Cat meowing constantly for no reason

[Feneant]

Hi,

We have a cat at home... she is in her teens and currently relatively healthy. She's had hyperthyroidism for years and after spending thousands in vet bills and medication, a new food has come out that essentially cures the disease by removing iodine from kitties' diet.

One of the symptoms of hyperthyroidism is being vocal and our cat was pretty vocal but it was tolerable as she would essentially 'talk' to us, she wouldn't meow for no reason. However, since her thyroid levels are back to normal, she has become 10x more vocal and she will meow hundreds of times all day every day. And this might be the time to add that she is either fully or near to it deaf meaning she meows at the top of her lungs.

So basically, she is waking us up constantly during the night and annoying my wife at work during the day (home office). People have commented they thought we live on a farm because they hear the cat in the background. We're at our wits end- we don't want to put her down but we can't see this going on for the rest of her life.

Does anyone have any idea what we could do? Our options seem pretty limited... I thought of putting her in the basement during the night at least, but we can still hear her through the door!

Thank you

[BDSL]

Hi,

We have a cat at home... she is in her teens and currently relatively healthy. She's had hyperthyroidism for years and after spending thousands in vet bills and medication, a new food has come out that essentially cures the disease by removing iodine from kitties' diet.

One of the symptoms of hyperthyroidism is being vocal and our cat was pretty vocal but it was tolerable as she would essentially 'talk' to us, she wouldn't meow for no reason. However, since her thyroid levels are back to normal, she has become 10x more vocal and she will meow hundreds of times all day every day. And this might be the time to add that she is either fully or near to it deaf meaning she meows at the top of her lungs.

So basically, she is waking us up constantly during the night and annoying my wife at work during the day (home office). People have commented they thought we live on a farm because they hear the cat in the background. We're at our wits end- we don't want to put her down but we can't see this going on for the rest of her life.

Does anyone have any idea what we could do? Our options seem pretty limited... I thought of putting her in the basement during the night at least, but we can still hear her through the door!

Thank you

Haha....kind of reminds me of some of the crazy chinese mothers out there!!!

[Cheap Cat]

What does your vet suggest?

[Mark77]

And spending 5 minutes petting her doesn't help? Hard to know if this is an actual medical condition (ie: pain, hunger, etc.), or if it is more psychological (ie: loneliness, etc.).

Do cats meow if nobody is listening?

[gwan]

my female cat meows all the time and meows when she's alone with socks

however, she does not meow in the middle of the night and only meows very faintly to wake us up at 7 am..

maybe if you let her out that will help?

[Feneant]

The vet said it might be due to her being deaf so I would assume it's psychological because she may feel lonely or cannot see us. Thought even if we have the bedroom door opened for example she still meows. And she also does meow when she's alone, frequently she waked up from sleeping and starts crying so we have to go see her and pet her.

And GWAN, you should never let a deaf/near deaf cat go out, they can't hear danger so are at a much higher risk than a cat that can hear.

[Mark77]

The vet said it might be due to her being deaf so I would assume it's psychological because she may feel lonely or cannot see us.

Hmmm. Hate to even suggest this, but have you considered any forms of psychotropic medication for the cat? If a human presented with similar symptoms, that's probably what the doctors would end up using.

I don't know how many different brands are marketed in Canada, but certainly, your veternarian is licensed to prescribe them all (even the 'human' varieties) and you should be able to get a local pharmacist to compound proper doses for veterinary use. A trial of 2mg fluoxetine might be something to consider as a first step.

[Shaner]

Talk to your vet about trying a strong pain killer. It's possible the cat is in pain. Of the pain killers stop the meowing, then you know the poor thing was in pain the whole time.

Don't put the cat down just because it meows. You'd be putting it down because it's annoying you and not because that's what is best for the animal.

If your vet can't help you find a solution, find a new vet. Consider trying a holistic vet. Believe it or not holistic vets aren't all scams or witch doctors.

[Mark77]

Talk to your vet about trying a strong pain killer. It's possible the cat is in pain. Of the pain killers stop the meowing, then you know the poor thing was in pain the whole time.

There are other physiological signs of pain that a vet can evaluate. This is a very sloppy method of 'diagnosis', and does not have very good outcomes, either in pets or in humans. Constipation, for instance, is heavily associated with the opioid analgesia that you're suggesting.

If your leg was broken Shaner, how would you feel if the 'doctor' merely prescribed you a bottle of whiskey to be drunk nightly, instead of actually treating your broken leg?

[pmbpro]

Hi,

We have a cat at home... she is in her teens and currently relatively healthy. She's had hyperthyroidism for years and after spending thousands in vet bills and medication, a new food has come out that essentially cures the disease by removing iodine from kitties' diet.

