Senior Cat - Nighttime Howling

My cat Sonny is 14, which I know isn't that old. But he's had medical problems since he was a kitten. He has asthma which was dx'd a year ago and he has been deaf for 2 1/2 years. Previously, even before the deafness, when we moved he would howl at night for a few nights. Since he's been deaf, the ONLY time he would howl at night was if there wasn't water for him. But lately he howls even when there's water. And since he's deaf it's more of a jarring scream than even a howl.

We always leave some lights on so I don't think it's related to his sight, but recently he has begun doing the howling even when he has water. Last night I was up twice and laid with him on the couch. During that time he was fine but as soon as I went to bed he started howling again. I took him to bed with me after the second time and he was fine.

When I come out to get him, he's usually just sitting there and looks at me like he's confused. He isn't pacing or anything when he's doing the howling, he's just lying somewhere, be it on a chair or the floor. He's also been following me from room to room lately, yelling at me but I don't know why. He always has food in his dish (we free feed) but he seems to want something from me. Or be expecting something.

This cat is always at my side so I'm thinking maybe it's an emotional thing but I always worry it's more. Has anyone experienced this?  I know if it's not medical I shouldn't re-enforce the behavior by responding but I don't want him to be stressed, especialy with the asthma.

Most of my cats have shown some preference to calling or crying during the night when they got older. When my cat went deaf, the call went to a croak or other strange noise. They seem to call out more when they get older and I'm not sure why. Usually when I find them, they are simply sitting there, as you said. I usually try to give them a treat or pet them and that will suffice to stop the calling, but that is what works for me and you might have a different set of circumstances. I don't think its unusual, just annoying sometimes.

Jim

I have experienced this with an older cat mainly at night - she must have been 17 or 18 at the time. It started when Sweep, our other cat of approximately the same age had to be euthanized. Sweep, even in his old age, had insisted on taking one walk around the outside of the house before settling down for the night. We decided it was just to check that no other cats were around. After his death, Susie started howling at night and was usually found hiding in a corner by the fireplace. Letting all the blinds down when we went to bed so that she couldn't see into the garden helped somewhat but didn't solve the problem. The vet could find nothing wrong with her but blood checks etc. were not carried out on cats in those days.

I'm not sure I can generally recommend the solution we used. It certainly stopped the screaming and calmed Susie down. We found an extremely placid British Short Hair of uncertain age. Although Susie was a bit put out at first, having another cat around did help and she lived another 2 years. Susie and Sweep had first been introduced into our household when the children were young and I was only working part-time. There were people around most of the day plus various other cats who strayed into our lives. But, I started working full-time, the children left home, and finally Susie was on her own for most of the day. She had never been a cat to spend long out of doors. I believe she was scared of being on her own - and another easy-going second cat made her feel more secure. We didn't even bother separating them when we first introduced the new cat. Amazing!

Have you had his thyroid tested and has he been tested for diabetes?

Sounds like possible hypertension. You may want the vet to check for that. Most don't on their routine exams.

Here's a good writeup I just found: http://www.petful.com/pet-health/my-old-cat-meows-all-the-time/

The main medical things I always think of have already been mentioned:  high blood pressure and hyperthyroid.  We don't often think of that kind of vocalizing being a symptom of such specific medical problems, but in the case of older cats it is definitely considered a possible symptom of those.  It's not always one of these, but if he hasn't had a full blood workup including the thyroid tests and hasn't had his blood pressure checked, those would be reasonable things to do.