18 year old cat meow/yowls a lot

[thorax]

Since you guys helped me so much better last time than any vet/specialist could, I'm starting here...

I have an eighteen year old cat who over the last year or so has pretty much gone deaf.  I mention that because it seems that also during that time, he's started meowing/yowling really loudly and for extended periods of time (minutes that seem like hours).  Sometimes he wakes up doing it, but mostly it occurs in the very early morning (3a - 7a).  He's been to the vet in the last year where he had some basic blood work done and he's super healthy as far as I know.  

Any ideas on things we can try, as I really miss sleeping?

 

[2Cats4everLoved]

My I ask what his name is?

I'm so sorry to hear your sweet boy has lost his hearing.

This could be a number of things, a couple being, confusion, because we can't talk to our cats, we can't explain to them what happening to them medically.  He could be confused and frightened and is howling as a defense mechanism.

He could also be howling louder because he thinks you aren't hearing him and may think if he's louder, you'll hear him.

I'm no expert and I hope one of the TCS Vets can chime in and give you tips on caring for a kitty gone deaf.

I wish you all the best with your sweet boy.

 

[pushylady]

I've heard of a lot of cats doing this as they get older. It's from either deafness, or it could also be from confusion like with dementia. 18 is very elderly for a cat, and although he is physically fine it wouldn't be surprising to have some cognition problems showing up.

 

[foxxycat]

It's possible it could be because the hearing is lost.  You can try to tap your foot on the floor where he is so he can feel the vibrations incase he can't hear you calling.

Sometimes howling can be from increased thyroid. Could be dementia. When was the last blood test done? you have to ask for T4 as it's not included in the standard blood work.

Has there been any weight loss or increase in eating/drinking/urinating? Hyperthyroid usually has these signs but not always. The vet would be able to feel their thyroid and see if anything going on in addition to blood work.

Thyroidism is treatable.   Leaving it untreated could bring on cardiac issues as hyper thy brings on increased heart beats and basically revs up all the systems. So it's best to treat it at the first sign of trouble.

If the levels are normal it could most likely be because he can't hear and is trying to get your attention?

 

[thorax]

 
It's possible it could be because the hearing is lost.  You can try to tap your foot on the floor where he is so he can feel the vibrations incase he can't hear you calling.

Sometimes howling can be from increased thyroid. Could be dementia. When was the last blood test done? you have to ask for T4 as it's not included in the standard blood work.

Has there been any weight loss or increase in eating/drinking/urinating? Hyperthyroid usually has these signs but not always. The vet would be able to feel their thyroid and see if anything going on in addition to blood work.

Thyroidism is treatable.   Leaving it untreated could bring on cardiac issues as hyper thy brings on increased heart beats and basically revs up all the systems. So it's best to treat it at the first sign of trouble.

If the levels are normal it could most likely be because he can't hear and is trying to get your attention?

He had his thyroid nuked when he was about 15.  He went through a phase last year where he seemed to be drinking a lot of water, so we took him to have it checked again.  Everything was normal.

So maybe he's just crazy?