Bewildered by our cat's nightly miaow-fest

[IsItMeOr]

Our 18 year old cat is driving us to distraction. She miaows in the middle of the night loudly, and wakes DH and I up, and sometimes our poorly sleeping 2.10yo DS. We are shattered anyway (from DS's night-time activities), and really not sure what to do about the cat.

The latest thing is that while we had the christmas tree up, she was drinking from the bowl of water it was standing in (she has her own water in another room, where it has been for years btw). Since we took down the tree, she has been miaowing loudly several times during the night. She doesn't come to find us, just stays downstairs miaowing at full blast. We have tried showing her her water bowl, and she has drunk from it, but she is still doing this.

DH has put a stair gate at the bottom of the stairs to at least confine her to miaowing downstairs, rather than by the bedrooms, which means she's less likely to wake up DS (still wakes us though!).

Has anybody else had a similar experience and can offer any suggestions?

One of our cats is doing the same, though only in the evening I think. He comes in at night, wailing loudly, until he either sees us sitting in the living room, or I shout at him to shut up.

He might do it at night as well, but we shut the cats in the utility room so we probably wouldn't hear them.

I think it is an age related thing - he only started doing this recently and he is about 16 years old we think.

Sympathies - it is really irritating, and I hope you find a solution

My elderly cat did this too - it could be simply an age thing but apparently they can also do it if in pain and cystitis is pretty common with elderly cats - so get her checked out.

Sadly, I think it could be age-related senility. Our cat was like this when she got old. Could you put a bowl of water where the Xmas tree was, just overnight?

Oh dear, thanks for all the comments.

Well, we tried overnight putting a bowl of water where the christmas tree had been, and didn't hear a peep out of her.

Today she's been looking for the water there again (removed to avoid toddler making merry with it), and generally a bit clingy/asking for water when I've been around.

I feel quite sorry for her, as she seems to be a bit out of it (she was never a particularly bright cat to begin with), and seems to be forgetting that she's supposed to move away when DS chases her. Bother.

She needs her routine check up/vaccinations anyway, so will ask the vet to check out cystitis at the same time.

Hm, not sure about that. Will be making note of how often she is weeing so that we can tell the vet about that too.

I'm beginning to get an "I'm not well" vibe off her (although can tell DH thinks I'm mad for saying that she's "telling" me that...).

Meanwhile DH has just put down the bowl of water in the living room and she's had a drink. Think she's a bit happier now that she knows it's there, as she's no longer sitting right by my feet.

Thanks again for all your thoughts .

My Mum's cat is 15 and was displaying these symptoms and got diagnosed with a thyroid problem, but he was also losing weight and starting to look quite 'scabby' (spiky fur). he's on the tablets now and is much improved.

Eep! Her fur is lovely, so hopefully not that one this time.

She had water in living room again overnight and she was fine, so we're going to stick with that, and counting clumps in the litter tray.

My last cat was similar in his old age. He'd yell for water all over the house and was a bit daft with it. We think he 'went' with kidney failure in the end, and perhaps the asking for water was a sign. So might be one to watch and if he deteriorates in any way get a blood test.

She could be going deaf. My cat did this. She seemed to want to know where everyone was at 4am.

Thank goodness other people have the same problem! My cat does this ALL day and quite a few times in the night too. She has definitely gone deaf as you can creep up on her easily these days but I have also come to the conclusion it is combined with some kind of cat senility. It is like she is 'looking' for us all the time, but she miaows even a few seconds after she has seen us, as if she has forgotten. We have started shutting her in the kitchen at night with her basket to at least contain the noise. This does seem o have reduced the amount of times she does it during the night.

I'd get her checked out - may be kidney or diabetes related.
My 16 year old Cat2 does the night time concert thing as well. And she has a miaow that could be heard three rooms away.

We never hear her (door shut) but the kids have their doors open and it sometimes wakes them. It has also woken DM who threw a shoe at her.

Definitely get a blood test for thyroid function - thyroid issues are really common in older cats and can also present as loss of weight despite healthy appetite, loose stools and incessant miaowing, especially at night.

It is easily controlled with tablets

yes, get her checked for the obvious health things. My cat has done always done this. Drives me mental. She is only 18 month and clean bill of health. So we shut her in the kitchen over night, with food, water, litter tray and a bed.