Advice Re: My Yowling Cat

Well, I hate to be a downer here, but I had a 17-year-old cat who was doing the same thing years ago. We would even laugh because he sounded so mournful with his meowing. Turns out he had a brain tumor, which he eventually died from. But he lived a long and happy life.

Have you taken your kitty to the vet to see if she has any physical problems that could be causing this? Perhaps she has become hard of hearing or is blind and wakes up unfamiliar with her surroundings. 17 is pretty old.

Sorry to agree with Bobbi but we had a similar problem and our cat was quite ill. I'd take her to the vet to see if anything is going on, hope she is fine.

Your cat is well into her senior days. Yowling is typically a sign of discomfort or other medical issues, especially at night. I would have her checked by a vet, I worked for a vet for a few years and it's pretty common in aging cats. You can read an expert answer here about common causes:

http://www.vetinfo.com/catold.html

"Night-time yowling is a very common problem in older cats. Like many symptoms, it has multiple causes. Many older cats have more than one of the listed problems, so it is important to carefully consider the possibility of all of them in an affected cat.

Hyperthyroidism is the most commonly reported inducer of this behavior and is also the most likely medical cause in a cat that is on the young side when the behavior occurs. This is relatively easy to test for but it can take more than one test, in some instances, to confirm the diagnosis. Usually cats with hyperthyroidism have increased activity levels and are eating more but not gaining weight.

Hypertension (high blood pressure), normally associated with kidney failure, can cause night time yowling. Or at least treatment for hypertension sometimes decreases night time yowling --- it is hard to be sure that the medication doesn't have a beneficial effect separate from the lowering of blood pressure unless accurate blood pressure monitoring is done.

Cats appear to be affected by decreases in their ability to see and to hear in a manner that induces yowling at night. There is a theory that this produces anxiety and that yowling is the result. Some cats do respond to anti-anxiety medications such as diazepam (Valium Rx) or amitriptyline (Elavil Rx).

Cats also seem to get cognitive disorders similar to those experienced by dogs and humans, in which confusion, loss of orientation and other signs of decreased mental ability occur. This may lead to night time yowling, as well. The currently recommended treatment for this is to try selegiline (Anipryl RX). This medication isn't approved for cats (but then neither are diazepam or amitriptyline) and there is less proof that a condition responsive to it exists in cats than there is in dogs.

Sometimes simple things like giving an antihistamine at night, deliberately keeping the cat up and active in the early evening and making sure food and water are easily available at night will help.

I have heard that older people sometimes experience difficulty sleeping at night that doesn't seem to be related to other problems. I think this might also occur in cats. It seems possible that this is sometimes just a complaint about not being able to sleep or a cat looking for a little comfort when it is bored at night and can't sleep. If this is the case I don't know what to suggest except maybe adopting a nocturnal pet to keep the cat company. Of course, that has lots of potential problems as a suggestion, too!

Ruling out hyperthyroidism and hypertension seem like the best first steps, to me. Hope this helps some."

-Mike Richards, DVM 1/26/2000

We had a cat who started yowling. Two weeks later, the vet diagnosed her with a bladder infection, multiple tumors and a few other things. Her quality of life was seriously compromised so we had to put her to sleep.

Yowling is usually a sign of pain so it's worth taking your cat to the vet to see if they can help.

Our old cat yowls at odd times, especially at night. We did take her to the vet who found nothing wrong. I think she's uncomfortable due to her age which causes the yowling.

Later: Once I started feeling some compassion for her, I stopped being irritated by her yowling and for the most part do not wake up when she does it at night.

My cat is a yowler. She has always been vocal, but as she got older it became more pronounced to the point where people who were over would comment, "what is that?" and "what is wrong with your cat?" I would be shouting at her constantly to shut up because it was loud and annoying. She began peeing all over the place so the vet had me put her on prozac. Now she only yowls maybe once during the day, which compared to constantly is a huge achievement. So maybe as she is older, she has some mental issues and prozac could help her.

Are there cats outside? My cat will raise such a stink if he sees his nemesis outside.

Take her to the vet and get her checked out.

Then give her extra snuggles and accept that cats behave differently as they age.

take her to the vet she may be in pain from something

I had a cat that did that for years! She lived to be 21. With her it ended up being an old age thing. Waking up and not realizing where she was or things like that. It definitely got frustrating once my first son was born because she would howl right outside his room. I think she didn't understand why the door to her old room was shut. Sort of along the lines of alzeimers for cats. There wasn't anything we could do to stop it. We ended up putting her in our big bathroom at night with her bed, food and water so she wouldn't wander the house like she was lost.
But if you are concerned, you probably want to get your cat checked out to rule out any major issues.

Good luck.