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.

Op you've given it 5 happy years, it's time to have him pts. He isn't a happy cat for whatever reason and it's having a massive impact on your life. He's 17 not 7 so it's time to draw a line for your own sanity.
Your vet sounds hopeless that they haven't advocated this already.

OP you cannot just ‘take a cat to a shelter’. They are often full, and when they do have room they will prioritise a cat living on the street, rather than one which has a home already. And this particular cat would probably not be accepted due to the disruption he would cause with the vocalising. He is very unlikely to be rehomed.

I have had oriental cats all my life and they are extremely vocal, but the vocalising was not on the scale you are reporting, I could not stand that, it is not fair on anyone, including the cat. At 17 he is a very old cat and I would be looking to PTS. And I don't say that lightly.

With our cat, amazingly not. We had gradually kept up the food without really realising we were increasing it.

We have a 20yo cat who is now extremely loud and all times of the day and night. He is totally deaf and he yowls so loudly and persistently it's like one of those party blower things, like a screaming. He is yowling for food even though he is fed twice a day, we think he forgets (dementia) so comes to the door at random times. Luckily we live rurally and he is an outdoor cat. He does wake me up though and I can find it quite distressing when he persists despite being fed

Poor cat. You have done your very best by him, and sometimes the kindest thing is to put the cat to sleep. I suspect he is screaming at you that he is suffering. Whilst it’s very upsetting you may feel that giving the cat the peace of a gentle death is the most caring act at this point in time.

100% rehome

Don’t bother trying to find further probably very expensive solutions to the problem when you go back to the vet, just ask to put the poor cat to sleep. He’s 17 FFS. It’s time.

Are you only feeding him pouches ?
Mine gets a mix of pouches & dry kibble that lies out all the time that she can freely eat when she wants. It that maybe something to consider ?

I’d have it rehomed or put to sleep. Tell your sister it died. It sounds a massive pain in the arse.

I would not feel at all comfortable putting a healthy cat to sleep, obviously this is causing you a lot of distress but I would feel awful about killing a cat because he’s annoying.

Has the vet just checked him over or done blood tests too? I assume he is neutered? Although they probably wouldn’t do it at his age. I would try lots of different biscuits to find one he likes. I find cats often eat anything if it has freeze dried chicken crumbled into it. Failing everything I would ring shelters and explain he is an elderly cat, one may be happy to take him even if you have to travel far away. If he is just old and hungry, not in pain or ill, then I think he deserves a natural end

Was he always like this? Even with your parents? What breed is he?

My 16 year old Burmese has started with the loud yowling at night. We think it's dementia. We just call out to her and then she comes and finds us and settles down on the bed.

Her crying for food has become very loud and urgent too ( it's a different sort of cry to the night time yowling) and she does it 5 mins after being fed.

We love her to bits and although the noise can be a bit annoying I can't see any other signs of suffering. She is still very affectionate and cuddly. Our other Burmese is a year older and isn't doing any of this.

Why don't you take him then? Honestly some people are so unreasonable.

Op you need to put yourself, your son and your partner first - all your lives are being made miserable by this cat. On top of that, this is not the behaviour of a happy cat. He's 17, you've done all you can for him and now it's time for him to be PTS. It's the fairest thing for everyone's sake. If your sister doesn't like it then let her sort out a new home for him - she won't because no one else would put up with this I'm sure.

It does sound like most likely he's going to have to be PTS. If you rehome him then he probably won't get a permanent home anyway because he'll be returned, I'd say it's also unlikely they'd be able to keep him at a shelter because he'd drive the other cats mad, and obviously that's not fair on those cats either.

Tbh 4-6 sachets of food is not that much.

I have had cats for decades and that is the bare minimum.

It sounds like this cat has had the 2 people who loved him and who he loved taken from him and he sounds really distressed

Have you tried firstly different types of food that cater for older cats
Also have you tried love bombing him even when he isn’t howling. Is he allowed on your bed? If he was with your parents then he could be missing the closeness.

How long has he lived with you?

Also has he been castrated?
If not that can make him more stressed

My cat same age was exactly like that. He did have thyroid issues and was on meds for it and he also had dementia. You just know when it's the right time and I would 100% say this is now time to pts. Do not remove. The cat will hate it and be even more distressed. I had a vet who purely came to pet's houses. She was so lovely and my darling cat was first sedated and he was laying on his favourite fluffy rug in the middle of the living room with his loving family round him. I have no regrets and couldn't have wished for a better way to go. Your cat deserves the same. He has had a wonderful life and is suffering.

Because I already have an elderly cat and she doesn’t like other cats. I am also not running a shelter, some of which are happy to take animals that they know will never be rehomed. I think that was a bit of an unreasonable suggestion. I know I’m in the minority, but I don’t think it’s horrible to not want to kill an old but healthy (and that is important, if he truly is healthy) cat

Presumably he was like this at your parents?

Vocal cats can go from being loudly annoying to being intolerable when they have dementia. Given this cat’s age, I suspect dementia is likely. Can you speak to your vet again about some kind of medication (eg gabapentin) that might help if it’s dementia?

I think you can also try a timer feeding machine so that fresh wet food is available every two hours throughout the night to try to keep him quieter.

Ultimately though if you can’t live with the cat anymore you will need to euthanise. Nobody will want to rehome an elderly cat that is very vocal and possibly has an underlying condition, and a rescue centre won’t want him either as they often have to take on the burden of ongoing vet bills.

A shelter most likely won't be able to keep him there either if he's distressing the other cats, so he will end up being put to sleep.

Feed it more filling, nutritious food for starters.

It has been in distress for five years?

I agree that it is horrible to kill the cat, if healthy, but the reality is that he is not rehomeable so he will either spend the rest of his life in a cage (assuming the rescue centre will even take him) or it’s kinder to euthanise.

Try getting him some better quality canned foods from zooplus. We had two large male cats with big appetites and they had Animonda Carny and Smilla tins rather than supermarket sachets. A more meaty food satisfies them more. It doesn't sound as if he is sleeping much, so if it's not thyroid or dementia related I'd look at getting medication for anxiety.

My always-hungry cat will eat dry food if its sprinkled into his wet food. He wouldn't eat dry food on its own. I also give him Animonda Carny tinned food from Amazon sometimes in the winter as I feel it is a lot more meaty than say Felix type food. Seems to keep him settled more. Does he have a little shelter or somewhere he can go outside? Like a little den with a piece of old carpet in or something like that?

It sounds similar to my cat at the end of his life. He had a brain tumour. I’m not saying this is what is going on here, but the cat’s behaviour is telling you something isn’t right. I’d go back to the vet. I wouldn’t view it as behavioural. It’s mostly likely something is wrong. Sorry. 😔