WWYD very vocal cat ruining our lives.

[Minimili]

This sounds so ridiculous but it’s been such a big issue for so long and I just don’t know what to do.

I rehomed my parent’s cat.
My dad absolutely adored the cat but after he died my mum had him, she died and I took him in as I knew how much they loved him and wanted him to have a good life.

This cat is the loudest cat you’ve ever heard, he’s also the hungriest.
Whenever he wants something he miaows incessantly at a loud volume that ends up escalating to howls. We feed him 4-6 100g cat food pouches a day and he stands by his bowl getting louder and louder till we feed him immediately.
He has started making a noise that’s like a loud high pitched howl mixed with a growling noise that I can’t explain but is really jarring and can’t be tuned out.
You can hear it even with earplugs.

The vet checked him multiple times saying he’s just a vocal cat but you really don’t understand his volume till you hear him.

He has started mioawing/howling through the night and my autistic DP just can’t cope. He works early shifts and is woken up often in the early hours of the morning from continuous loud howling. When the cat wants food one of us has to drop everything and feed him because DP gets so distressed by the noise. He can miaow/howl for hours with absolutely no reason anyone has been able to find.

The cat sometimes eats half his food but howls until we put more in his dish, we thought he was just eating the jelly but he eats it all when we have piled food in his dish. He won’t eat dry food no matter how long we don’t give him wet.

I started to put the cat outside when it starts at night but the neighbours started complaining and one said she gets less sleep from my cat then from her baby crying.

DP and the neighbours said they are constantly on edge waiting for it to start, I hardly sleep as the slightest noise means I need to wake up and feed him or put him outside before it ramps up.

I love cats, I’ve always had them and a lot of my friends do, I’ve never witnessed this from any other cat. People who visit always seem shocked and a friend who stayed with us as she was locked out ended up sleeping in her car as she couldn’t stand the noise. It’s often a case of being woken up by random high pitched sounds through the night for no reason.

My DP of 12 years said he’s moving out unless I rehome the cat, my neighbours have begged me to keep him quiet.

I really don’t know what to do and this has been going on for 5 years and is getting worse. The cat is 17 but in great health, he’s unlikely to be rehomed though. He was a rescue cat to start then moved when my parents died and they adored him so much I just feel so much guilt.
I fell out with my sister 3 years ago when I said I’d rehome the cat and she thought I was heartless, she has dogs the cat wouldn’t live with.

So far I’ve lost my sister, my relationship is suffering, my neighbours hate me, I get no sleep and I’m constantly on edge, I never wanted the cat on the furniture but gave in to shut him up so my sofa is trashed and it costs me a fortune in food.

I know it’s easy to just say rehome him but the guilt is so bad. I finally decided to post on here to get an unbiased opinion about what to do.

The cats miaow is literally like a high pitched siren so it jolts everyone from sleep through the night. I have tried so hard to train him by putting him out the second he miaows and other methods.

Would I be unreasonable to finally decide on taking him to a shelter and living a more peaceful life? People can suggest tips on how to stop this but I’ve tried so many suggestions from the vet and other professionals.
It’s 3.38 and I have insomnia so being woken up just after I’d just gotten to sleep makes me angry and tearful. My next door neighbour put her lights on as soon as I put the cat out so she was obviously disturbed too.

This is why it sounds like hyperbole when I say it’s ruining my life but it actually really is.

Explain your terrible dilemma fully and properly to the vet as you have here.
At 17, the vet will surely come to the right conclusion for the cat which is that of putting him to sleep because he is so very distressed, all day and night, every single day with no let up. Record the noise for the vet to hear.
The cat is suffering and this nightmare needs to end now.
It’s the right thing to do. Your parents wouldn’t want this life for their beloved pet.

Just have it pts. It will be able to sense that you’re stressed by it, much kinder to euthanise. You’ve done a great job so far but you can’t let it disturb your family this much.

sending hugs.

You can't prioritise a cat above yourself, your children and your husband. You've given it more than a good go and have nothing to feel guilty about. You've put up with years of hell because of your parents love for this cat. Would they want this life for you?

At 17 if you give him to a rescue he's not going to find a new home.

I would euthanise him

He may be grieving. Animals do grieve.
My cat became ridiculously loud when his sister (from same litter), died.
They also do it if they’re bored.
Feliway is rubbish but we found Therapet was much better. Does the cat go out or is he a house cat? Ours was a house cat, and we were advised to create an outdoor space so we built a small catio.
He’s not been yowling since.

This has to stop - I’m a cat lover but humans deserve a good life too. You deserve a good life.

I would approach the vet and tell him you want testing for thyroid disease and anything else which might be causing the yowling or which, if treated, would cause the yowling to stop. Explain to him your partner will leave if the noise doesn’t stop. Ask him to keep this confidential even within the practice. At this point tell your sister the cat is going in for blood tests as he seems distressed.

If there is truly nothing, it’s time to PTS. He can’t be rehomed and your life is being ruined. But as PPs have said, tell absolutely no one, including potentially your DP. Say he seemed more distressed than usual, and the vet found a tumour. Stick to this story with absolutely everyone.

