Howling help!

[CrazyDaisy2018]

My cat is fab (to me - rather aloof to everyone else!). Friendly, cuddly, exceptionally cute, etc.

But at night she’s a PITA! She’s developed in the last year a habit of howling at night and I have no idea why! She always howls in the direction of the front door, so there may be something she sees/has seen? She’s also gone deaf as she’s got old so it’s likely she doesn’t realise how loud she is.

We’ve got feliways plugged in everywhere which have helped a bit but there’s still at least one howling session per night. Honestly, it’s like having a newborn in the house!

And advice?!

This seems to be quite a common thing with old cats. I presume it's some sort of senility.

Does she settle if you go to her? If so could she sleep with you?

It is a well known symptom of feline dementia, my last old cat was in a drug trial for dementia and this was one of the markers. Mind you I’ve just fostered a cat who was just loud (probably because her kittens had gone off to their new home) so I do sympathise. It may help to let her sleep with you. If she’s also generally restless I would suggest getting her thyroid checked, that can cause howling as well. Not a bad idea to get a general vet check anyway if behaviour changes.

Could it be another cat? My two do this when a marauding cat comes into the garden. They sound like a soul in torment!

Howling can be a number of things, feeling vulnerable due to deafness or senility and no one around, so one of these could be the reason in your cats case. However, howling is also a symptom of CKD (my boy had this) and hyperthyoridism (my girl was particularly bad at night), both of which are common in older cats, so to be honest I want to rule these out. It might be worth getting her checked out by the vet just to make sure everything is okay.

She sounds lovely OP, apart from the noise! Like others advise, I'd get your vet to have a look at her.

But I hear you about the noise! Nothing new or health-related here. He's just very noisy and it's probably in his genes. Think having to open all the car windows to dull/let out the noise when first transporting him home. Think the lovely cattery lady having to wear ear defenders when we tried him there. Think not just the neighbours but the whole locality and possibly the lovely people Of Timbuktoo being able to hear him. We've tried everything over the years but to no avail. It's just him, being him.

So you have my understanding and sympathies OP, but I think in your case I'd follow the advice and experience of PPs about a checkup.

Thanks all. I mentioned it to the vet last year when she went for her jabs and she said that it was most likely just due to her age and deafness making her exceptionally wary and nervous. There didn't appear to be any health issues causing it. Other than a few fur balls and her deafness, she's in really good shape for a 12+ year old (not too sure of her age as she was a rescue 10+ years ago).

I just wondered whether anyone else had gone through something similar and found a miracle cure lol! I've tried everything I can think of - shutting the curtains (which made her worse), night lights (just in case of senility and she was getting disorientated), a radio when we're out (before we realised the severity of her deafness!)...

She has the run of pretty much the whole house so she's always welcome to come in and sleep with us, but she only seems to do that in winter, when I'm clearly just her own personal hot water bottle. We've perfected the "hip perch" sleeping position. Me on my side, her laying on my hip and along the length of my body. That is, until I turn over and don't realise she's climbed up while I've been asleep!

I think most of hers is caused by another neighbourhood cat who just wants to be her friend. We recently threw away the front door mat as we thought he might have been scratching that, and it did seem to improve. Now she's staring at a particular point of the back garden and this morning was scenting the middle of the lawn, so he must have been through and it's clearly bothering her.

My poor old girl!

Oh, and she does tend to sleep with me even if it's warm when I'm in the bed alone. She won't sleep in there when my DP is there.

And as much as I love my cat, I'm not moving to the spare room just for her sake!

You are being very very very unreasonable OP, and must immediately move your DP to the spare room.

Your poor old girl, bring usurped by your (mere) DP!

She won't sleep in there when my DP is there.

The DP has to go. Sorry.

The problem with DPs having to go is that they can complain an awful lot if they have to!!

Yes indeed if, but better a complaining DP than a howling, unhappy cat, surely?!

If this (thankfully gentler) Topic was AIBU, someone would come along and tell our OP to LTB.

Ha ha! I will tell him what you’ve suggested!

(She was in my life before he was so clearly takes priority, and deep down he knows that!)