My cat doesn't know what he wants to do apparently

One of my 7-month-olds, Oliver, likes to go upstairs sometimes. He'll meow at the door, we'll let him up, and maybe 10 minutes later he'll be back down asking to be let back in.  And that will be that.

Yesterday afternoon, same thing happened. Then five minutes after we let him back in, he wanted to go back upstairs. Repeat this scenario about five times and we just ignored him after that. And he just whines this annoyingly loud whine that looks like it should not come out of a creature as big as he is. Actually, that's his meow, he doesn't meow like normal cats, lol.

Omg, he's making me insane. I don't know why he started doing this. We've tried ignoring him, and he just jumps up on my chair after awhile (which is right next to the door that goes upstairs) and gets in my face to meow. I don't know what he wants! He seems to just want to go back and forth and back and forth. We can't leave the door open because the dogs would LOVE to go up there, but the lady that lives with us probably wouldn't like it so much. She doesn't mind our cats but not dogs up there.

Cat flap.

Kittens Mom said:

 
Cat flap.

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Not sure if that would work. My dogs are smaller than my cats.

Donutte said:

 
Not sure if that would work. My dogs are smaller than my cats.

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Well then my dear. I guess you're going to have to keep your day job as doorman. They make cute uniforms for that...

After an hour of us not letting him up there, he got let up there, and he stayed up there for now. At least till he decides to do this all over again, lol.

I think Oliver has been more vocal in the last two days than he was in the whole five months since we adopted him. His brother Oscar on the other hand is always chatty.

Just a thought... both of my Boys acted strangely (meowing - more like whining, pacing, and kneading on me) when they finally alerted me that my heart rate was so fast it was undetectable. I was going into A-Fib. 

The fact that you cat keeps wanting to upstairs and then come right back down over and over makes me wonder if the lady who lives upstairs is OK, or if they sense something wrong? Could she be depressed or lonely because of the holidays? Does  she have any health issues? For peace of mind, you might want to check on her ...

Fyllis said:

 
Just a thought... both of my Boys acted strangely (meowing - more like whining, pacing, and kneading on me) when they finally alerted me that my heart rate was so fast it was undetectable. I was going into A-Fib. 

The fact that you cat keeps wanting to upstairs and then come right back down over and over makes me wonder if the lady who lives upstairs is OK, or if they sense something wrong? Could she be depressed or lonely because of the holidays? Does  she have any health issues? For peace of mind, you might want to check on her ...

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The only thing she has is hypothyroidism (due to her thyroid being removed a few years ago). She wasn't home yesterday when he started doing that. She actually comes down here for a good chunk of the day, the upstairs is mainly just where she sleeps. She eats and what-not down here with us.

Interesting food for thought though.

Could be any number of things, might be a number more, probably
just a kitteh thing.

For real. He's back downstairs again, kinda wandering around right now, occasionally meowing. Doesn't seem to know what he wants or even why he wants it. Silly boy.

He actually is starting to remind me of how Oscar got the day after he was neutered. Maybe he's feeling bad for Penelopy and acting weird on her behalf.

Mamanyt1953 said:

just a kitteh thing.

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Hmmm he's definitely acting weird today. Coming by us a bit more than he normally does. Think I'll have to give him a little bit more attention today and see how he is tomorrow.

Maybe he thinks he's helping you get more exercise? Some cats just enjoy watching you fulfill their every whim. We've had several at the shelter that are perfectly capable of using the cat flaps to go outside on their catios and come back inside again when nobody is around, but when they see you in the hallway or you're in their room they'll sit in front of the door and meow piteously for you to let them in or out. :lol3: Apparently it's a very fun game.

jcat said:

Maybe he thinks he's helping you get more exercise? Some cats just enjoy watching you fulfill their every whim. We've had several at the shelter that are perfectly capable of using the cat flaps to go outside on their catios and come back inside again when nobody is around, but when they see you in the hallway or you're in their room they'll sit in front of the door and meow piteously for you to let them in or out.

