Cat Constantly Meowing/Growling/Talking

As some of you know, we added another cat (on a temporary basis) yesterday. Victoria was brought into the SPCA by her owner to get put down because she vomits "every day". (We've had her 36 hrs and not a sign of any problems..) We took her to the vet last night, who prescribed antibiotics as he felt it was most likely a GI bug. He said he did not see any indications for it to be an allergy, and her physical exam was completely normal. Her temp was fine. Her eyes are clear.

She has a lot to say, though! She constantly is meowing, growling, grumbling. She will come up to one of us and headbonk us, rubbing her face on us and growling. I pet her and she growls and purrs simulataneously. I gave her a cat treat tonight and she growled as she gobbled it up. We fed her tonight and she ate, growling at her food the whole time.

Any ideas WHY she is doing that? Her body language says one thing, her vocalizations another. We were told that she was always an indoor cat. She is 10 yrs old, spayed and front declawed.

Let me clarify by saying that when I pet her, she sounds like she is planning on disemboweling me. She sounds ferocious, like she really means business. Yet she rubs and purrs at the same time...

She is sending 2 distinctively different messages. My reaction is to stop petting her when she growls, but then she comes looking for more and acts like she WANTS me to pet her.

Sounds to me that growling isn't necessarily a bad indicator with this cat. Could be she growls when excited. Although, maybe someone else has an idea why she does it.

Maybe she was eating something that disagreed with her. Grass can induce vomiting. Sometimes animals will eat it to help them throw up if they need to.

Hope the cat is healthy now.

Scarlett's been doing that (growling/hissing/purring) to us since we let the fosters out of the room on Monday. Steve wanted to take her to the vet immediately, but I talked him out of it. I think that, because she is the queen, she is just exerting her influence over the situation. She is queen and there are new folks in her fifedom. It is settling down with each passing day.

Perhaps your baby was used to ruling the house and she is trying to make her statement with the others. You do have a crowded house like mine, and if anyone will act up, it will be the alphas. Didn't she come from a house where she was the only female?

My thoughts.

She was the only cat in the house; there had been another cat awhile back, not sure how long ago or what happened with it, but we were told the 2 cats got along fine.

She has been isolated from the other cats, but I'm sure she smells and hears them. The kitten got in (sneaky little so and so!) and she yowled and hissed and stalked him for the .5 seconds it took for us to scoop him up and get him out of there. She looked like she was going to go for him! He's usually completely fearless, but every hair on his body was standing up and he let us escort him from the room without a complaint! He knew she meant business!

I was talking to the head of our humane society the other night about how easy it has been to integrate the 3 fosters into our house (except for the Scarlett growling thing). They were in an extended quarantine (7 weeks) and her experience was that long initial separations sometimes makes easier transitioning. The theory behind it is that you are bringing their scents back and forth when you go between rooms for a long period of time and they are fully aware of each other's presence before you open it up. I didn't use the open mesh gates until the last week of quarantine (they tested negative and were speutered after 6 weeks and I gave them time to recuperate) which gave the added scent exchange.

I personally think only cats are automatically alpha cats. I think you have an alpha cat behavior you're dealing with.

Keep us posted on this!

Hmm, that's a thought. And the kitten definitely has Alpha tendencies, so she could well have sensed that. (In our house, Blondie thinks he's the alpha male, the kitten says he'll be Alpha one day, but Midnight is the TRUE Alpha. Blondie defers to him. Midnight just isn't an in-your-face Alpha. He's the strong, silent type. Lil is the Alpha female.)

Remember also that cats have a good sent of smelling . So she may also smell the other cats on you when she is hissing and growling at you . She wants to be petted and at the same time you pet her she can smell the other cats and is growling and hissing at them . It will get better in time though .

That's true, Hedi. I have a Feliway plug in in the room with her, hopefully that will help. I am hoping to find someone to adopt her as an only cat, that would be best I think.

She is acting just like Lilith did when we first adopted her. And she is rolling over to get belly rubs, and growling and flinching when we try to touch her belly. She acts like she wants to come up on our laps, and then gets upset if we try to "help" her up. (She jumps up ok on her own.)

We were told she is 10 years old. We were told she is spayed.


Could she be pregnant? That would certainly be a reason for someone to give up an otherwise healthy cat...

She was supposedly vomiting all the time, we've had her 2 days now and not even a belch.

The only way to know is to take her back to the vet and let him listen to her belly to see if he/she can hear some heart beat from the babies . If not I would say shaving her belly and see if they can find a scar from spaying . But you may be able to do that to save some money if you brave enough lol . You also can wait a week or so to see if her nipples start changing . I hope she is not pregnant , that means more babies . Especialy in her age , she don't need no more kittens . If she is pregnant I am really P... o.. at that awfull woman

We're going to bring her in to see the shelter manager tomorrow (he was off when we got her). We don't have old vet records on her, so he'll give her her shots and stuff. I will ask his opinion on her condition too. Will let you know how it goes.

Yes please let us know . Are you going to keep her till she had her kittens in case she is pregnant ???

I don't know, right now I am keeping my fingers crossed that she is not!

Hmmm snowwhite what like that, she would growl when she was eating. I think granet and marble did that too. It was a low growl though, not really i'm coming to kill you growl.
I don't think any of the growled while being petted. Good luck with this one, I sure hope she isn't pregant!

This might be a dumb question, but at what age does a female no longer go in heat? I thought it wasn't much beyond 8 or 9 at the latest. I know no one really knows her age, but if she is 10, I would be surprised if she is pregnant. For all your sakes, I hope that is not so!!!

Please let us know what the vet says!