One of the symptoms of hyperthyroidism is being vocal and our cat was pretty vocal but it was tolerable as she would essentially 'talk' to us, she wouldn't meow for no reason. However, since her thyroid levels are back to normal, she has become 10x more vocal and she will meow hundreds of times all day every day. And this might be the time to add that she is either fully or near to it deaf meaning she meows at the top of her lungs.

So basically, she is waking us up constantly during the night and annoying my wife at work during the day (home office). People have commented they thought we live on a farm because they hear the cat in the background. We're at our wits end- we don't want to put her down but we can't see this going on for the rest of her life.

Does anyone have any idea what we could do? Our options seem pretty limited... I thought of putting her in the basement during the night at least, but we can still hear her through the door!

Thank you

Wow. This was exactly what happened with my cat many years ago (she passed away in 2003 at age 17). The last 2-3 years of her life was like this. She had the thyroid issue as well and she was on meds for this for a while and I'd changed her food.

Someone mentioned the deafness and it's a good point. I'd realized she was losing her hearing because many times I'd be walking towards her from behind, intending to just walk by her to get somewhere and she'd "jump" very slightly, as if startled. She never used to do that before.

Her "howling" was especially apparent at night, as though she wanted to hear herself when the environment was "too quiet" or something when she was by herself…

What I ended up doing was having her sleep in my room wherever she wanted (except on my bed :)). The door would be slightly ajar if she wanted to leave to use the litter box or eat/drink. I'd relocated her litter box and food closer to my bedroom instead of all the way downstairs because if they remained too far, she'd howl and still wake me up. When they were closer, she'd come back in quickly --- no howling. At least I got some sleep that way and luckily the layout allowed for this change.
Unfortunately there wasn't much I could do about any the daytime when I was at work, but from what I'd heard from a neighbour when I'd asked, she said my cat wasn't loud or disturbing then. Nighttime was the worst. Fortunately she was fine sleeping in my room and didn't need meds.

[Shaner]

There are other physiological signs of pain that a vet can evaluate. This is a very sloppy method of 'diagnosis', and does not have very good outcomes, either in pets or in humans. Constipation, for instance, is heavily associated with the opioid analgesia that you're suggesting.

If your leg was broken Shaner, how would you feel if the 'doctor' merely prescribed you a bottle of whiskey to be drunk nightly, instead of actually treating your broken leg?

That's why I said talk to the vet about pain killers, I didn't say get the cat on pain killers. It's an idea to discuss with the vet as part of the overall treatment plan. You say there's other ways to diagnose if a cat is in pain, and while there may, that assumes that vet cares enough to do a full workup, and the OP is willing to pay for such treatment.

Your second point is dumb as you're comparing a person who can talk to describe symptoms and an animal that can't. Quite often in animals there is some trial and error when it comes to making a diagnosis. Hell, even in people there is trial and error in such things as ALS, fibromyalgia, etc. Not everything can be definitely diagnosed.

[Feneant]

A cat would usually exhibit other signs it is in pain, ours seems to meow for the sake of meowing. She is not a good vet cat, she needs to be sedated on every visit to the vet meaning she has been sedated around 15 times over the past 3-4 years which is not good for her heart. I can also mention I trust this vet office- I took her to another one in the past and they were idiots who told me they didn't want to see her again after she bit the vet through his thick glove because he refused to sedate her instead attempting to handle her by force.

There is no visible sign of pain and her last blood tests were around February where everything was tested. Results was elevated white blood cells and signs of her kidneys being harmed but getting her off her thyroid medication has brought that back to normal. Her last tests in April were clean. I've also had the vet look at her joints and there is no sign of arthritis either.

For loneliness, I am thinking of getting a cat bed or blanket and having it vibrate or make some other sort of movement (beats me how), kind like white noise. I've been going under the assumption that when we sleep or are sitting down, she cannot feel the vibration on the floor so feels like she has been abandoned. Could that help?

And yes, I know the vet can prescribe human medication, we've discussed valium in the past to help for her vet visits but agreed that it probably wouldn't be the ideal situation.

[pmbpro]

A cat would usually exhibit other signs it is in pain, ours seems to meow for the sake of meowing. She is not a good vet cat, she needs to be sedated on every visit to the vet meaning she has been sedated around 15 times over the past 3-4 years which is not good for her heart. I can also mention I trust this vet office- I took her to another one in the past and they were idiots who told me they didn't want to see her again after she bit the vet through his thick glove because he refused to sedate her instead attempting to handle her by force.

