Meowing Around the House

[Animal Freak]

So my cat, Ash, has some bad habits. He acts like a kid who doesn't get enough attention, but he knows he can come to me anytime and get some attention. Lately, they've all been getting even more attention than normal as I've been spending more time on the floor and less time on the couch. The other two have no problem getting in my face to let me know they want some attention. Ash, however, skips over that and goes straight to some rather annoying strategies to get attention. He scratches at the carpet a lot. He will literally sit there and look at me while he does it too and he knows he's not allowed to.

Another thing he does is he goes through the house meowing. Loudly. He's actually walked out of the room I was in and started meowing. And he doesn't stop. He does this a lot after eating and in the middle of the night when we're trying to sleep. If we talk to him, then he'll come over and get some attention, but otherwise he'll go into another room and meow continuously. Can anyone help with this? Or at least explain it? I can't figure out what he's thinking when he does that.

 

[sprin]

My cats usually scratch when they're happy or excited, so maybe Ash is looking you and scratching because he's content. Do you have alternative things for him to scratch? He likes scratching carpet, so a flat cardboard scratcher in places he likes to scratch might help.

With the meowing, it's probably just that he's bored and wants you to interact with him. If you don't give him attention or reaction at all when he meows at night (I know it's hard to ignore), then he will eventually give up with that.some cats are just more vocal too. Like two of my cats sometimes like to carry their toys in their mouths and make long meows as they prounce around the house. Sort of like, "look mother I caught this rectangular purple mouse."

 

[Animal Freak]

I've tried several things to get him to stop scratching. We've had a few things on the floor for them, bit none of them ever used. They have two cat stands and I'm hoping for more someday. He's determined to scratch the carpet though. Fortunately, it hasn't done any damage, but I don't want him thinking that's good behavior. I've tried ignoring it, giving punishments for it, and petting him for scratching the right thing. And when I get up to get him to stop, he just plops down like I'm going to pet him for that.

I don't think ignoring him has worked with the meowing though. This has been going on for a while. We pretty much always ignore him unless it gets really bad or he comes into my room.

Ash is quiet until there's something to be loud about. He chirps when watching birds, meows off and on throughout the day and night, and growls when he has a mouse. Sometimes even when he had a fair mouse or his treats.

 

[onirin]

Maybe try some different kind of cat scratching surfaces.

There are cat poles that have rope or carpet.  Maybe he's like the carpet cat (our cats love that too).

There are also ones in the shape of a triangle so the cat reaches out and stretches low rather than standing up.

Maybe he perfers the feels of a cardboard scratcher?

There are also those wavey looking ones that have a carpet-like material.

 

[Animal Freak]

One of our cat stands has rope and the other cat stand has carpet. He seems to like both. We used to have a small cat scratcher that he would use though mostly when I went to feed them. It was old though and we had to get rid of it. We had one of the wavy ones too. It went unused. I'll try to find something next time I'm out, but I don't know when that'll be. He acts more like he's expecting attention than anything, but I'll look around for some other cat scratcher.

 

[red dog]

I have a male who meows in similar fashion or claws my Bose speakers to get my attention. It usually means he's hungry & wants to be fed, or he wants me to drop what I'm doing to pick him up for petting. He often likes to be petted after he eats, and before he lays down. Good luck.

 

[emeraldsketch]

Have you tried rubbing cat nip on the objects you want him to scratch? I know with my cat he would ignore the post and scratch at the door at my old apartment instead. then I discovered if I took catnip and really smooshed it into the scratching post he's scratch at the post to get at the catnip.  then Id give him a treat. after a mixture of that and him rubbing his scent all over the post in a catnip induced haze. He figured out that was the place to scratch. Just something to try.

 

[Animal Freak]

I might try it sometime, but he seems to be the least affected by catnip out of my three cats. My entire house will probably be covered in catnip soon. One of my cats freaks out when the other two get a bath, but they all need it. She loves catnip so we're hoping it'll calm her down.