Noisiest Cat On The Planet!

Hello

I recently adopted my first cat, a 3-year-old rescue boy called Max. Max is affectionate, non-destructive, and uses his litter tray well. I adore him.

My husband does not. This is because Max will not shut up! He yowls, miaows, grumbles, and basically annotates every movement with a little “brrp”. He stalks around the house miaowing every few seconds. He howls when he sees other cats. He yowls when we wants me to get up in the morning (around 6am). He makes noise for literally no discernable reason, even when he has food, attention, and play.

I’ve tried exhausting him through play. I’ve previously taken him out for walks, but have had to stop as he has figured out how to escape his harness. I’ve tried calming treats. He is perfectly healthy. I’ve tried ignoring him. I’m in the process of converting an outdoor area into a long cat run for him so he can be outside but it isn’t cheap so I can’t do it quickly.

It is driving my husband mad (even I’m not thrilled with the early mornings), and I hate to see my two favourite men at odds like this.

Can anyone help?

Hello and welcome to TCS. Congrats on the adoption of Max. He's gorgeous.

My Ruby is quite a "talker" and I like when she replies back when I speak to her. Though I can understand not wanting non-stop meowing.

How long have you had Max? And he has been neutered, right?

My two boys are talkers too, but not my girls.. I love to have my boys talk to me, but you are right it can be annoying first thing in the morning if you are trying to sleep.

First, do not feed or interact with the cat when you first get up. Ignore him for 20 min or so, drink coffee, do things. Then have your morning cuddle and morning meal, if you feed meals? This helped with mine about wanting to wake me up. they dont associate me getting out of bed with immediate gratification

The more you talk back to a cat the more they will talk to you. So if you want him to talk less dont reply in any way when he talks. Hard to do, and i dont, unless i am in bed. Otherwise we have quite the conversations

And if he is an only cat he will want more of your time and attention, your his only friend When we only had one cat she was stuck to us like glue, i could tell she was lonely. We got her a friend and it helped. We were not her only source of play and affection then. We now have 4 and they entertain each other quite a bit.

Enjoy your pretty boy, im sure things will calm down after he has been there for a while, and realizes he has a forever home, that he is safe and loved. I think rescue cats are either terrified, or very needy at first. It may just take time, months or longer. How long have you had him?

Is he peeing okay? My boy cat Demi is really noisy when he has urinary problems. I have to really watch his dry food and make sure he's getting enough canned food and moisture in his diet.

He just may have a lot to say since he is so new to the household. But it also just may be his communication style and he is never going to be a quiet cat. It definitely does take some getting used to but hopefully you and your husband will learn to tune most of it out.

My advice? Ignore him when you first wake up for a bit. Also over respond and praise quiet/quieter meows. Ignore loud obnoxious meows.

Heck I'm trying to get my boys to meow at me. They trained their human so well they rarely see the need. My punk was a screamer when he was a teen. I praised quiet meows and when he screamed I said 'sush' then lightly touched his nose with my finger, then ignored him. It didn't take him long to figure out screaming was ignored and cat body language was closely paid attention to.

Thank you all

I adopted Max on 2 May. He is neutered and does not like other cats. He is an only pet at the moment (barring the fish) but we are hopefully adopting two corgis soon.

He is peeing and pooping fine, though he has recently started ignoring his dry food (he’ll eat about half, if that) and only eating his wet.

I will try ignoring him in the morning, but since all he wants is a human to hang around with I don’t know how effective it will be. If he carries on again at night (he started up around 12:30 last night) he may have to start sleeping in the laundry for the sake of my marriage. I hate the thought of doing that but otherwise he sits right outside the bedroom door and yowls loudly for hours. I’m getting an enclosure man round this week and I’ll ask him to quote me for building a run near the laundry door so he could at least get outside (sort-of) from the laundry.

Here's a couple TCS articles that might be helpful:
How To Stop My Cat From Waking Me Up At Night (step-by-step Plan)
Cats And Night Crazies!

Plus some on cats and dogs:
Best And Worst Dog Breeds To Live With Cats
Caring For Cats And Dogs
Introducing Cats To Dogs
How To Safely Introduce A Cat And A Dog

Maybe it’s an orange cat thing because Oscar is the same way! Here are a few things that have helped us. #1 a Feliway diffuser. I was skeptical it would work, but it does help. Oscar is still obnoxious and loud, but he is worse when the Felliway is used up in the diffuser. #2 We turned our finished basement into “Oscar’s room” we turned it into a cat friendly paradise filled with towers to see outside, various beds to lay in and toys hanging from the ceiling. This is also where food and litter are kept. At night we tell him it’s time for bed and he goes to his “bedroom “ and we go to ours. Giving him a space that is exclusively his has helped him settle down a ton. Plus the basement is far away from our second story bedroom that if he is having a meowing moment at night we can’t hear him.#3 I started taking him out on a leash and harness in fact he goes hiking with me. I took him to a pet supply store and they helped me find the right harness for him. They said sometimes cats do better in small dog harnesses. Also even though the directions say two fingers in between that’s not tight enough. Tighten it tighter and it won’t hurt him and it will be harder to back out of. #4 Oscar does not get any attention when he is loud. He only gets it when he is quiet. This has helped with association for him. #5 double check with your vet to make sure he doesn’t have any underlying health concerns. All of this has helped Oscar significantly but he still has his moments but now at least he isn’t driving us mad!