TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Behavior › Incessant meowing
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Incessant meowing

post #1 of 17
10/27/09 at 6:28pm
Thread Starter 
Okay, I'm about at wit's end with my 3 year old male neutered Maine Coon.

I got him in january, and he's great... other than the fact that any time I'm home, he's meowing at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason. He gets plenty of playtime, he gets fresh water and food on a set schedule, he's been to the vet and there are no underlying health problems.

Apparently, he only does this when I'M home (I live with my dad after getting laid off). It's very very annoying, he does it while I'm working, he does it when I get home, he does it generally all night and the only time he's NOT meowing is when he's asleep or eating.

I've tried everything I can think of; giving him more attention, spray bottles, different eating schedules, shushing him up, yelling "NO", shooing him off, and it's at a point where all I can do now is put him in the basement so I can work, and listen to him howl even louder. He has huge fits where he'll knock stuff over down there and he sounds literally like a female in heat. I think it's an attatchment issue, honestly, I think it's great he wants to be around me so much (he has a FIT if I'm on the other side of a closed door) but I need to try and figure out how to channel this more appropriately if I'm ever going to live in my own apartment again; neighbors would not be able to take this and I barely can. Like I said, it's not just cute mewling, it's LOUD.
Reply
post #2 of 17
10/27/09 at 6:32pm
Thread Starter 
Ugh, and he's doing it as we speak. Sometimes I just want to scream and pull all my hair out.
Reply
post #3 of 17
10/27/09 at 7:38pm
Usually, when my cat is yowling like that, it means he wants some form of attention... It usually means he wants to play or he wants to lay on my lap. I'm not sure if that helps any.
Reply
post #4 of 17
10/27/09 at 9:13pm
Give the kid more food for cryin' out loud.

I don't know - just throwing that in - would it really hurt to try it out and see if it helps?
Reply
post #5 of 17
10/27/09 at 11:27pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by clowangel View Post
Usually, when my cat is yowling like that, it means he wants some form of attention... It usually means he wants to play or he wants to lay on my lap. I'm not sure if that helps any.
Well, I already worked that out, but I can't physically give him CONSTANT attention-- no one can; and I mean this is CONSTANT, constant meowing-- But I have a job (thankfully that lets me be home most of the time) and I'm an illustrator, so this incessant begging is not welcome. It's like trying to paint with a siren going off in the background. My 1 year old niece is better behaved than my cat.
Reply
post #6 of 17
10/27/09 at 11:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GloriaJH View Post
Give the kid more food for cryin' out loud.

I don't know - just throwing that in - would it really hurt to try it out and see if it helps?
I give him plenty of food; he's sure not starving. Lots of treats too. He's even a little chubby, so I've been giving him the amount recommended by my vet; but this was a problem long before we cut back on feeding and switched over to a grain-free diet. It's been going on for about seven months now, and as you can imagine, I'm about ready to go insane.
Reply
post #7 of 17
10/28/09 at 12:07am
Do you play with him?

I have high energy cats so make sure to play with them at least 3 times a day for at least 20-30 minutes at a time, longer at bedtime.

Is another cat an option? If he had a buddy it could help distract him.

Feliway plug in, or Rescue Remedy could also help calm him down.
Reply
post #8 of 17
10/28/09 at 12:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaotica View Post
I give him plenty of food; he's sure not starving. Lots of treats too. He's even a little chubby, so I've been giving him the amount recommended by my vet; but this was a problem long before we cut back on feeding and switched over to a grain-free diet. It's been going on for about seven months now, and as you can imagine, I'm about ready to go insane.
- maybe it would be easier for you IF you were insane.

So, he has been neutered, - so a mating thing is not his problem - sounds like he needs to talk to someone that knows his language - how about a sister, or a brother ?? they could keep each other entertained AND exercised - there's plenty of threads/posts on how to introduce a new cat to your current cat in this website ... Our first cat was always wanting me to chase him around the house - finally I just couldn't play with him enough so we brought in a brother and sister kitten from another litter - that helped him a lot - altho' he still wants me to chase him into the tub and play with him - only, not as much now with the other cats to play with him.

I'm on my way to bed, it's 12:30ish a.m., and I probably won't proofread this very well, so please, in advance, excuse my typo's or where I just don't make any sense.

I hope you can find a solution!!, I know - not more than you, huh!?
Reply
post #9 of 17
10/28/09 at 12:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaotica View Post
Okay, I'm about at wit's end with my 3 year old male neutered Maine Coon.

I got him in january, and he's great... other than the fact that any time I'm home, he's meowing at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason. He gets plenty of playtime, he gets fresh water and food on a set schedule, he's been to the vet and there are no underlying health problems.

Apparently, he only does this when I'M home (I live with my dad after getting laid off). It's very very annoying, he does it while I'm working, he does it when I get home, he does it generally all night and the only time he's NOT meowing is when he's asleep or eating.

