Dealing with "crying"

[theblackswapper]

Hi,

I am a new owner.  About two months ago I adopted two cats.  The mother (Stardust) is about nine months old, the daughter (Echo) is a little less than four months old.  I love them.  I love them, and they've made me a better, braver, and happier man.  

There is one small issue, though.   Stardust meows and . . . I hope I'm explaining this right, but often she'll meow and she'll lower her voice and sort of modulate it.  It gets lower and vibrates or sharper.  It sounds like she's crying?

I grew up around cats.  I love them, but I have to admit this is a little distracting.  I am Hard-of-Hearing, so while it doesn't radically influence me, it's sometimes annoying.  I'm scared she's mowing like this because she is really hurt, found something I need to see, or really needs me.  Right now it seems like this is an attention-seeking behavior.  I play with her quite a bit, and she likes it, but I am worried a little that this "crying" is going to continue.  I don't want that partially due to my Hard-of-Hearing condition, and partially because I don't want this to be a problem with any neighbors.

This is kind of embarassing for me to even talk about, because I genuinely don't know how loud Stardust is being due to my condition, but I just wanted to know if this is normal for most new cat owners deal with?  I play with her, I alternate her toys, I pay attention to her when she's quiet, I pick her up and pet her, and she purrs, and I've heard that ignoring the meowing is the best way to get it under control, but have people foun this to be effective?  AmI being overly sensitive?  Do I just need to accept this?  We had a couple of Siamese growing up, so it's not like I am used to (or even want) silent cats, but I am just trying to find a sort of equalibrium?

Again, I'm kind of embarassed to even ask this, but her voice is just so heartbreaking I want to have some idea of how to deal with it.  This is in no way, shape, or form a dealbreaker for me and these cats, but does anybody have any feedback?  

Thanks.

 

[losna]

Is there a pattern to it?

When we first adopted Sinbad and Tempest, Sinbad would cry at night when he got lost while trying to find his way back to the bed after using the litterbox.  It took him a few months to learn the house, and now he only cries when he's having a nightmare, when he's depressed because Tempest has rejected his attempts to snuggle and play with her, or when I'm completely curled up inside a blanket and he can't find me.

So my first thought would be to try to figure out if there's something specific triggering it. 

 

[theblackswapper]

Sort of. I'm finding at night she tends to be worse.  The thing is, often Echo will go and start playing with her when she cries  that helps, but a lot of times it seems to be more of an announcement in the vein of "I'm here" when she comes into a room.  She's gotten better the past couple of days, so we'll see.  I'm definitely looking for patterns now.  Thanks.

 

[dandila]

My cat uses that yowl on me when she thinks that something is really important and knows that I will usually ignore all other meows.  She talks every bit as much as any Siamese and so I tend to tune her out.

Of course, what she deems important and what I deem important are very different.  It is important to her to perform a daily walk and sniff in each and every room.  If I have a door closed to the particular room and it is time for her to walk and sniff, she will give me the yowl.  When she wants to eat but I don't think it is dinner time yet, she gives me the yowl.  But then there was the time she had a urinary tract infection and gave me the yowl while using the litter box.  Trust me, that one we both agreed on the level of importance.

Sometimes they will do it at night if they want to play or they are lonely.  You can rule it out by playing really hard with her just before bed time.  Be sure to give her a little treat afterward, too.

Make sure she is not is any pain and you can ignore all of the others.  She will stop if it is not effective.

 

[Sarthur2]

T theblackswapper

Has Stardust been spayed yet? If not, it sounds like she is in heat. Cats make awful noises when in heat. The heat cycle will pass but will return unless she gets spayed.

If she is not spayed, please make an appointment for her and her kitten to be fixed. This will stop the misery and prevent pregnancy.

No need to be embarrassed by a question on this forum!

 

[schrody]

If she isn't spayed she could be in heat like sarthur said. Those meows are typically very low and horribly annoying, and often happen during the night. 

That said, some cats are very talkative and will meow on and on if they're bored, they want something, they're unhappy about something, or simply because why the heck not. My two never shut up, being a siamese (they are the loudest and chattiest cats) and a siamese mix it's not much of a surprise.

The best you can do is make sure that she has everything she needs. A variety of toys, hiding places, high perches, playtime, clean litterbox, a regular eating schedule (leaving food out all the time will make your cats bored, which leads to behaviour such as this).

 

[theblackswapper]

Thanks to everybody here.  I actuially had Stardust spayed today.  She's been better overall since I posted here.  I think a big part of it is we are both learning when it's okay to sort of interact.  I'm learning when she's quiet and wants attention vs. not wanting attention, and she's been much better at letting me sleep or getting my attention nonverbally.  

I grew up with Siamese.  Stardust isn't on that level, but yeah she's chatty.  Still, I think we've reached an equalibrium that works for both of us.