Apparently it's a very fun game.

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Ha, could be. He seemed like he might not be feeling well for awhile yesterday. Not sure how to explain it, just out of sorts, even after he stopped asking to going upstairs. But then he seemed ok this morning. Asking to go upstairs again but that's ok. He's a bit more like his normal self other than that so I can deal.

I'm a bit paranoid about my cats acting differently. The last time one did.... yeah, just call me paranoid.

Is it possible to just leave the door propped open for a while to see what he does?

stiletto said:

 
Is it possible to just leave the door propped open for a while to see what he does?

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We can, but she doesn't want ALL my cats going up there. Plus I don't want Penelopy going up there right now, and she would LOVE to do that. Too many places to explore up there and I won't see her for days. She just got spayed so not quite ready for her to go disappearing on me. 

We did leave it open a tad the other day just to see what he'd do though, when Pea-Pea was sleeping and so were the dogs. He went in but didn't come out while the door was open. The moment we closed it, he wanted back out.

He has trained you well 

He knows now that meowing in your face gets you to open the door. And if it doesn't, he simply needs to meow for longer. Then it happens. It's a nifty trick to get your humans to do and something fun to do during the day.

My suggestion is to try and channel his energy and need for interaction into a different venu. Keep a an interactive toy (like Da Bird or another rod-type toy) near your desk. When Oliver begins to ask for your door opening service, take out the toy and play with him for a few minutes. It should relieve his boredom and more importantly, help him disassociate the meowing with the door opening. You can then incorporate other toys and see which keep his attention the most, then rotate to keep his interest level high enough. When he comes over, you pet him for a little, then throw a toy on the floor for him to play with. 

I hope this helps! Let us know if it does.

Anne said:

 
He has trained you well 

He knows now that meowing in your face gets you to open the door. And if it doesn't, he simply needs to meow for longer. Then it happens. It's a nifty trick to get your humans to do and something fun to do during the day.

My suggestion is to try and channel his energy and need for interaction into a different venu. Keep a an interactive toy (like Da Bird or another rod-type toy) near your desk. When Oliver begins to ask for your door opening service, take out the toy and play with him for a few minutes. It should relieve his boredom and more importantly, help him disassociate the meowing with the door opening. You can then incorporate other toys and see which keep his attention the most, then rotate to keep his interest level high enough. When he comes over, you pet him for a little, then throw a toy on the floor for him to play with. 

I hope this helps! Let us know if it does.

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Oh, he has been going upstairs for months. He just never did this go up / go down / rinse and repeat over and over before. In fact, every morning, I'd let him upstairs, maybe 5-10 minutes he'd come down, and that is that. But the incessant meowing, that is the new part. He has this weird meow though. It's not even a meow, it's more like a really long whine   Both he and his brother have weird meows actually!

Thinking back (quite a way back), I think his Uncle Lucky was like that for awhile. He was another one that used to go up and visit every day. I have vague memories of my mom saying to him, "I just let you back in, now you want to go back upstairs again??" And he'd meow (a regular meow) back as if to say, "Of course I do!" He didn't do that a lot though, it was a once in a while thing. 

I will definitely keep a stash of toys nearby. Lately we've just been meowing back at him, lol.

Hmmm, another piece of the puzzle showed itself today. His brother Oscar decided to assert his dominance out of nowhere and started humping Oliver! He was quite upset about it too, I could see the look in his eyes. Oliver has always been a gentle soul, and is easily picked upon. His brother hasn't really done that since they were little guys though. I used to call him "Oscar de la Jolla" (spelled wrong, I know) because he looked like he was boxing with Oliver. But today, it was humping, biting the scruff of the neck and all. Poor little Oliver! 

He did a little bit of the "up and down" thing today, but he's been upstairs for a couple of hours now. Guessing he fell asleep up there. It is that time of day after all.