Deaf cat yelling randomly in the evening!

Hello,

Hope someone can help. I adopted a rescue kitten about 18 months ago - he is deaf, and was the runt of the litter, with some problems that make me think he wasn't really socialised much - aggression and biting etc. He and I have been getting on marvellously, I've managed to slowly train him out of biting, and he is now sleeping on my bed with me instead of attacking me every morning! I've noticed over the last couple of months that he is very, very vocal on an evening. We have a routine - I feed him religiously at 7.30pm, with supper at 11pm when I go to bed, but I've noticed around about 8.15 he has started standing in the hallway of my apartment and yelling at the top of his lungs. He has just been fed, his litter tray is clean, he gets fresh water with dinner - I can't tell what is "wrong". He was at the vet recently, and aside from being a little overweight (2-300g, not enough to worry the vet), is fine.

I can't let him out - because of the deafness, and he has some balance problems, probably related. My worry is that he is bored and wants to go outside and be a big dominant cat. He has lots of toys - a big scratch post, a small one, light up balls, cardboard tubes, ping pong balls... He gets a lot of affection from me, spending lots of time cuddled up with me and following me round the house. But I'm worried that he doesn't like to "play" and that he might be bored. I have a laser pen which he will give attention to for 2 minutes, he gets bored of feather toys after a couple of pounces, and just watches me wave things around! The only time he is interested in chasing things and playing with me is when the sunlight catches my watch and he races around after the rainbows!

Does anyone have any advice? Having established there is nothing wrong (and he's been neutered!), I have tried ignoring him, but it's breaking my heart hearing him yell. Am I just worrying over nothing?! Anyone have any advice?!

Thanks!

Hi, I would not say you are worrying for nothing.

I think he is lonely....I mean for a cat companion............

Not sure if this is something you might consider, but bet sure as anything this is exactly what his deal is.

Bored and lonely for cat companionship.

If you have one already, it's really not any extra work to have a second one. Honestly.

You might want to think on this, if you are not pro 2 cats, but being deaf means no sound stimulation to keep his mind occupied, so he's plain bored and lonesome.

Not even remotely possible for you to make up for what a cat can do for him, us humans are good for some things but cats decide whether to be solo cats or like regular interactions with a fellow feline

How is his eyesight? With this happening at night, I just wonder if maybe that has something to do with it.

I really don't think his hollering in the hallway is his way of saying he wants outside. But, you may very well be on target in thinking that he may be bored. Have you ever tried a toy like Neko Flies? I have yet to come across a cat (there have been well over 100 over the last 4 yrs) that won't play with either a Da Bird toy or Neko Flies.

CatPack said:

How is his eyesight? With this happening at night, I just wonder if maybe that has something to do with it.

 

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This is a possibility.  When our cat went completely deaf, he started the night yowling.  We already had a night light on in the cat room, but our vet suggested a bigger light to help orientate himself if he woke up at night.  We happened to have a TV in there so we started leaving it on as a giant night light, with the sound off, and it really helped.

catwoman707 said:

 
Hi, I would not say you are worrying for nothing.

I think he is lonely....I mean for a cat companion............

Not sure if this is something you might consider, but bet sure as anything this is exactly what his deal is.

Bored and lonely for cat companionship.

If you have one already, it's really not any extra work to have a second one. Honestly.

You might want to think on this, if you are not pro 2 cats, but being deaf means no sound stimulation to keep his mind occupied, so he's plain bored and lonesome.

Not even remotely possible for you to make up for what a cat can do for him, us humans are good for some things but cats decide whether to be solo cats or like regular interactions with a fellow feline

Click to expand...

Sounds like a great idea to me.

betsygee said:

This is a possibility.  When our cat went completely deaf, he started the night yowling.  We already had a night light on in the cat room, but our vet suggested a bigger light to help orientate himself if he woke up at night.  We happened to have a TV in there so we started leaving it on as a giant night light, with the sound off, and it really helped.

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I've wondered about his eyesight, because he isn't great at playing unless it's right in front of him or really bright (he's hit and miss with a laser pen). I'll chat to the vet about it next time I'm there. Thanks!

southbound said:

Sounds like a great idea to me.

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It's definitely something I'll look into. I'm not anti- two cats, i just have some reservations in that I wouldn't want to bring another cat into "his" territory and then have him be the second in command because of his deafness. I also have reservations about keeping cats indoors, most rescue centres in the UK want garden space and won't rehome to apartments and I wouldn't want to buy a kitten when there's so many rescues. I need to think what might suit his personality and chat to some local rescues I think!
Thanks for the advice and reassurance, much appreciated. I'll certainly give some good thought to getting a companion for him, especially if it will keep him cheerful and happier (I'm such a worrier about him!).

Carefully choosing a companion helps to avoid him being the underdog so-to-speak.

In my opinion and what I know behavior-wise with cats, females rule, but males easily accept this, it's natural and instinctual, so that might be good.

Another male is fine too, but look for one who is younger, a younger teenager is ideal but doesn't have to be either.

Just mostly asking questions about behavior and dominance he shows while in his foster home.

Males can do very well together, blacks are less concerned over the dominance thing too, black cats rated top in studies of multicat homes, just for an fyi.

Also if you go through a rescue, be sure they will allow return of the cat if you see their personalities are clashing. 

Good luck!

Best $1.99 you'll ever spend.

http://www.chewy.com/cat/cat-dancer-original-cat-toy/dp/49382

I wonder if you contacted the rescues they would try and help you try an arranged marriage for a bit. 

And finally that's so wonderful you adopted a special needs cat.  He's very lucky to have you!  Seriously think of the alternative - he definitely and thankfully has FWPP (first world pet problems.) 

