Cat Meow's more and "randomly"?

[firehawk]

Hi all,

as my cat is growing... is now around 10-11 months old, I see he is meowing more and maybe louder too. He didn't used to meow as much when we got him in Aug 2022 and was estimated to be about 4 months old then when we took him to the vet to get a first full examination.

He is classified as a domestic short hair (gray). Handsome

Should I be worried? He doesn't show anything about being in pain but I don't know if he is hiding it or something. Runs and plays just fine.

Also, he is still (and maybe more so) coming into bed and suckling on the bed sheet/cover and purring. Why do they do that? Makes the cover very wet!!

 

[JcatT77]

I am definitely not an expert… but our “old lady”, Tigi, really found her voice at about a year of age. Now at 13 years she has honed it in to literally say the word “hello” over and over every night at about 2AM. We have had her examined and tested for health issues and the vets always state that she is fine. My husband and I believe that she is just communicating with us, we tend to respond “hello Tigi” back to her, or she is just letting off some of her excess energy.

As for the suckling you mentioned, cats use it as a way to self-comfort or territory marking (especially when needing the blanket with their paws). Every cat we have ever had has done this. Our 18 month old does this without suckling, (we call it making muffins), and she always does it right before she settles in for a cat nap.

Tigi - grey and white
J

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Even though you have had him for a while, he could actually just be getting more comfortable with his home and is more relaxed about 'talking'. If all else is well with him, I would just keep an eye on him for other signs of a health issue, and let it be otherwise. It is possible that he is looking for more attention than he already gets too - so, keep that in mind as well.

I presume you don't know anything about his life before you, so it could be that he was taken from his mama prematurely, leading to the ongoing need to suckle. There are also cats who just like doing it for no reason other than it is part of their personality. Some, more than not, will eventually grow out of it. If you think it has increased a bit, that too could be related to attention seeking and associated insecurity from that.

 

[firehawk]

Thank you! I really appreciate it. It's good knowing that this is not just something to worry about or "unique".
Definately will keep an eye out. It's just, whenever he meow's a lot, it concerns me and I feel like I am not doing a good job... or I am missing something and I dont understand (obviously) and letting him down.

 

[Alldara]

My boys are very chatty. Magnus became more chatty as he became comfortable that we were his permanent home.

You can make other noises at him like burrs and such. You can try following him to see if he's requesting something. You can even take a look at using buttons for communication (takes a long time)like Bunny and Stella the talking dogs or Billie the cat!