Do you have a whiny cat?

[aristocatz]

I do & it's getting out of control!

When she was a kitten she was so chatty and we all thought it was adorable so we reinforced her behavior. Now she's almost 3 years old & while she is still adorable & chatty, she has developed a bit of an attitude, literally marching up to us & yelling at us when we get home from work or right when we wake up!!

I know what to do about it-start ignoring her when she's being a brat & giving her lots of love when she's quieter & polite, but geesh!!!

Do you have a cat like this???

 

[OK!]

Oof, yes, my cat's a "talker." It doesn't really bother me too much (unless he's hassling me when I'm trying to get work done), but it irritates the LIFE out of people I talk to on the phone. At first, I couldn't figure out why he suddenly sprang to life and started yelling at me when I got on the phone...then a friend pointed out that since I talk to him in normal human-talk all the time and he doesn't know what a phone is, he might well think I'm just talking to him. It makes sense, I guess, but it still kinda sucks when I'm on conference calls and have to either lock him or myself back in the bedroom.

 

[daisyduck123]

Yes, we have two cats...one normal, & the other is a BIG talker.

When we talk to him, he responds right back. We can actually carry on quite a lengthy conversation with him, although we have no idea what he is trying to tell us. We just go back and forth with each other.

(He's a big ORANGE tabby...don't know if that makes any difference or not).

 

[EMom]

Sometimes I call my nearly 19 year old cat "Kitty Streisand" because she can hold a note FOREVER! Meeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooooow! She was always verbal and downright demanding, but the older she gets, the worse it gets. She has various meows. We really laugh at the one that is so witchy it almost sounds like a bark. (She has never met a dog, BTW.) She's a Maine Coon and chatters, if you know what I mean. I think Maine Coons must have quite a cat vocabulary. She's got arthritis and getting on our rather tall bed has become too much for her this past month. So she rants at us to pick her up and put her on the bed. The she rants at us to raise up the covers so she can snuggle underneath. Thank goodness she can still jump down by herself. Let's just say DH's next honey-do is a set of cat steps for our bed.

Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooooooooooow!

 

[OK!]

Maybe it's a tabby thing!

That's Rowan, my talker. I can also have conversations with him, like, "Hey Tub (that's his nickname)--how's it goin'?"
"Meow."
"Really? How fascinating."
"Meow. Meowmeowmeow!!! Meow."
"Geez, I didn't realize it had come to that!"

 

[aristocatz]

Your stories are too cute!

Mine is a calico/tortoise shell mix....cute as a button except when she is yelling at me!

 

[luvmy3]

Maybe it's a tabby thing!

That's Rowan, my talker. I can also have conversations with him, like, "Hey Tub (that's his nickname)--how's it goin'?"
"Meow."
"Really? How fascinating."
"Meow. Meowmeowmeow!!! Meow."
"Geez, I didn't realize it had come to that!"

You may be on to something. My tabby is a talker too. Sometimes it cute, but not when she comes in when I'm sleeping and sits next to my head and meows until I turn and let her lay in my chest and pet her. She's lucky she's cute

 

[EMom]

Kitty Streisand is a brown tabby Maine Coon.....looks just like the ones you always see in ads and commercials. Got her at an animal shelter, believe it or not.

 

[dakcp2001]

I remind my "talker" several times a day that he is lucky to be cute. lol. Otherwise he would not get away with all his annoying behaviour.

 

[kafitty]

we have a talker, too, but he's kind of stopped lately. i miss it.

hopefully this works...http://www.facebook.com/v/568360723736

however, i do NOT miss him trying to nurse off of our bare skin, thankfully he has also grown out of that! (mostly, anyway)

 

[OK!]

You may be on to something. My tabby is a talker too. Sometimes it cute, but not when she comes in when I'm sleeping and sits next to my head and meows until I turn and let her lay in my chest and pet her. She's lucky she's cute

Mine's favorite little trick is to stand back and lightly touch my nose or face with one of his paws. That's how he lets me know that it's time for me to get up and feed him, regardless of the hour. I usually put out a hand and push his face away from mine, which is how I let him know that it will be time to get up and feed him when the alarm goes off, and not a moment sooner.

