal yellings on those grounds, for now!

[trailmix 77]

Well feather, this was taken a few minutes ago....I think my cat might have been reading your posts - if she starts yowling for attention I might need your address!

[featherB 1]

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

Thank you! I like the idea of being able to get him to come to us when he starts meowing in the night (we could do that right now if we'd go and get him each time... but unless he's sleepy enough to lay down with us, he'll just wander off 30 seconds later and start yelling again!)... now I just need to work out how to get him how to like treats. Seriously, since we brought them home, I've managed to get him to eat one cat treat... and that was by playing a throwing-and-catching game with it, and making him think it was something interesting he wanted to chase. He licked it a bit and then thought he might as well eat it, but hasn't shown any interest in having any more since! And it's not that he won't eat, or anything like that... he stuffs his face with the food in his bowl, so that's no problem... but doesn't seem to get the idea of food as a reward. Hmm, I'm sure he'll understand one of these days - he might just need tempting with something more exciting than a kitty treat... meanwhile, his brother will be munching through both their shares of those!

[featherB 1]

Well feather, this was taken a few minutes ago....I think my cat might have been reading your posts - if she starts yowling for attention I might need your address!

Awwwhhh! She's lovely!! (And soooo fluffy!)

I need to find my USB lead and get some pictures on here... I've taken a few, but every time I try to sneak a shot of them doing something super-cute or just posing beautifully, they then try to get the camera off me... it's that dangling wrist cord, clearly an irresistible toy that trumps whatever they might be playing with at the time!

Haha, thanks everyone, for putting up with my endless rambling about the Meowing Problem. Just want to find a way of keeping the furry monsters, the husband and the neighbours happy and sane!

[trailmix 77]

Awwwhhh! She's lovely!! (And soooo fluffy!)

How appropriate (as that is her name...fluffy!)

Look forward to you finding your cable and posting your pics!

[featherB 1]

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

Sorry Marilyn, I missed this post as well - thought I'd read them all, then just saw yours!

I read that about Siamese cats, too... but he's a tabby moggy (as will be shown by the photos I'm attempting to upload right now), though, so I don't think he gets to claim he's just a natural meower on account of his breed!

[mawilson 2,133]

Awwwhhh! She's lovely!! (And soooo fluffy!)

How appropriate (as that is her name...fluffy!)

Look forward to you finding your cable and posting your pics!

your cat!

[featherB 1]

Here... the photos don't do either of them justice (they look really grumpy in the pics, they're MUCH prettier really! ), but here they are!

This is the meowing thing himself...

And lounging on the table with his orange 'brother'...

Who, incidentally, has very big feet (and, in this photo, freaky eyes!)

... stripy tiger (with funny brown tummy)!!

Hmm, must take some more, those aren't very good!

[trailmix 77]

awww they are very cute! I can see him in the picture saying - oooo I am loving this attention, may want more photo shoots!

[Cassandra+Yuibi 0]

I can't imagine it so much being a hearing problem. We had an elderly cat (my mother had gotten her while she was pregnant with ME!) who died a couple of weeks ago. She was deaf and would make the blood curdling meows whenever she was lost, hungry, bored, etc. Anything. I also have a younger cat who was neutered a little late... and he does it when he wants a 'friend' Which is usually late at night.

Like everybody has said- it could be for a number or reasons. The most likely is that he's lonely or bored and wants your attention. If you're giving him constant attention when you're awake- then you go to bed and he's alone for hours then of course he's lonely and doesn't understand why you left!

A good example of this is two of my rabbits who like to wake me up promptly at 8am in the morning by jumping on my bed and running around. It's like "OK! You've been ignoring us for HOURS! Wake up and love us now!"

[mybackpages 0]

awwww i love tabbys. I think they look great. My grey tabby- she's not very photogenic- she's much cuter than the pic show

[Teacher 0]

He can always get to his litter box right? and his food and water? Also, even if a male is neutered he will get randy especially if there is a female cat near. Is there one in the building? Their sense of smell is very keen. There may also be a dog in the building. Does Franky try to spray and mark his territory? He may feel threatened.

Also, cats love new and different things. They get bored. Even if it's just a new cardboard box he will be intrigued and investigate. You know you may try leaving one in the next room at night right before you go to bed. It may keep him busy for a while.

Good cheap toy: Cats love those things that come off of milk jugs when you take off the lid the first time. That little plastic blue piece???

He probably just misses you. He's adorable.

Okay, so... I've done a ton of Googling to find advice on this, and am trying everything I can from what I've read... but as there are so many cat-loving VJers out there, I thought it couldn't hurt to ask here too, and see if anyone might have some tips or suggestions from personal experience.

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. One seems to have settled in perfectly, pretty much from the minute we got them home... while the other is taking a bit longer. Which is fine, and totally understandable... the only problem is that he has a tendency to meow in a blood-curdling fashion when the mood takes him, and the mood quite often takes him at 2am/4am/etc - and I'm really scared that it will disturb the neighbours (we live in an aparment, and this meowing is LOUD!) and they'll complain, or that my husband will get so sick of the yelling cat and lack of sleep that he'll say we can't keep him anymore.

Everything I've read so far basically says to ignore meowing that's being done for attention (and I'm certain that's what this is - well, that and the fact that the place is still unfamiliar to him, of course - because he does it when he happens to find himself alone somewhere in the flat, and will stop immediately and go back to being perfectly happy if one of us goes to 'find' him, or on the occasions when it occurs to him to come and 'find' us himself - he'll run meowing into the room and then be just fine when he gets to us), and to use earplugs if necessary at night. So, I've been ignoring it when he does it during the day, and it does seem to be working to an extent... each day it will happen less and less as the day goes on, and the length of time that he's meowing before he either comes to find me, or just gives up yelling, is getting less and less each time too. So that's good...

When he starts with the blood-curdling caterwauling at night, though, I'm SO worried the neighbours can hear... and as for the 'ignore the meowing to teach the cat that it won't get him attention' lesson... well, he will shut up after a bit if ignored (again, he either gets sick of waiting for us to come to him and runs in to us, having surely known full well where we were all along, or he just gets bored and stops meowing after a while), but more often than not my husband will call out to him, tell him to shut up, or get up and find him to shush him. So I'm not sure how that's helping to reinforce the 'lesson'...!

His other 'favourite' time for a big meow-fest seems to be first thing in the morning, while my husband's getting ready for work, and until maybe half an hour after he's gone, at which point he'll finally stop it for a bit (I don't mean he meows CONSTANTLY for that time, but he will stop only to start again a couple of minutes later, no matter how much ignoring he gets!)... and please don't think I want him to be quiet all the time and never make a sound (his 'brother' is pretty talkative when he wants to be, and will give a little meowy running commentary as he explores the apartment), it's just that we'd like to find a way to stop him doing the howling & caterwauling thing - he honestly sounds like we're doing something dreadful to him, when all he's really meowing about is the fact that one of us has dared to walk out of the living room and go into the bathroom or something!

Other than the problem with his overactive vocal cords, he's an absolutely perfect, amazingly lovely little cat.... I am SO glad we chose these two, and am generally in love with them. But... after all that super-long rambling... does anyone have ANY suggestions as to what else we might be able to try apart from ignoring him when he starts up with the wailing (and of course giving him plenty of attention whenever he's being quiet - I'm not suggesting I ignore him all day and night, far from it - I'm feeling bad 'cos he's getting more attention than his 'brother', just because he's being the 'problem child' right now!).... sorry for the long post, but I'd love to hear anything anyone can suggest - or just any reassurance that he WILL give it a rest eventually!

Right... I'm off to play with my lovely furry (quiet!) cats for a bit!