excessive meowing

[rexemerson]

Hello,

I have a tortoiseshell tabby cat. She was a rescue, part of a litter of kittens that was found in a woodpile. I adopted her as a kitten and she's about 13 years old now. She's always been a vocal cat, but lately it's been extreme.

Until recently, I was a university student, so I've moved around a bit. Twice I've lived with other students, and she has stayed in my room. She does ok with small spaces but I prefer an apartment myself, both because I like solitude and she likes space. She HATES moving even short distances and meows like she's panicking every time I put her in the carrier. I was living at my previous apartment for 3 years and we were comfortable there, just her and I. She is very affectionate with me, but she hides from other people at first and even when she does come out, she's very skittish and cautious. If I'm there to reassure her, she does better.

On May 1st, I moved to a new apartment. My sisters and my brother came over to help me move. I tried to shut her in the bathroom while we moved but she hated that even more and escaped back into the apartment. She hid until everything that needed to be moved was moved, and then I coaxed her out and put her in the carrier. The drive to the new place was short, less than 10 minutes, and since we'd already moved everything I let her out as soon as we got there. She immediately wedged herself behind the refrigerator, but once everyone was gone she came out as soon as she heard my voice. She only went back behind the fridge once after that.

This is the fourth day in the new place and she's getting more comfortable. Right away she was still eating and drinking, and she is affectionate to the point of being clingy right now. I've been giving her as much reassurance as I can. If I have to leave the house, even for just a short grocery trip, she hides again because when I get back, she's hiding somewhere and comes out when I look for her.

I think she's adjusting to the new place, she's exploring and I let her do that. She got up high someplace she couldn't get down once so I helped her. I bought her a new toy and she plays with it.

But she goes through these phases where she meows non stop for maybe 10 minutes at a time, frequently. It doesn't seem related to whether she can see me or not - sometimes I'm in the other room, sometimes she's sitting across the room staring at me as she does it. She doesn't seem to be sick or in pain, she's moving normally, she's eating, drinking, sleeping, playing, cuddling. The only abnormality in her behaviour is the increased meowing. I love her so much but it's getting to the frustrating point and I don't know what to do - if I cuddle her when she's doing this, will it reinforce the excessive meowing and she'll keep doing it to get attention? I try to give her plenty of attention when she's quiet in the hopes that she won't feel like she has to meow a lot for attention.

I might get her checked out by a vet (my city has a mobile vet that I'll probably call because I don't want to retraumatize her by putting her in the carrier and driving her around again so soon) just to make sure she's ok, but do you think the meowing is a reaction to being in a new, unfamiliar place, and she'll quiet down as she gets used to it?

 

[molly92]

Getting a vet to look at her is a good idea. There's always the chance that something medical is distressing her and the stress of the move made it worse.

Sometimes I think anxiety-prone animals get more anxious as they get older. Meowing is normally a cat's way of telling you that she wants something. Exactly what she wants you probably won't ever figure out. It could just be that she misses her old home and this place doesn't feel like home or have the right smells that she's used to, and she wants you to give that to her. She doesn't know that you can't give her something like that. I think the best way to deal with this is just to ignore her completely. Giving her any sort of attention gives her the impression that she's getting closer to her goal of getting you to provide whatever it is that she wants, and the best way for her to learn that she's not going to get that is by not responding at all.

She might benefit from a Feliway diffuser plugin to help her feel more relaxed and happy.

 

[rexemerson]

I'm trying to give her plenty of attention when she's quiet or if she comes to me quietly for it, but I have a habit of talking back when she meows. I'll try to break that habit.

She's a very affectionate cat - even when my sibling were there, who she never sees, she was able to guardedly let them pet her and even rubbed on their hands a bit.

She's extremely territorial, when other cats are at the window she freaks out, growling and yelling and hissing. She can't really get to the windows in the new place which is kind of sad. I'm going to set up furniture and things to help her get up there.

I'm an anxious person, so it figures that I'd have an anxious cat.

 

[rotobay]

It sounds to me like she is adjusting to the new surroundings. I've had anxious cats in the past, some are just hardwired that way. One cat i had could not stand the carrier & would meow nonstop all the way to the vet, at the vet, and all the way home. It totally stressed me out. And it did get worse as she got older (she lived til 17). We only moved once during her lifetime & she took about 2 weeks to adjust to the new place (she kept going into random rooms and meowing nonstop). This behavior eased up and after about 2 weeks she was back to normal.

Catnip helped her out, but feliway didn't seem to have any effect (although it does work for some cats)

 

[kissthisangel]

I'm trying to give her plenty of attention when she's quiet or if she comes to me quietly for it, but I have a habit of talking back when she meows. I'll try to break that habit.

She's a very affectionate cat - even when my sibling were there, who she never sees, she was able to guardedly let them pet her and even rubbed on their hands a bit.

She's extremely territorial, when other cats are at the window she freaks out, growling and yelling and hissing. She can't really get to the windows in the new place which is kind of sad. I'm going to set up furniture and things to help her get up there.

I'm an anxious person, so it figures that I'd have an anxious cat.

It sounds like when she's mowing and non stop there might be something that she can hear in the yard, but because she can't see whatever it is, she is feeling more anxious. The moving of furniture to allow her to look out on "her patch" might make her feel a bit better, check out other animals around, if it's a shared garden area or public access then you probably won't be able to do much on that front

The vet is a good idea, a stressful move and new surroundings can make otherwise unclear conditions worse. It does sound like you have a special bond though <3