 

[OK!]

we have a talker, too, but he's kind of stopped lately. i miss it.

hopefully this works...http://www.facebook.com/v/568360723736

however, i do NOT miss him trying to nurse off of our bare skin, thankfully he has also grown out of that! (mostly, anyway)

Rowan was EXTREMELY interested in Larry's video!

 

[castmemberb4]

Our talker was a Bombay mix, Oriental shorthairs are very vocal.
To the point that when she got sick we didn't know anything was wrong,
b/c she always 'yowled'. Her sister a Bermese mix rarely made a sound until after her sister passed away, then she became more talkative, guess she couldn't get a word in before.
Now we have an Australian Mist and an Orange Tabby both have these tiny little sqeaks that they rarely use. The Aussie gives me one little squeak when i come home and call his name, you only hear from his brother is he's losing a fight.

 

[luvmy3jewels]

I have three siamese cats, so I frequently enjoy kitty concerts. My male is the loudest and most vocal, particularly at night when we are trying to sleep. I have figured out that he usually provides his concerts after hunting and catching something he has been playing with (cat toys, kids hair scrunchies, etc). I guess he is inviting us to go see what he has done.

 

[glitterkittyy]

My tabby is also a talker but so is my dog! They talk to each other. Of course, I don't know what they're actually saying but I imagine it goes something like this:

Cat: Shut up!
Dog: No, you shut up!
Cat: No you!
Dog: You first!

And so on....

 

[tzolkin]

I was actually just going to post about my crying cat.

Every single night when we go up to bed she wanders around upstairs and just meows and meows. We just got her in October. At first I thought maybe she was hungry so I would get up and make sure she had food and water, but now I fill both right before I go upstairs. I thought maybe she was lonely, but after a while of meowing she will sleep in the bed with DH and I or one of the kids. Sometimes she will play with a toy for a few minutes and forget about the meowing, but she eventually remembers. Some nights it's just a regular continuous meowing, but other nights she is super loud when she goes into the kids' rooms trying to wake them up.


Is there something we should be doing? Occasionally, she'll hop in our bed and quiet down if we call her, but usually she just comes in and meows at us louder and then continues to wander the second floor. I would have thought if she just wanted us to stay up, she would realize after a few nights that we're not going to. We're just not that familiar with cats-- I had one cat in my life, but he never made a sound. I'm just not sure if it's normal for a cat to meow every night for a half hour or if we're not meeting her needs.

 

[Planogirl]

Our last cat was a big talker. He was a tuxedo cat so it's not just Tabbies!

Sometimes he would come rushing up and stare at me and yowl frantically. He had that look of excitement that he'd get and I'd play along but of course I never had a clue what he was going on about. It could have been a bird or dog outside the window or maybe a profound thought.

He also meowed in his sleep sometimes while kicking his legs. I always wondered what kind of adventure he was having.

 

[minnie56]

YESSSSSSSS! We have two kitties and one of them never shuts up!!!!!!! She talks LOUD first thing in the morning when that's the last thing you need, when you come home and often just when you walk into a room she happens to be in!! LOTS to say!

 

[Planogirl]

I was actually just going to post about my crying cat.

Every single night when we go up to bed she wanders around upstairs and just meows and meows. We just got her in October. At first I thought maybe she was hungry so I would get up and make sure she had food and water, but now I fill both right before I go upstairs. I thought maybe she was lonely, but after a while of meowing she will sleep in the bed with DH and I or one of the kids. Sometimes she will play with a toy for a few minutes and forget about the meowing, but she eventually remembers. Some nights it's just a regular continuous meowing, but other nights she is super loud when she goes into the kids' rooms trying to wake them up.


Is there something we should be doing? Occasionally, she'll hop in our bed and quiet down if we call her, but usually she just comes in and meows at us louder and then continues to wander the second floor. I would have thought if she just wanted us to stay up, she would realize after a few nights that we're not going to. We're just not that familiar with cats-- I had one cat in my life, but he never made a sound. I'm just not sure if it's normal for a cat to meow every night for a half hour or if we're not meeting her needs.

She only does this for 30 minutes at a time? Maybe she's protesting everyone going to bed or at least maybe that's how it started and now it's a habit.

Cats can be so hard to read.

 

[NCRedding]

Our talker is a tuxedo male. He was abandoned by neighbors when they moved and took up with us (we're soft touches). He talks all the time, and loves to run around the house making weird noises. Our other two cats clearly don't speak his language so they just look at him as though he is crazy.