Suddenly very vocal - driving us nuts!

[x-ta-z]

Our Soleil (7 yr old female, spayed) has been an indoor cat for most of the time, though she would take every opportunity to be on the balcony. We once (about 2 yrs ago) lived in a house and let her roam but the past 2+ years she was indoor again.
A few months ago we moved into a house again and we let the cars go outdoors during daytime when we are at home. We don't like letting them out at night - a) there are foxes in the neighbourhood, one has his territory just behind our garden, and b) it's winter and we don't have a car flap, leaving the door open would just cool down the house too much. And there is no way I would leave the door closed and not offer them an escape route into safety.

Now the problem.
Soleil loves going out but she doesn't seem to understand that she can only go out during daylight. She therefore spend every evening meowing NON-STOP!!!! It drives us mad.
I read that you shouldn't scold her for being vocal but reward her for being quiet but I have no clue on how to go about as she is never quiet. The moment we come home until we go to bed. Once we wake up she goes at it again until we leave for work. She roams the house and meows.
In our previous house she would meow a lot as well but give up if we didn't pay attention but this time she just won't stop.
we're at wit's end. Any help is appreciated!

 

[kittyfostermom]

I'm thinking that you have to ignore it, if she's not getting any attention for it, i'm thinking she will stop. I don't think she cares about time of day, she might be the type of cat that is outdoor or indoor but not both. If she is quiet give her a treat right away, other wise i don't know, sorry i wish i could offer more advice. Help is on the way, lots of others will give advice.

 

[x-ta-z]

Thank you kittyfostermom.
We try to ignore her but she just won't stop. The problem is that if she does take a break an I get up to get a treat she immediately runs towards a door and starts meowing again. And it's a really noisy meow. I really don't know what to do! I'm so sick of it!

 

[kittyfostermom]

No you have to have the treat in your pocket so as soon as she's quiet the treat is given right away like 3 sec. ( by the time you go to the cupboard it's too late and the message is lost) The other thing to try is wear ear plugs. I will look for some ideas on line for you.

 

[kittyfostermom]

Ok so i did a little reading for you and there are a few things you have to have checked out, the first thing is to make sure there isn't a medical problem so you should take her to the vet and make sure she's ok. Then you should look to see if she's bored and is not being stimulated enough in the house interactive toys for you and your cat to play with, play with her the same times every day twice might work for 15 min to 30 min if she has lots of energy,climbers, puzzle ball feeders. You are going to have to make her indoor life fun and stimulating for her so she loves being indoors. I would take her to the vet first just to rule out anything health wise. The vet will also be able to give you suggestions. Hope this helps. Please let me know how it goes.

 

[kittyfostermom]

Scrap the vet first thing, do the playing stuff i suggested first, and see if that works.No point in paying a vet bill if you don't have to, but if none of these suggestions work then take her to the vet. Take her dry kibble and spread it out on the floor if you can, and see if she will walk around the room eating all the kibble pieces. Before i go to bed at night i give my cat wet food and a bit of her kibble, hiding it around the house for her to find, her tummy is full, she gets to do her hunting thing and then she goes to sleep happy camper

 

[x-ta-z]

Healthwise she is definitely ok. Had her checked recently. Will try the kibble hiding. She is quite a hunter so maybe she just needs more fun in the house!

Thanks for the tips. Will try straight away

 

[kittyfostermom]

Let me know how it goes.

 

[parisiankitties]

Perhaps from her point of view, she thinks that she meows a lot and you eventually let her out, not realising that you let her out because it is day. She might think that it is efficient behaviour because it eventually yields a result.

I have a kitty who meows and makes a whiny sound. Also my grown up cat and kitten love to run back and forth and play at night and I live in a big studio with 100+ year old floorboards so they make a fair bit of noise. I sleep with earplugs everynight but sometimes that is not enough so I also bought a white noise machine which I put on my mattress next to my pillow (it's the Marpac Dohm). I find with that on and earplugs I can finally sleep through the noise of my kitties and I am a very light sleeper. I realise that is not an ideal solution but it works for me.

Good luck!

 

[x-ta-z]

Kittyfostermom - it hasn't helped. Tried to distract her with toys and treats. She had no interest in playing. She kept sitting by the door. Though while our other cat enjoyed the playtime at least the noisy one stopped crying! But once the games stopped she started meowing again. We now let her out at night if it's not too late and we leave the conservatory open for her so she can escape into it in case a fix comes. But even so she comes back after 15 min, warms up and wants to go out again. She is just hugely annoying!

Parisiankitties - this will sound weird but I wish we could solve it with earplugs.unfortunately she starts the minute we come home until we go to bed. She takes breaks in between but sometimes she continues for an hour uninterrupted. She then continues in the morning roughly when she knows our alarm is about to go off sometimes a bit earlier even. The weird thing is that in previous houses she would meow for 5 min tops and if she didn't get a reaction she would stop. But then we could let her out a lot more often as the could jump into the windowsill next to the couch and we could immediately let her in.

 

[kittyfostermom]

I'm going to check some videos for you to see what you can do and ill post them for you.

 

[kittyfostermom]

The fact that she was quiet for a bit sounded like to me that it was starting to work, these things take time. As long as you keep giving into her meowing by letting her out, she is getting the message that if she meows enough you will let her out. If you're ok with letting her out when she meows then your problem is solved.  That's why i won't even walk my cat on a leash outside she's strictly indoors. I did have a night time meowing problem when i got her, but i corrected it, it took 3 weeks you have to be patient and consistent in order to see change. 

 

[parisiankitties]

Gosh, that does sound really frustrating! My kitty meows and whines at me when I arrive home or am standing up (I think he just doesn't like having me taller than him because he stops when I pick him up like a baby). Anyway, sometimes it gets a bit annoying, I tell him "Shushu! Please stop yelling at me!" So I can only imagine if that was going on for hours and hours... It would drive me insane! If your kitty's meow is anything like my kitty's, very high pitched and plaintive and difficult to ignore.