The cat is about four or five years old and my mom’s had her since before I moved out and back in again. During all that time she’s been a well-behaved animal excepting a few things (she was a rescue and was already poorly socialized when we brought her home - over time she’s warmed up to the family. She absolutely loves my mom but seems to merely tolerate me and my sis. She still hisses at strangers, though). She never tore up furniture or tried to escape or refused to eat or anything. Just sat at the window all day watching neighbors come and go and waiting for my mom to get off of work.
About two weeks ago she started meowing. At first she’d sit in the kitchen and stare at the door and meow. She’d do this for a few minutes before stopping. Then she started doing it for longer periods of time. Now she does it all day and it’s making me lose my mind. If I call her name or go check on her she stops for a few minutes before starting up again. She never meows in my presence- in fact, I’ve never once actually seen her meowing this way (it’s like a mix between a meow and a howl). If I walk into the kitchen to see what’s up she just sits there and stares at me.
She only meows when my mom’s out of the house and she only does it in the kitchen (I’ve tried shooing her into another room but she scratches at the door to get out). I’m assuming she’s doing this because she’s lonely or misses my mom or something but my mom has had the same job ever since getting this cat and she’s never acted this way before. She doesn’t seem to be in pain- like I said, if I’m in her presence or holding her or whatever she just looks at me like I’m an idiot (shush you).
All I can think of is that this is part of a plan to push me further and further into insanity.
I might be able to take a picture later. My mom’s home now so she’s following her around at the moment. Fair warning: Any picture I might take will be shitty cell phone quality.
Maybe she just wants to “talk”? Sometimes Maggie acts like your mom’s cat – she just seems to like the sound of her own voice. Some cats are just very vocal.
One of my cats started doing that when he was about 6. We got a house with a basement and he started going down to the basement and yowling. Eventually he stopped yowling in the basement and started doing it in the bathroom. No reason that we could discover - we started calling them accoustic checks. It has tapered off over time but never stopped completely.
Is the cat acting oddly in other ways? Ours went through treatment for hyperthyroidism about 3 years ago and it dropped off quite a bit shortly after that. Don’t know if it was related or he stopped because his throat hirt after the eventual surgery.
First make sure she’s not uncomfortable because she is hungry or has to poop. Put out fresh cat food and change the litterbox. Even if the litterbox looks pretty clean, it may not smell clean to the cat. Try spraying a little bleach in there and wash it out with plenty of water.
Once you are sure she is not uncomfortable and is crying because she misses mom, the next step is to befriend her. This can be accomplished with food bribes. Turkey cold cuts (plain not honey glazed) from the supermarket will probably work well. She will get addicted to these cold cuts like a crack addict but she will also bond with you when you feed her.
The next step is vigorous exercise. I have one cat that likes to hit balls when I roll them to her. I have another that likes string or being chased around the house. Cats are built for brief bursts of speed and then they become exhausted. After 5-10 minutes of running around, my cats are ready for a nap.
Here’s the complete process:
Cat is meowing and driving you crazy.
Give the cat 5-10 minutes of exercise.
Give the cat turkey treats.
Give her some affection.
Cat is tired, full, and happy and ready to take a nap.
I feel your pain. I have a 19 yr old diabetic cat who meows at all hours, the idea being to get me to follow him to his food and water bowls (which are always clean and full). My vet says he’s probably senile and to just indulge him but it’s hard at 2 a.m. This behavior started with the onset of diabetes but hasn’t stopped even though we’ve had his glucose levels under control for 6 yrs. We do regular testing (blood work, organ function, I test glucose at home) but have no explanation for the meowing. He’ll stop meowing if I follow him into the kitchen - splashing a little water into his bowl seems to work even if I just washed and gave fresh water a few hours before. Sometimes all I have to do is follow him to the kitchen and he’ll start eating or drinking on his own. Sometimes in the middle of the night I just put a pillow over my head.
My typically taciturn calico will meow a lot when she wants attention. Once I’ve petted and played with her for a few minutes, she tends to stop. Dunno if that’s the deal with your mom’s kitty, but it’s a possibility.
She also might have started meowing because you’re there. From what I hear (don’t have a cite, though I could probably dig one up upon request), the reason cats meow in the first place is because it’s specifically evolved as a social behavior towards humans. So I highly doubt she’d meow at all if she was home alone.
I can’t cite any verification but I believe that meowing is social behavior - if that’s true it’s irritating that our mere presence is the trigger. I imagine my cat is silent all day long. In my case the second cat doesn’t deter the first. Oh noo - there he goes again and he’s upstairs this time - gives credence to Rex Goliath’s claim that he just wants me to move.
Mine is bored out of his mind, stuck in the house in the winter. Not that I blame him. He’ll go down in the basement and yowl his head off. He’ll go upstairs, butt open the bedroom doors, and yowl for someone to get up. He’s been sitting at the window watching rabbits gnawing on the shrubs outside and that has him all riled up, so he sits at the front door yowling for it to be opened so he can go out.
Yes, my mom feeds the cat. Yes, the food is in the kitchen. Yes, there’s always food (well - there’s always dry - she gets canned food in the morning). I’ll try your trick and see if it works.
Well, the day before yesterday the cat got out (my mom didn’t close the door all the way after leaving and the cat opened it and pushed open the screen door). She was gone for a while.
She’s back now. I don’t know what kind of adventure she had but she hasn’t been meowing. Guess she didn’t like what she saw.
