Could My Cat’s Yowling Be Due To Anxiety?

[Moonlight_wolf]

Hi, I have a cat who’s always been very vocal. Like if I go somewhere she can’t follow (she’s not allowed in part of the house because of the dogs and mostly my parents) And she’s also taken to pacing the halls yowling when I’m not in the hallway with her/ not currently playing with her. But still somewhere she can go.

Well the other day it was night and she was howling and usually I lock her with me in my bedroom at that point so she doesn’t wake anyone up. Bu I decided to try and put her harness on to see if she’d stop. I wanted to see if it would somehow distract her. And it did more than I expected to do. She doesn’t seem to and has never disliked her harness. In fact the moment I put it on her, she stopped howling and now actually started playing more. Batting her toys around and such. And so I’m kinda wondering if her yowling could be anxiety based. And the harness was acting something like a thunder jacket??? What does everyone else think?

I actually tried this on two seperate occasions once last night and once today and got the same results both times.


Also: if you think it could be anxiety then would it be okay to leave the harness on her. She doesn’t seem to feel restricted or bothered by it. She races around as usual and seems to be having a grand old time!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

From what you have said, it is almost certainly anxiety. And the harness seems to be the answer. So long as it is well-fitting and she is happy in it, it won't hurt a thing. May I ask, is it a "holster" type harness? If so, then it may be acting very much like the vaunted "Thunder Shirt".

 

[Moonlight_wolf]

It’s a h style harness the one that has a strap around the neck and a strap around the waist. It’s snug but not too tight. But I mean I guess I’ll keep it on her. At least while I’m home to start with. As long as it’s helping her!

 

[DreamerRose]

She may also be bored. I have one who consistently howls when he's bored. If the harness calms her and she starts playing, I would say that may be the cause of it. See if you can play with her more.

 

[Moonlight_wolf]

Yeah I do throw her spring (her favorite toy that she actually fetches) for her and I’ve made her a bunch of toys and she has about a thousand stick toys that I play with her with! I think she may sometimes still get bored because she’s young and rambunctious. So that’s true. But I do try to play with her when I’m home and upstairs, but even if I play with her all day. As soon as I go downstairs it’s like the worst thing ever for her

 

[DreamerRose]

She doesn't want you to leave her! That's sweet. I have one like that too. Mine is a rescue who was abandoned with kittens, so I go and get her when she cries. Can you get yours used to the dogs and your parents? Then she can always follow you. She just wants to be with you and is very lonely without you.

 

[Moonlight_wolf]

Yeah I know, I’d love to have her follow me around wherever I go. I do spend most of my time upstairs anyways (where she can go), I just basically go down to eat and make food to eat. So I’m never down there for any length of time. And I do also think it’s sweet that she always wants me with her. And she only ever does it for me. Like she will still yowl if my mom or sister is upstairs as long as I am downstairs.

And the problem is mostly with my parents. My one extremely prey driven dog has grown really old and is now too lazy to really do much of anything so he’s no longer a problem. My other dog is kind of posesive of my mom, so if my mom pets my cat while he’s there he can get mad and actually bit mia’s ear once

But my mom has a plethora of poisonous plants that she wouldn’t want to move. And my dad doesn’t want her in the rest of the house, I’m not actually sure why because he seems to like her.

She’s happy up here otherwise just not when I’m not up here! The biggest problem is when I have to go downstairs to get her food at night (she eats frozen raw) if I get home from work late. She will yowl once I head downstairs and I’ve lewrned it’s not the excitement of food that makes her yowl. Because in the morning when I give her her food, I go downstairs to eat and then I always know when she’s done eating because that’s when she howls

I mean I think it’s kinda cute that she wants me there so much. It’s mostly only a problem at night. But I just thought it was interesting that it stopped or reduced significantly when she had her harness on. Because as much as I like that she enjoys my company, I don’t want her suffering when I’m not up there. So I just was trying to figure out if she was yowling due to anxiety.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

You know, if she is having a touch of separation anxiety, this might help:

Separation Anxiety In Cats