I wonder if he is bored and wants to play...can you keep trying some other toys like the Da Bird & the Cat Dancer suggested above? My cat after eating her dinner, now sits under the cabinet I keep the Da Bird in and has started calling to it after waiting a while. She was yowling the other night. I know she wants to play with it when she does this. After her dinner ~7 pm is a good thing time for me to play with her.

I don't think its a lonely issue. I have 16 cats and my deaf cat does the same thing. They tend to be louder because they cant hear themselves. I've concluded that mine is hungry. My problem is, if I feed him, I have 15 more wanting a snack too...

The rescue approach to homing cats only where there is access to outdoors is really difficult, esp with so many of us living in apartments....  don't get me started. Mind you, if it wasn't for this I would never have adopted Mouse so there has been a silver lining for me.

It may be a loneliness issue, or his wanting more food.  It could also be something happening outside your apartment so that is worth checking out too.  The only times Mouse seems to meow loudly in the hall is either when I am coming up the stair and he knows I'm coming but can't see me yet, or if there is some unfamiliar noise or smell.  He used to get really upset about once a week and then I realized it was when the stair outside the apartment door was being cleaned.  I showed him what was going on and after that he settled.  Similar thing when a couple on one of the higher levels had a baby and he started to hear baby cries in the stair - again once he got shown what / who was making this scary noise he was fine and now he's happy to sit nose to nose with the mini human.  He also responds if there's a strong smell he's not familiar with so if there's a chemical smell or something from another apartment  that will set him off in a similar way.  Although your cat can't hear he can feel the vibrations noises make, and smell strange odours.

I agree it is worth checking his eye sight, both my previous cats started to call out more loudly and more frequently once their sight started to go.

catwoman707 said:

 
Carefully choosing a companion helps to avoid him being the underdog so-to-speak.

In my opinion and what I know behavior-wise with cats, females rule, but males easily accept this, it's natural and instinctual, so that might be good.

Another male is fine too, but look for one who is younger, a younger teenager is ideal but doesn't have to be either.

Just mostly asking questions about behavior and dominance he shows while in his foster home.

Males can do very well together, blacks are less concerned over the dominance thing too, black cats rated top in studies of multicat homes, just for an fyi.

Also if you go through a rescue, be sure they will allow return of the cat if you see their personalities are clashing. 

Good luck!

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I have a black 13 yo female who lorded over all of my cats until I got a black male kitten who is now 9 months old. Now he rules the roost. I am very lucky in that all of mine get along well and have accepted every kitten we have brought in.

It's really frustrating though when they won't play isn't it!  I've gone through tons of toys and the only one's they stick with are the NIKKO and the cat dancer. Oh and they also like that round thing with the ball that rolls around the channel.  Be careful though about leaving cat toys unattended - those warnings aren't for nothing.

As much as they love their people, I am amazed at how much time my three cats spend interacting.   Sleeping together, lapping the house and (yes) body slamming each other.  It is a riot to watch.

"I also have reservations about keeping cats indoors, most rescue centres in the UK want garden space and won't rehome to apartments and I wouldn't want to buy a kitten when there's so many rescues."

I ended up with two strays who spent at least a year outside and who now live with us.  Neither of them has any interest at all in going outside - none.  Cats can be miserable due to a lot of things, but being cared for in a nice cozy apartment is not one of them.  Bored maybe, but certainly no more bored than the rest of us slogging it out in cubicles all day (so we can afford cat food no less.)

Reba said:

 
I ended up with two strays who spent at least a year outside and who now live with us.  Neither of them has any interest at all in going outside - none.  Cats can be miserable due to a lot of things, but being cared for in a nice cozy apartment is not one of them.  Bored maybe, but certainly no more bored than the rest of us slogging it out in cubicles all day (so we can afford cat food no less.)

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Yes, this is my rescue cat thankfully!   She does get bored and it is frustrating lately when I take out the Da Bird wand she has been calling for and she hides under the bed...=/ I had to take her to the emergency vet 2 weeks ago though due to a freak accident with the Da Bird wand where the feather fell off and I let my cat play with the string while I held the wand. Somehow the string got tied around one of her paw digits and when I tried to take it off, she raced away and it tightened while the wand trailed after her, getting stuck everywhere and pulling the string tighter. Since then, she wants to play with it still but might be simultaneously scared. My fault...=/

Not your fault - who realizes the perils of cat toys until something like that happens.    And it happens all the time, but there's no organized movement for making cat toys safer.  It really is a pet peeve of mine.

It's too bad one of the companies doesn't grab the cat toys angle and run with it as a marketing technique.  Everyone thinks they wouldn't sell things as cat toys them if they were dangerous.   Couldn't be further from the truth.

Reba said:

 
Not your fault - who realizes the perils of cat toys until something like that happens.

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Thanks!

Do try leaving some light on.  I don't have experience with a young deaf cat, but my old deaf cat a few years ago seemed to be at least a little comforted by having some more light available at night.  Try with already available lights in case it does nothing, then if it seems to help maybe move to several nightlights around the place.

When I was young, there was a bar that would host a meeting for deaf people, once a month. You would think it would be stone silent. Nope, it was the loudest night. They liked the music turned to 11 and feel the vibrations. Your cat may not know he's making all that noise. Maybe he hears just a little part of it if he yells loud enough.

There's a deaf cat at our shelter that yowls like that. He has a roommate, constant access to an outdoor enclosure, regular wet meals as well as a full bowl of dry at all times, and playtimes. We've found that Hemmie yowls/screeches when he wants to be cuddled. It's not different from other cats, just higher volume. His voice is so grating that he generally gets what he wants, so he has everybody well trained. :lol3:

If you should decide to get him a companion, it should be a cat that's very laid back and won't become annoyed and aggressive because of the screeching. Some cats don't react well to "unnatural" vocalization.