behavior problems in elderly cat

[tiggersbombed2]

What about getting her a friend?

 

[JLiz]

What about getting her a friend?

She is so sweet to people but she really doesn't like other kitties. She is very territorial and wants to be the princess of the house.

 

[CookieGVB]

Our cat has recently been making crazy-sounding yowling noises in the middle of the night, but I suspect she's hearing/seeing the mice we find ourselves trying to be rid of!

 

[daughter_of_amid_chaos]

My 12 year old Little Chuggy does this. She will yowl and pace before she uses the litter box (she has a constipation issue that she gets laxatone for every day).
She also yowls in the middle of the night. She does it to wake me up and come downstairs and get her to cuddle.
Once I have her upstairs and cuddling with me she is all set.
I don't really understand why she does it since she can walk up and down the stairs fine on her own as well as get on the bed by herself and does it throughout the night.

I have been very stressed recently and have not been sleeping well at all. I noticed that she does not sleep well on nights I don't and sleeps fine with no yowling on nights I sleep well.

 

[lisaviolet]

I have 4 cats, but my two boys are inseparable litter mates and I dread the day when one of them goes before the other. They cry and wail if they can't find each other now.

I should be more loving to you and not post. I had the same - two inseparable litter mates - brothers. And the one left after death would wail every night after he passed. The same sound they used to call each other. And lived in a closet day in and day out. So after six months I was suffering so much with all the pain his/ours/mine- I gave in to get another cat.

It was be careful what you wail for. It cured the wailing and the closet but -

The new one Neville drives him INSANE. And I laugh and smile at him and say, "you really did want him. I swear. I'm so incredibly sorry Frankie." Really, insane but he rarely leaves him regardless. It's cute.

OP - all the best to you and your baby.

 

[quasar4legs]

Just wanted to send you and your kitty a

Maybe your furbaby would like to watch a disney movie at night

Hope your vet can help.

Quasar

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

Add my tabby cat (tabby) to the WA (wailers annoymous). She's a very loud cat. Dosent matter when Im home, I call to her and she ignores me (she's got great hearing, can hear the fridge when shes on the other end of the house). She sits on the stairs going upstairs and WHINES till mom comes home. Grrr!

 

[JLiz]

OP here, I took the kitty to the vet today and they took a blood sample. They checked her glucose levels and they are normal so she doesn't have diabetes. I'm to call back tomorrow morning around 9 for the rest of the results.

Thank you everyone for your replies and well wishes!

 

[PrincessV]

You can add my 17+ year-old, Bailey, to the list, too. Except that Bailey has whined that horrible, make-me-want-to-do-ANYTHING-lickity-split cry her entire life! It has a few different tones and accompanying connotations, ranging from "FEED ME NOW!" to "I'm tired and you people won't shut up so I can get my 23 hours of sleep" to "The pan is dirty and I'll poop on your rug if you don't fix this situation."

But, in the past year it's gotten a lot more excessive; whereas in the past the whine would go away when a need was met, now it continues on and on... and there's a new sound - the one we hear most often - that seems to mean "I'd like you to look upon me adoringly and scratch my ears while I purr." I'm also convinced that she's going deaf. Other than that, she gets rave reviews from the vet for good health, so it must be part of the aging process.

I hope the rest of the results are good OP!

 

[LuvOrlando]

My 18 year old does this too. When he starts up i just give him a packet of moist cat food and he quiets down for the night, finds his pillow and then sleeps with the rest of us. Spoiled kitty

 

[SaraJayne]

You can add my 17+ year-old, Bailey, to the list, too. Except that Bailey has whined that horrible, make-me-want-to-do-ANYTHING-lickity-split cry her entire life! It has a few different tones and accompanying connotations, ranging from "FEED ME NOW!" to "I'm tired and you people won't shut up so I can get my 23 hours of sleep" to "The pan is dirty and I'll poop on your rug if you don't fix this situation."

But, in the past year it's gotten a lot more excessive; whereas in the past the whine would go away when a need was met, now it continues on and on... and there's a new sound - the one we hear most often - that seems to mean "I'd like you to look upon me adoringly and scratch my ears while I purr." I'm also convinced that she's going deaf. Other than that, she gets rave reviews from the vet for good health, so it must be part of the aging process.

I hope the rest of the results are good OP!

My old girl is named Bailey, too.

 

[hereyago]

OP-sorry about your kitty. I am nieve and never thought of a cat having dementia, but then again until my dog got cancer, I didn't think of that happening either.

My kitty is a little screamer now, mostly every morning for his brother, the GS. Like someone is trying to kill kitty screaming but he just wants to see his big brother.

And when I make chicken noodle soup, he is a talker smelling that.