My much loved 17 year old cat who has also always been noisy is now noisy in the night. Fortunately he settles if you engage with him. As soon as he gets to the stage where he’s waking us up multiple times a night, I’m having him put to sleep. He’s seen the vet and he said he’s had to do it to his much loved cat too as he couldn’t focus on his job through lack of sleep. If they make it to that age with no other health issues then loud miaowing with onset of dementia is very common.

I know how heartbreaking this is but I think you do need to consider putting her to sleep for her own comfort.
She probably doesn't have a clue where she is, who you are or what is going on.

I'm sorry for the loss of your mum and dad. Don't sacrifice your other relationships for this poor old cat. A final good day, lots of food, lots of stroking, and peace.

Has your vet checked for hyperthyroidism?? My cat had it and he thought he was constantly hungry, was very loud about it! Very common in older cats.
it would be very distressing for them.

Feliway/therapet plug in ,automated biscuit feeder so cat gets his meals fed routinely throughout the day without hassling humans pet libro are good (ours has six smaller meals of biscuits spread out otherwise he eats so fast he's sick) also switch to grain free high protein food if cat is only having wet food and it's something like Felix or has little nutritional content and won't fill him up, combine wet with dry so the biscuit feeder does that bit and you put down half a pouch morning and night.
If he continues to yowl it's not about feeding and you need to take him back to the vets. DHs cat started doing this when he was 21 he was already losing his eyesight and hearing, his whiskers also got really long and he was losing weight despite eating, vet said dementia. A few weeks later he erroneously walked through the bannisters and fell down the stairs twice in a day and any attempt to contain him to the ground floor was met with pitiful crying. He was then PTS

I would film him and put him on Facebook and list him as 'loudest cat in the world' and try and make some money of of him!

'Grumpy Cat'apparently made between 1 and 100 million dollars!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumpy_Cat

The constant vocalness (is that a word?) and hunger sounds like a thyroid issue to me, rather than dementia. Get the cat checked for this.

We had a cat called Betty that was a yowler. I loved that cat but she was a pain in the arse. Would yowl loudly (not so loud the neighbours could hear, that is next level). when our other cat got older she started acting like Betty, which makes us think she was always demented.

Both a vet and an animal psychologist (yes we paid for one of those) said she was anxious. You could try medication, essentially an anti depressant and see how that goes. Thing is the cat has always acted like this so something like Aktivait Capsules might not help.

I can see why you would not want to put to sleep. The cat is ruining your life and the lives of those around you so don’t feel guilty whatever decision you make

Taking him to a shelter he will be stuck in a small pen all day and is very unlikely to be rehomed, as people like to have younger cats.
Is he free to come and go as he pleases? I know cats are free spirits and hate being trapped indoors.

One thing I heard people say about feeding is to use an automated feeder. The cat gets to realise that the machine is the one who does the feeding and stops asking the human! I can't blame domesticated cats, they have been kept as pets and trained to wait for a bowl of food instead of hunting a mouse.

You could also try getting him some more toys? If he is occupied he will ask for food less. Cats pine out of boredom often.

Animals often reflect their living environment so the more calm you can be the better. He will pick up on that.

Yes good quality food helps. I buy untamed or Blink

Rehoming the cat would be an awful thing to do. Don't pass the problem along and cause more distress to the poor animal. Time to pts.

I very much doubt at 17 he will be rehomed.

💯 the "house cat" thing is such a myth. Cats are free roaming wild creatures that like to explore not be trapped in a house or flat. They go nuts!

Might be best to have it PTS

Thyroid!

Our cat had always been loud and food obsessed. Over the years we just got used to it and kind of didn't notice it was getting worse.

Only when the cat lost weight did we twig and have bloods done.

She went back to just being a bit shouty and making a fuss at mealtimes.

I was going to suggest this. It does sound like this cat may have bigger issues, but mine used to try to wake me in the very early morning for food. Since having the timer they have learnt it will go off, food is coming and I haven’t “forgotten” them. They now leave us alone totally. It’s been a big change.
Hope you get it sorted OP, it sounds so distressing.

I have a large male cat that is greedy and loud, he’s always been like this, would eat a lot more if I gave in to his requests. Sometimes I have to shoo him away!, I split the wet food with dry to make it go further and he’ll eat all the dry food as well if ‘hungry’ overnight.

Can you just rock up at the vet and ask them to put your cat to sleep, if they don’t believe there is anything wrong other than it being “vocal”? Will they do that?

Surely the cat would be dead by now if it had untreated hyperthyroidism for the last 5 years.

I would also suggest thyroid tests, or diabetes. I had a cat with both that was incessantly hungry and loud about it, until properly medicated.

That sad, at 17, I would very definitely consider having him pts. There are far far worse things for an elderly pet. He will kniw nothing of it, and better for him, imo, that living his days out in a shelter.

The neighbour who told me wouldn't give a statement to the police.