There is no visible sign of pain and her last blood tests were around February where everything was tested. Results was elevated white blood cells and signs of her kidneys being harmed but getting her off her thyroid medication has brought that back to normal. Her last tests in April were clean. I've also had the vet look at her joints and there is no sign of arthritis either.

For loneliness, I am thinking of getting a cat bed or blanket and having it vibrate or make some other sort of movement (beats me how), kind like white noise. I've been going under the assumption that when we sleep or are sitting down, she cannot feel the vibration on the floor so feels like she has been abandoned. Could that help?

And yes, I know the vet can prescribe human medication, we've discussed valium in the past to help for her vet visits but agreed that it probably wouldn't be the ideal situation.

Oh, yes the balance to be maintained with her kidneys and blood cells. Her thyroid medication affected her kidney function so we had to find a balance which had worked well for her age.

You may have a point there about adding something near her bed/blanket, and your reasoning (re abandonment & loneliness -- my cat was quite old when all this started happening at once).
My idea of having her in my room at night was for the closeness of my being there with her and it certainly worked. Perhaps a sense of "presence" could be achieved with the cat bed or blanket, with the scent of a family member or something else familiar to her. Actual "White noise" (coming intermittently from a portable speaker or something near her bed perhaps) may not actually be bad thing to add either. Something she could actually hear. Whether it's sound or movement you choose to try (or both?), maybe you can have the item(s) plugged into a timer (something basic from Canadian Tire) so it's not constant to the point of disturbing her too much when she really wants to sleep? As for something that vibrates, maybe one of those cheap massagers or something , placed next to or under her bed, but isn't too noisy? If there's a plug-in kind you can find (as opposed to the battery-operated ones you'd have to manually turn on), that would be perfect with a timer.
I really hope a good solution is found for you all without having to resort to meds. Boy do I really feel for you, your family and your cat.

[Punisher]

I thought my cat was bad!

I have a female Bengal and all her life she has meowed. Many times it drove me to my breaking point. She's 11 now and still does it in the morning usually waking us up. She does it during the day sometimes when I'm working from home. But it doesn't sound nearly as bad as yours.

I can't offer any advice but I just deal with it as best as I can as I love my cat WAY too much to get rid of her. When she comes into our bedroom in the morning meowing I throw socks at her and she usually gets the point and leaves.

[joeyjoejoe]

Try leaving some old clothes around that you don't care if it gets full of hair in places the cats likes to nap. That's what I do when I go on vacation. It's a simple way for the cat to cuddle up to your scent.

[speeeeee]

Try leaving some old clothes around that you don't care if it gets full of hair in places the cats likes to nap. That's what I do when I go on vacation. It's a simple way for the cat to cuddle up to your scent.

+1

My Cat does the same thing,,, he meows a bit but mostly just misses us...I have to keep my door closed since he will meow in the middle of the night and walk on my face :)

[shakezula]

OP, our cat had the same problems (hyperthyroid with kidney issues and constant meowing in different rooms of the house, all day/night) and we've also switched her to y/d diet since she had trouble tolerating the thyroid medication. We've also been using a food additive called Zylkene : http://www.zylkene.co.uk/whatiszylkene.asp.

While we're still having aggression problems when she interacts with the other cat, the constant meowing has stopped and she's far more sociable/less anxious. Whether that's because of the zylkene or curbing the hyperthyroidism, I'm not sure, but it might be worth looking into as it's an intermediary step before valium/prozac for cats.

[Triad]

This reminds me that i grew up in my childhood with a tiger mom, oh boy... in hindsight it was all worth it. Although I am still lazy as hell, my siblings who did not have such an opportune experience, are HS dropouts with no future prospects and never had a job in their life. This was really odd as you'd never expect this to happen.

Guess I was lucky... At the time I hated my life while siblings lollygagged around and had the time of their lives and had the newest spankiest gizmos.

Haha....kind of reminds me of some of the crazy chinese mothers out there!!!

Here is my weird coincidence that happened to me when I was in my childhood. My best friend (my pup) used to bark at what seemingly was NOTHING. 1 weird time, I brought her to the park and it started barking like crazy and thought it was normal no one was there but me and her, she resisted very hard and dragged me to the opposite side of the exit 20meters away. I told it to be quiet rather very loudly, a weird lookin' feller tapped me on the shoulder and told me you should thank your pup for she is warning you of danger and bad luck which would have befell if I took that path.
I wasn't really a believer of that stuff, I exited the park which my best friend lead me and it was literally less than 3 minutes as I had a question to ask about my dog barking at nothing constantly. When I turned around, no one was around for a radius of 15 meters fenced with only 2 exits... I was like ok...
What was weird was the very next day I went around the park, I saw the whole intersection of the other exit was blocked off... there was a crash a few mins after I exited the long way.
I went home and kissed my best friend and hi 5 it <3.

