Meowing 24/7

[Agatuciite]

About 10 days ago we took in a cat that is about 6months to one year old. He was living on streets for at least a week. Don't know anything more about his past. On the first day he was so sweet and affectionate. Visibly tired and very hungry, looked like he hadn't eaten in a long time. At first we were scared that he wouldn't know how to use litter box but he is excellent with it, which probably means that he had previous owners. Anyways the next day he started meowing and looking through the window. And he just won't stop. He is meowing 24/7 now. Its impossible to shut him up. We thought that maybe he just wants to go outside. We tried that. He keeps meowing even when he is outside. We feed him twice a day and he has dry cat food for whenever he is hungry when we are at work. Also we clean his litter box regularly. We can't figure out why he wont stop. Does he just hate us that much?

 

[Columbine]

Hi, and welcome to TCS

First off, thank you so much for taking this boy in. You've changed his life for the better I'm certain he doesn't hate you one bit. Some cats are just very vocal, and strays or ferals can find it hard to adjust to the indoor life at first.

Has he been to the vet yet? The first thing I do with any stray is take them for a thorough vet check. The vet will also scan for a microchip, to check that kitty isn't lost, start the vaccinations process, and treat him for fleas, worms and any other parasites he may have. The vet may also be able to tell you if kitty has been neutered; if not, you'll want to get him fixed as soon as possible.

If he's not yet been fixed, he may be meowing so much because there's a female cat (or cats) in heat in your area, and he wants to get out and mate with them (or at least give it a good try ).

Other possibilities are that he's a little bored and needs more stimulation, or that his hearing is impaired. It can be a sign of health issues too, but that seems less likely as he's so young.
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[Agatuciite]

Thing is he has no health problems. He has excellent hearing, he is neutered, no microchips, fleas or worms. We already checked all of that the first day. That's why we are so concerned and kinda annoyed. We love him but its really hard to stand the meowing cos he is super loud.
We spend a lot of time playing but he tends to get very aggressive and bites, scratches. Starts attacking randomly. So playtime is definitely not our favorite thing. We really thought that the problem is indoors so we took him out for a walk but he still kept meowing. It was clear that he doesn't like going outside.
So yh.. We are totally desperate. Maybe we can give him something calming for his adaptation period? Would medicine help?

 

[Columbine]

Great that he's been to the vet and has a clean bill of health It always pays to rule physical issues out before treating an issue as purely behavioural.

What kind of toys are you using for his play sessions? The best toys for interactive play are wand or rod-and-line types, as these keep your hands well away from teeth and claws. It sounds like he's getting over-stimulated very easily, which can be a tough thing to deal with.
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Some cats really do benefit from calmers of some sort as they make the transition into indoor life. I start out by trying Feliway and food based calmers, such as Composure or Zylkene. Both are pretty similar as far as ingredients go, but some cats respond better to one than the other. As always, check with your vet before trying one, though (it's just good practice with any kind of supplement ). I know some people have had great results with the prescription calming foods, like Royal Canin Calm, too. It comes down to your cat's taste and your own preference. There are prescription anxiety meds available too, but I would only go down that route as a last resort.
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[Agatuciite]

We have rod like toys, toys with sounds, simple balls, cat house and boxes. Everything that cats normally like. He is still more interested in meowing and ruining our couch and hearing tho

 

[msaimee]

I assume he has some quiet times, such as when he sleeps? I have one of those super vocal cats as well. He was an outdoor cat that I rescued from a cat hoarder three and a half years ago. Sometimes he meows because he wants to go outside, and sometimes I take him outside on a lead and harness and he enjoys going for walks. But in general, he meows meows meows meows meows quite a bit throughout the day. He has no health problems. He has access to food 24/7. He just likes to meow. He's calmed down a bit since when I first took him in, and your kitty will too. But some cats are just very vocal, they have quite a bit to say. If you find a solution to your meowy cat, please let me know

 

[MRG2018]

We have rod like toys, toys with sounds, simple balls, cat house and boxes. Everything that cats normally like. He is still more interested in meowing and ruining our couch and hearing tho

He needs a scratching post. Apply double sided tape where he scratches on the couch.

 

[Agatuciite]

He has one on his cat house. Tried to teach him use that but no luck yet.

 

[Agatuciite]

Well yeah.. But he isn't much of sleeper. He sleeps only couple hours a night. He probably sleeps when we are at work but when I have days of he doesn't sleep during the day. We play for hours but it doesn't fatigue him. Probably cos he is still young.
Well I really hope that he will learn that meowing all the time is not good. Have you taken him to vet? Is his vocal cords okay from yelling that much?

 

[MRG2018]

He has one on his cat house. Tried to teach him use that but no luck yet.

I have 2 cat trees and a scratching post with a perch. He will scratch the carpet, or he was scratching my bed's headboard until I switched beds. Double sided tape did help- but it was obvious he wasnt getting enough. So now we have both carpet wrapped cat trees, and sisal rope wrapped cat perch. And he uses both. I tried the weaved sisal scratchers and cardboard scratchers. Nope he prefer carpet and sisal rope.

What does he scratch now? the couch?

 

[Agatuciite]

We want to buy him a special cat scratching carpet with smell that would lure him in. Heard that cats really like those. And we got cat anti spray for the couch. It helped my relatives cat to stop scratching everything. Gonna see how that goes.

 

[artesian79]

Try spraying where he scratches on the couch with Feliway. That has worked for me. When we trained each of ours to not scratch the couch, we also placed a scratcher in front of where they tried to scratch and slowly moved it. We've had 2 who were more challenging than the others, but stick with it.