Cats meowing at night...

[andyjo1982]

We've got 2 cats, 1 M, 1 F, bother aged around 16 years old.

They stay in the house pretty much all year round unless the weather is nice and then they're allowed outside.

Anyway, over the last 6 months or so, we've began to notice they are a lot more 'vocal'. The female, meows at just about anything, if you walk past her she'll meow, if you more to stroke her, basically anything were she thinks there's a chance you'll have some sort of contact with her. The male is a lot quieter. Until its bed time, and that when we're turning off the lights and they hear the vedroom doors shut and silence, both cats begin to make a really horrible meowing noise. Its sad, but also sounds like they are in pain. When we check, they'll just be sat there like nothings happened.

Is this natural behavior? Anything we can do to stop it? Seems to be every night at the moment. There's always plenty of food and water and a clean tray left out.

Cheers

[mybrainhurts]

Evil little buggers are winding you up...

Might bring them to their senses if you give Kim Jong-Un a call...

Behold...

[Slink]

my old cat started making all sorts of noises when she was getting on a bit, whenever you touched her, when she wanted something like food or drink, or to be let out, when ever she came in from outside she would meow loads for a few mins, at night tho, she would just bag on the bedroom door to be let in, not every night, some nights it would me meow.

i think its just as they get on they make more noise.

are they slightly deaf, ive heard deaf cats make loads of noise as they cannot hear it or anything else, and dementia in cats makes them make a lot of racket too.

just something to think about

[andyjo1982]

Slink said:

my old cat started making all sorts of noises when she was getting on a bit, whenever you touched her, when she wanted something like food or drink, or to be let out, when ever she came in from outside she would meow loads for a few mins, at night tho, she would just bag on the bedroom door to be let in, not every night, some nights it would me meow.

i think its just as they get on they make more noise.

are they slightly deaf, ive heard deaf cats make loads of noise as they cannot hear it or anything else, and dementia in cats makes them make a lot of racket too.

just something to think about

I think they may be becoming a little hard of hearing. The boy cat seems ok, he's always alert when the door goes or a loud sound on tv, the girl seems to take a something fairly loud to disturb her. Could be something along those lines.

With regards to dementia type thing in cats, are there likely to be any other symptons? They both walk and run fine, they can climb up on the chairs, though the work tops are almost out of reach now for them, there soesn't appear to be any irrgularities with their eating or toilet patterns.

[Simpo Two]

andyjo1982 said:

basically anything were she thinks there's a chance you'll have some sort of contact with her... they hear the vedroom doors shut

They want attention; make a fuss of them; you can't switch cats off like a toy or shut them out of rooms they want to be in.

[bexVN]

Elderly cats commonly start to struggle with behavioural changes linked in with senility. One of the most common signs is increased vocalising. There are products that may help (natural supplements to improve brain function)

Have a look at the feline advisory bureau website. You'll info on caring for an older cat on there and it should include info on behavioural changes and the significance

[andyjo1982]

bexVN said:

Elderly cats commonly start to struggle with behavioural changes linked in with senility. One of the most common signs is increased vocalising. There are products that may help (natural supplements to improve brain function)

Have a look at the feline advisory bureau website. You'll info on caring for an older cat on there and it should include info on behavioural changes and the significance

Cheers Ben, will do.

Regards to making a fuss, they are left on their own for 8 or 9 hours a day, but we do make a fuss of them in the morning and they usually come for some fuss or sit on our lap in the evening. They've always had a few catnip type toys as well.

[CarCluster]

Older cats may lose their hearing and become more vocal - I've "heard" that somewhere too. Ours now come in through the catflap at night and have to shout as if to say they are home. Fortunately that's usually after a last "walk around the garden" just after bedtime.
Also one of our previous cats had a kidney issue which meant that toxins were building up in his body and he started to go a bit in the head and this manifested itself as being more vocal.

[BlackVanDyke]

I've got a VERY loud and yowly youngster (definitely just a domestic shorthair, absolutely no chance he's got any of the 'vocal' breeds in his recent ancestry) - we think he might have mild cerebellar hypoplasia or have had a mild brain injury as a kitten as he's also a bit wobbly and clumsy and is severely (and hilariously) lacking in feline social skills, leading to quite a few loud disagreements with my other 2 cats.

For him it really does seem to be when he's confused/anxious - he'll stand in the corridor right by my bedroom door and cry and cry, proper howling, he'll answer me if I call him but doesn't seem to know where I am - if someone (visiting district nurse most often!) then picks him up and brings him in he'll be happy as Larry, purr his head off, curl up and go to sleep.

tl;dr - I think it's probably a brain/confusion/anxiety thing.