Later I found out that black dogs are more in tuned and can see spirits and stuff as well pretty neat and freaky, suffice to say, I am now an avid believer.

[mellyzeng]

i think she is calling for BF, lol

[kellymisty]

Since you said she is in her teens, have you considered feline dementia (or cds - cognitive dysfunction syndrome)? Fabcats has an informative article (http://www.fabcats.org/owners/elderly/senility.html)on it (except for some of its food recommendations!) The omega supplementation sounds pretty sensible, though.

My almost 19 year old female cat also had hyperthyroidism and does the 5:00 am yowling, but is pretty quiet during the day. We have restricted her to the main floor, relocating food/litter and bed. She has access to her "window on the world" window seat, and seems mainly content.

[RemedialChaosTheory]

Have you tried Feliway or similar products? It's a scented diffuser that emits smells similar to cat pheromones which I've read can help calm them.

Catnip and lots of play just before you go to bed might be helpful, as well as a good patch of cat grass that might keep her busy at night.

[Snickles]

Have you tried Feliway or similar products? It's a scented diffuser that emits smells similar to cat pheromones which I've read can help calm them.

Catnip and lots of play just before you go to bed might be helpful, as well as a good patch of cat grass that might keep her busy at night.

+1

Feliway seems to really calm every cat I've ever known. The smell of it just sootthes them right away.

[JordanCheng]

I dont like vocal cats, especially in the morning :S

[flafson]

Funny, i thought my cat is special. I have total of 4 cats and the older one tend which is 18 now tends to cry really loud like something happened. I'm pretty sure she does it when she's looking for attention and probably can't hear anyone cause she's going deaf. I noticed that i have to scream pretty loud around her to get her ears to turn my way and she doesn't notice people or the other cats as much as she used to. She used to hate the other cats when they would get near her. Now she can't hear them so they tend to sniff her behind alot.
Anyway, when she meows really loud, if i come to her infront of her face or touch her, she would change her tone right away meaning it's not pain, just looking for affection. We buy her all the expensive food and pretty much open a new box every time she comes to the kitchen meowing. She's very skinny now even though she eats all the time. Sometimes seems like she has a worm inside eating all the food she eats.

[kellymisty]

She's very skinny now even though she eats all the time. Sometimes seems like she has a worm inside eating all the food she eats.

Have you had her checked for hyperthyroidism? Weight loss with increased appetite is one of the symptoms.

[flafson]

Have you had her checked for hyperthyroidism? Weight loss with increased appetite is one of the symptoms.

Not really, i figured it's better for her health not to go to the vet. The last time i tried to take her to a vet she was hyper ventilating in the car until she lost her voice.
I guess i could call my mobile vet to drop by, if you think he can do something about it if he comes over without taking her somewhere.

[lostintransit]

+1 could be deaf, we inherited a deaf cat and it constantly meowed, either because that or it missed its previous owner who passed away.


Wow. This was exactly what happened with my cat many years ago (she passed away in 2003 at age 17). The last 2-3 years of her life was like this. She had the thyroid issue as well and she was on meds for this for a while and I'd changed her food.

Someone mentioned the deafness and it's a good point. I'd realized she was losing her hearing because many times I'd be walking towards her from behind, intending to just walk by her to get somewhere and she'd "jump" very slightly, as if startled. She never used to do that before.

Her "howling" was especially apparent at night, as though she wanted to hear herself when the environment was "too quiet" or something when she was by herself…

What I ended up doing was having her sleep in my room wherever she wanted (except on my bed :)). The door would be slightly ajar if she wanted to leave to use the litter box or eat/drink. I'd relocated her litter box and food closer to my bedroom instead of all the way downstairs because if they remained too far, she'd howl and still wake me up. When they were closer, she'd come back in quickly --- no howling. At least I got some sleep that way and luckily the layout allowed for this change.
Unfortunately there wasn't much I could do about any the daytime when I was at work, but from what I'd heard from a neighbour when I'd asked, she said my cat wasn't loud or disturbing then. Nighttime was the worst. Fortunately she was fine sleeping in my room and didn't need meds.

[MDarragh]

you can invent a kitty hearing aid!

[kellymisty]

I guess i could call my mobile vet to drop by, if you think he can do something about it if he comes over without taking her somewhere.

Hyperthyroidism is diagnosed with a blood test. I imagine your mobile vet could do that on site. If hyperthyroidism is diagnosed, treatment most likely (given her age) would be a daily pill or two (tapazole). There is also the food, Hill's y/d, mentioned above.