cat howls alot very odd sounding noises

we have a 17 year old male cat. neutered and declawed. for the past year or so this cat howls i am not talking about meowing i mean like it's dying i have to shut my bedroom door just to try to get some sleep at night. i have always had cats but this is a first. any help is appreciated we don't want to get rid of him but it's driving us crazy.

Jeffc....this sounds like a common case of hyperthyroidism.....a common side affect...have you had his blood tested recently? I'd ALMOST be willing to bet on this one....you should go see the vet and ask him...

I woud take your cat to the vet and ask for a big panel to be run on him. He sounds like he is probably ill.

That's a fairly advanced age for a cat. I've been told by people who've experienced this that a cat that goes deaf vocalizes louder. You might consider having your cat's hearing checked, also.

Silly old kitties. Thats normal as my cats aged they did that (well okay the one didn't meow but she was a persion). Our Persian (Beans) lived to be about 18 (incredably old for a cat bread not to have a face i think) and our former stray (Sausage) lived to be about 22. As Sausage got to around age 17 I think she began doing that (i was 14 when we had to put her down so i'm not to clear on details). She had as Coaster said begun to go deff and she was kinda senile too, however she was happy and she didn't seem to be in pain untill her last year (even then she was still happy enough to jump onto the telivison, complicated prossess that involved getting on the couch frist then getting to the top of the TV, and then draging half of my dads ham sandwich to the floor, we let her have it if she's that old and out of it and was still able to get the sandwich with much swiftness and aglity i may add she desivered it). As your cat gets older just let it be happy. Let it make disturbing noises if it feels like it, don't bother takeing it to the vet it will just stress the poor kitty. In fact once Beans died and we only had Sausage we didn't bother taking her (Sausage, doesn't do much good to take a dead cat to the vet now does it) to the vet any more except if she was sick. I actuly recomend that if he's an indoor cat. No point, it just kills the poor thing faster.

No offense, but ummm ... no. Take your cat to the vet.

If it's hyperthyroidism (and my parents' cat started yowling before she was diagnosed with it), your cat needs medical treatment: hyperthyroidism is treatable but will be fatal without medication. If it's deafness, you need to find this out to make some lifestyle changes to accommodate your cat's hearing loss. And if it's neither of these things, your cat could be yowling because he's in pain, and you need to find out why ASAP.

My parents' cat is 18 years old and still has regular vet visits. Yes, it's stressful for her, but her health is important to my parents and the only way to know for sure what's going on with her is to ensure the vet sees her. Some vets are willing to make house calls for cats with delicate health issues; if that's the case for you, you can always ask your vet if s/he does house calls, or if s/he can recommend another vet who does.

Advanced age is not an excuse to stop taking your cat to the vet, especially when it's obvious your cat is in some kind of distress.

I agree....suffering from ill health is more stressful that a vet visit because it goes on day after day, whereas a vet visit is a once-in-awhile very short thing. And if medical treatment can alleviate distressing symptoms of a health condition, then the dear old kitty is even happier.