Gransnet forums

Pets

Vociferous cat

(12 Posts)
ninathenana Tue 06-Oct-15 15:07:46

Has anyone else's cat become noisy in it's old age ?
Our rescue female is about 12 and for the past 6mths or so meows a lot. She eats well, still has kitten 'scats', goes in the garden, and generally behaves the same as ever. She's not asking for fuss as she isn't near us when she's meowing, she just sits and meows.
I have Googled and apparently cats can suffer age related dementia. I worked for a vet for 10 yrs and hadn't come across this.
Anyone?

rosesarered Tue 06-Oct-15 16:27:53

Yes, we have had many cats and as they got older made lots of noise.The last cat even used to sit on the lawn and howl.

tanith Tue 06-Oct-15 16:30:27

Yep at least 2 of my long lived cats became very vocal in old age.. one used to walk around the house in the middle of the night yowling and calling used to drive us insane.

dustyangel Tue 06-Oct-15 18:40:41

One of our cats became very vocal in her old age, far more affectionate too. From being a cat who refused to being picked up, she worked up from sitting next to you to sitting on your lap and accepting being stroked.

My SiL said that one of hers had dementia. She would sit in the sun but with her back to the rest of the world instead of her face. She forgot where her food was and wandered round looking for it but at that stage she still seemed very happy. Her sight was fine.

apricot Tue 06-Oct-15 18:59:25

I've known several old cats who have done this, usually in the middle of the night. They have shown no other signs of dementia.
My present cat is only 3 but very very talkative. In old age he'll be like a howling operatic diva. His brother never miaowed at all.

Judthepud2 Tue 06-Oct-15 23:21:41

Our cat of 14 has become quite clingy recently, and vocal too. He follows me everywhere waiting for me to sit down, and then jumps on my knee. DH calls him my shadow. This too has come with age. He just wants the comfort I think. Seems healthy otherwise.

rosesarered Wed 07-Oct-15 09:38:08

Yes, they all do this, and they try and get as near your face as they can to rub against you.It's sad.

rosesarered Wed 07-Oct-15 09:39:46

It's sad, because they need you every minute, which you can't always be doing with!In the end, you feel stalked by them.

ninathenana Wed 07-Oct-15 10:42:29

Noony Nat (grandsons attempt at pussy cat) has shunned affection since the meowing started. She used to sit on DH's lap but hasn't done so for ages.

LuckyDucky Sun 25-Oct-15 07:36:50

Our other Maine Coon is vocal, she's only 5. She announces her arrival in the sitting room. She has different sounds or meows for different occasions; this includes a fast teeth chatter when seeing birds.

Our male Maine Coon is vocal, when I groom him. He's on his back on my lap, growling gently at first, when combing his 'trousers. It starts as a quiet growl. Despite growling, louder than the TV, his head is turned away, eyes shut, paws closed. He stops to listen when I talk to him,
then starts growling anew. grin; this continues till he's back on the ground and safely away.

When she believes her food should be served, she starts with a kittenish mew; her sounds escalate and volume to a full throated meow when very occasionally I'm late in producing food.

They're both a joy grin.

To allay any doubts, I groom both cats, which means I comb their coats, clean their teeth, gums and tongue, wipe their eyes and check her ears. When she sees the grooming plastic bag arrive plus the glass of water (for their toothbrushes), she'll hide lol.

Jane10 Sun 25-Oct-15 08:45:30

Gosh well done for the grooming. We have a 'Furminator' which our Maine Coon puts up with for a while but soon tells us he's had enough. This is the first year we've had to detangle him. Don't know why. He's lying leaning on me heavily as I type this. He has chirrupy miaouws and extra quiet tactful miaouws for nightime. Don't know why he tries to miaouw quietly when we're asleep. It wakes us anyway! He's the archetypal gentle giant. Lovely boy.

Kitspurr Mon 26-Oct-15 19:05:07

My big, black, longhaired cat has always been very vocal. Now at the age of 17, he's extremely vocal! When he's not sleeping, he's talking. He has hyperthyroidism, and one of the symptoms of that is being vocal. He wails away in the house & won't pipe down until you find him & calm him down. It might be worth asking your vet to carryout a test for hyperthyroidism, as this is a very common ailment in ageing cats and they need medication to keep it under control.