I've tried everything I can think of; giving him more attention, spray bottles, different eating schedules, shushing him up, yelling "NO", shooing him off, and it's at a point where all I can do now is put him in the basement so I can work, and listen to him howl even louder. He has huge fits where he'll knock stuff over down there and he sounds literally like a female in heat. I think it's an attatchment issue, honestly, I think it's great he wants to be around me so much (he has a FIT if I'm on the other side of a closed door) but I need to try and figure out how to channel this more appropriately if I'm ever going to live in my own apartment again; neighbors would not be able to take this and I barely can. Like I said, it's not just cute mewling, it's LOUD.
Have you had any blood tests done? He seems to be young for it, and it usually happens at night, but one of the signs of thyroid problems is YOWLING during the night. Just a thought...
Reply
post #10 of 17
10/28/09 at 2:39am
Ditto prev post. I was thinking thyroid myself. I had a thy cat and he nearly drove me crazy with the crying. I would start with a vet visit and blood work to r/o thyroid or any other under lying illness. Good luck.
Reply
post #11 of 17
10/28/09 at 8:44am
Thread Starter 
He's not had blood work done yet, but as I said, he only does it when I'm home, so I feel like it's more behavioral than health-related. I failed to mention that when he DOESN'T get his way and get attention, he starts to do naughty things he KNOWS he is not supposed to do, like scratching the stairs or knocking stuff over or chewing on my pencils-- anything to get me to LOOK at him or touch him.

As for playing with him, I do so a lot. He has plenty of toys and entertainment around the house. I did have a "brother" for him for a time, but I'm not really in a financial situation to be able to afford feeding another cat. His brother came home from the shelter with a myriad of health problems and respiratory illness that I couldn't foot the bills for (around 600 dollars worth), so he had to be re-adopted into another home. He's thankfully doing well now, but I don't really trust the animal shelter after that incident (this was one sick kitty, and they tried to make up a ton of excuses for it) and I don't want to risk Dante picking up something worse if I get another cat.

If it does prove to be a thyroid problem, what are my options? Is typical treatment very expensive?
Reply
post #12 of 17
10/28/09 at 4:28pm
Try the Feliway plug-ins and see if that doesn't help calm him down. The next step would be a friend, maybe even a little stuffed animal might help.
Reply
post #13 of 17
10/28/09 at 6:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaotica View Post
He's not had blood work done yet, but as I said, he only does it when I'm home, so I feel like it's more behavioral than health-related. I failed to mention that when he DOESN'T get his way and get attention, he starts to do naughty things he KNOWS he is not supposed to do, like scratching the stairs or knocking stuff over or chewing on my pencils-- anything to get me to LOOK at him or touch him.

As for playing with him, I do so a lot. He has plenty of toys and entertainment around the house. I did have a "brother" for him for a time, but I'm not really in a financial situation to be able to afford feeding another cat. His brother came home from the shelter with a myriad of health problems and respiratory illness that I couldn't foot the bills for (around 600 dollars worth), so he had to be re-adopted into another home. He's thankfully doing well now, but I don't really trust the animal shelter after that incident (this was one sick kitty, and they tried to make up a ton of excuses for it) and I don't want to risk Dante picking up something worse if I get another cat.

If it does prove to be a thyroid problem, what are my options? Is typical treatment very expensive?

Have you talked to the breeder about this?

Us breeders are good like that - we're always happy to help.

Sorry you mentioned you couldn't foot the bills for his brother (shame his MCO brother was in a shelter) but you're getting another cat?
Reply
post #14 of 17
10/28/09 at 6:20pm
No, someones suggested another cat and she stated fianancial reasons for not wanting to.



BeBe is my 3 yr old DSH

AND HE DOES THE SAME THING.

I had a week vacation, stayed home because I was too broke to do anything. The WHOLE time he was up my butt talking and talking. I actually couldn't wait to get back to work, that's just how horrible it is.


BeBe is VERY intelligent though. So that might be what's wrong, they're just bored.

I've taught BeBe many simple tricks. And that kept him quite for a while, so I'm going to try to think of something harder (making a thread for ideas after this. I just saw your title and was like OMG that's my prob!).

Maybe get something that'll really challenge his lil head.

oh and there are two other cats in the house hold, he plays with them both. He's just SUPER annoying. I call him SUPER ANNOYING BEBE. lol And what really sucks is that I taught him SHUT UP means to talk more.

I thought it was cute when he was little.
Reply
post #15 of 17
10/29/09 at 1:31pm
Thread Starter 
Wellington: There is no "Breeder", Dante is a rescue cat, so I really have no way of knowing his history. In truth he is probably only half coon, but he is bigger than the last purebred I had.

Nothing really helps.. sure you can ignore him for awhile but then he just goes to another place in the house and yowls his displeasure even louder until he finds somewhere to lie down and sleep. As I said, the only times he is NOT meowing is when he's sleeping, eating, drinking, using the potty, or being petted and played with.

If it helps, when Vergil was still with us, he seemed to be a lot less talkative... more preoccupied with just investigating his new friend. But as I've said, I can't afford right now to get another cat, and it would complicate moving out even further. I can't adopt another one until I am in a more permanent living situation.

I need to curb this behavior somehow before I get another place, I cannot have him doing this at all hours of the day when I have neighbors to worry about. At first it was kind of cute, but now he just does it ALL THE TIME.
Reply
post #16 of 17
10/29/09 at 6:50pm
You said that you got him in January. I'm assuming you mean this year? Where was he before that? What was his history? Did you get him from the shelter? Where did he come from? Are you sure that he is 100% neutered?
Reply
post #17 of 17
10/29/09 at 8:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by esrandall2000 View Post
You said that you got him in January. I'm assuming you mean this year? Where was he before that? What was his history? Did you get him from the shelter? Where did he come from? Are you sure that he is 100% neutered?
I got him in January of this year. He was just a drop off, someone abandoned him at the shelter. If I wasn't 100% sure he was neutered I wouldn't have said so.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Behavior
TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Behavior › Incessant meowing