Cat noise while eating

tehkitteh

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Hello everyone.

3 years after I had my 15 year old baby boy put down, I decided it was time to adopt another cat. I found a toothless, bobtailed, 5 year old girl up for adoption and promptly applied for her and got to pick her up a short time later.

My resident cat, an 8 year old female was not too impressed, but after following the guidelines for a proper introduction, she is finally accepting my new girl, Miley.

Now, I have noticed that more often than not, when Miley is eating she makes weird noises. It sounds like a mixture of a very young puppy trying to bark, and a guinea pig's whistle. I tried researching what it is and most of what I found information was on kittens making noise and how they grow out of it. I've never had a full grown cat do it. I know she was fed a dry food from the time she arrived at the shelter and the few weeks she spent in a foster home and I quickly transitioned her to wet food, however, that's when the noises started. Could it be that she just really loves wet food and is so excited she makes those high pitched noises? Or is it an indication of pain? It is kind of adorable but I just want to be sure it could be a behavioral thing.
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi. Could the noise just be the result of her being toothless and how she eats wet food? Did you get any type of report/papers when you adopted her to see what kind of check up they gave her? I would doubt it is pain, given the amount of noise she is making, it would seem it would stop her from eating. Other than that, I am at a loss.

You can always try to get a video of it and share it on this site to see if that might help with ideas/suggestions.
 
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tehkitteh

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Thank you for the reply.

I have a full report of everything that was done medically while at the shelter. She was tested/vaccinated for the usual diseases and had her remaining teeth removed shortly after arrival. She was missing 8 teeth but had stomatitis and her teeth were in such poor shape, they had to remove the rest. Only other thing was a bad ear infection that they treated. After her recovery from the oral surgery and ear infection, she was given a clean bill of health. Though I did have to take her back to get an impacted anal glad expressed.

I do have a video. It's a little short, but she makes those types of noises throughout the entire meal. She does not do it while eating treats though. Just wet food.

 

FeebysOwner

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It is kind of adorable!! Since she doesn't do it with treats (or dry food), it must have something to do with eating wet food! Just keep an eye on her for other issues cropping up (which I doubt. but just to be on the safe side).

Maybe over time as she gets used to her new food, it will reduce in frequency or stop altogether.
 

vince

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Sounds like Miley is trying to trill as she's eating. Generally, it's a sound of engagement with the activity. I think Miley just likes what she's having for dinner.

I have a three year-old girl that makes similar noises when eating (especially when eating wet food, like yours).
 
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