 

[rpbert1]

Our cat cried constantly from she was about 17, she was diagonsed with Kidney problems, then she was diagnosed a bout 2 years later with OveractiveThyroid problems, and then dementia, we had her from 6 weeks old, and had eventually to get her put to sleep, vet told us to think about it, but that she thought it was not fasir on the cat, after about 10 days we decided , we where only avoiding it for our benefit and not the cat. Like PP said it was probably the worst thing i have had to do, and decided after it, that i was not going to have any more animals.
Our cat Tiny was 22 years old

 

[castmemberb4]

Our 16 year old baby did this too, if we called her name her tone would change and she'd come to us. She went through a bout of hyperthyroidism had the treatment. Her blood work they said looked like a 2 year old cat, really healthy. Didn't stop they yowling though, she was Bombay and had been a talker all her life so we didn't worry too much about it. Five months later one morning she couldn't walk, turns out there was an abdominal growth that was wrapped around her ardenal gland and pressing on her spine. They only found it through a body scan. She had been in pain the whole time, broke our hearts ! It was inoperable and we had to put her down. I have never seen DH cry like that before.

 

[JLiz]

I got the results of her bloodwork today and she is in great health. the vet said there is nothing medically wrong with her, aside from the asthma and arthritis with which we are already aware. He said that she might be suffering from senility and there isn't much we can do for her.

So, we've decided to increase her before bedtime playing to tucker her out as much as possible. If she still can't sleep through the night, or let us sleep through the night, then we'll put her in the second bedroom.

I was hoping for some recommendations on behavior modification techniques, but if she is senile, then she can't help it and my DH and I will just have to suck it up and deal with her yowling. Thinking back on all of the wonderful time and love this little kitty has given us, it is the least we can do for her.

For those of you that experienced this same issue in your elderly cats that was NOT medically related, was there anything that lessened the crying? Did your kitty seem to suffer from the dementia and was uncomfortable? I had to think of our sweet little lady in any discomfort.

 

[JLiz]

I got the results of her bloodwork today and she is in great health. the vet said there is nothing medically wrong with her, aside from the asthma and arthritis with which we are already aware. He said that she might be suffering from senility and there isn't much we can do for her.

So, we've decided to increase her before bedtime playing to tucker her out as much as possible. If she still can't sleep through the night, or let us sleep through the night, then we'll put her in the second bedroom.

I was hoping for some recommendations on behavior modification techniques, but if she is senile, then she can't help it and my DH and I will just have to suck it up and deal with her yowling. Thinking back on all of the wonderful time and love this little kitty has given us, it is the least we can do for her.

For those of you that experienced this same issue in your elderly cats that was NOT medically related, was there anything that lessened the crying? Did your kitty seem to suffer from the dementia and was uncomfortable? I hate to think of our sweet little lady in any discomfort.

 

[Tink9721]

Our cat did that the last few years of her life. She was over 19 when she died and she had thyroid disease the last 4 or 5 years.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

As far as modification, we bought a tape player and recorded all the family members saying the cats name (tabby) over and over. We put it on low every night and she snuggles it when she gets sad that GASP were sleeping! we also gave her a little kitten toy from walmart and she drags it around like her "kid". Seems to make her feel young again.

 

[FergieTCat]

I got the results of her bloodwork today and she is in great health. the vet said there is nothing medically wrong with her, aside from the asthma and arthritis with which we are already aware. He said that she might be suffering from senility and there isn't much we can do for her.

So, we've decided to increase her before bedtime playing to tucker her out as much as possible. If she still can't sleep through the night, or let us sleep through the night, then we'll put her in the second bedroom.

I was hoping for some recommendations on behavior modification techniques, but if she is senile, then she can't help it and my DH and I will just have to suck it up and deal with her yowling. Thinking back on all of the wonderful time and love this little kitty has given us, it is the least we can do for her.

For those of you that experienced this same issue in your elderly cats that was NOT medically related, was there anything that lessened the crying? Did your kitty seem to suffer from the dementia and was uncomfortable? I hate to think of our sweet little lady in any discomfort.

It does not work. When I'm home over the weekend, I keep Fergie as active as possible so she doesn't sleep for 20 straight hours. She STILL wanders around at night.

My mother is loud when she doesn't wear her hearing aid; I'm pretty sure that applies to Fergie.

 

[PrincessV]

My old girl is named Bailey, too.

Does she happen to be a silver tabby? My Bailey got her name because her tummy fuzz is exactly the color of Bailey's Irish Cream, lol!

I got the results of her bloodwork today and she is in great health.

Glad to hear this!

For those of you that experienced this same issue in your elderly cats that was NOT medically related, was there anything that lessened the crying? Did your kitty seem to suffer from the dementia and was uncomfortable? I had to think of our sweet little lady in any discomfort.

Sorry, I'm of no help there; my cat has NEVER responded to behavioral modification. However, we seem to, given that we've been trained to bend over backward to satisfy her every whim! Mine has also been a night-owl her entire life, so being up during the night isn't new. I wondered about that - is being awake at night new for your kitty? Mine definitely doesn't show signs of discomfort; the crying is always a signal of wanting something specific and once all of those specifics have been covered, she's satisfied and quiets down.

About the arthritis, mine has sore hips, too, and we started giving her these soft-chew vitamins from Petsmart - they're made by GNC and have glucosamine... what a difference it's made!

My mother is loud when she doesn't wear her hearing aid; I'm pretty sure that applies to Fergie.

Same here!