Hi everyone.
I'm new to this site and certainly know someone will be able to help us with our question. (And apologies in advance for the long thread!)
We (my husband and I) have two cats - the one in question is a 3-year old Nebelung mix named Pierre. We adopted him from a close friend of mine nearly two years ago due to the fact that he couldn't keep him any longer.
Pierre entered our lives as if he always lived in the house. Neither of us have ever encountered such a confident and self-assured cat. He settled in very well from the get go. Never showed any hesitation living here; no litterbox issues, no bad behaviors other than the first few weeks he seemed a bit needy for company (he had been living alone in my friends house more or less while he had neighbors checking in on him since he had moved to another state and was only able to come home on weekends). He did have some issues about eating his food too fast and then vomiting, but that was eventually solved.
He was not a vocal cat at all- as I mentioned before, he became pretty independent. He communicates very well via body language (i.e. tail, ear signals) and we are able to figure out what his needs are from that. When he does use his "voice" it is a very low tone, nearly inperceivable in fact. It was rare for him to ever "say anything" to us.
So here is the issue. Lately he's been yowling like crazy, a plaintive cry like he's upset, lonely or wants us in the room together, or something. He'll stand at the bottom of the stairs meowing incessantly up the stairs for DH, while he's up there. I mean, he certainly can hear him up there. My husband will call him, tell him to come up, and he'll just yowl sadly. It's like he's waiting for a personal invitation from him - waiting for him to walk down the stairs and pick him up and bring him up there, instead of him walking up himself.
Or he'll wait there while we're both in the living room watching TV, doing the same thing. If we go upstairs he'll run after us, come into the bedroom and settle in with us for a while (or all night, depends)- it's nice to have him cuddle, but it's also strange. I mean, it's like he's telling us sometimes "hey guys, time to go to bed!"
There isn't anything wrong with him health-wise. He's been checked out. He did have a UTI a couple months ago, but that has long been resolved. He runs around the house playing perfectly well with his toys. He's been checked for every bit of infection there is - all is well. It seems to be a behavioral issue for sure.
We think it may be related to the fact that my husband had been out of work the entire time Pierre has been with us and just recently found a job in the past month. He's out of the house now 8-9 hours a day, like me. It's likely Pierre is missing him very much, they get along famously - best buds kind of thing. He will keep him company in his office, on a pillow by his desk overlooking the window or on the little couch in the room. He's by his side a lot, even more than mine (Avril and I are more "sisters"). He's also been ignoring Avril's pleas for help (i.e. when she bats at his tail, it's usually "come play with me" and they normally play for hours. Recently, whenever she bats at his tail, he just keeps walking.). So now Avril's becoming very vocal as well.
Normally Nebelungs are known to be very quiet, unlike Siamese and other breeds of the like.
Anyway, if there are any other ideas someone may have I'd love to hear it - or ideas on how to make him more secure right now. We're home with him a lot on the weekends, and interact with him as much as possible (and, leave him be when he needs that too). The meowing is concerning to us since it's so out of character for how we've gotten to know him and he never does it directly to our faces - only out of earshot.
Thanks!
We (my husband and I) have two cats - the one in question is a 3-year old Nebelung mix named Pierre. We adopted him from a close friend of mine nearly two years ago due to the fact that he couldn't keep him any longer.
Pierre entered our lives as if he always lived in the house. Neither of us have ever encountered such a confident and self-assured cat. He settled in very well from the get go. Never showed any hesitation living here; no litterbox issues, no bad behaviors other than the first few weeks he seemed a bit needy for company (he had been living alone in my friends house more or less while he had neighbors checking in on him since he had moved to another state and was only able to come home on weekends). He did have some issues about eating his food too fast and then vomiting, but that was eventually solved.
He was not a vocal cat at all- as I mentioned before, he became pretty independent. He communicates very well via body language (i.e. tail, ear signals) and we are able to figure out what his needs are from that. When he does use his "voice" it is a very low tone, nearly inperceivable in fact. It was rare for him to ever "say anything" to us.
So here is the issue. Lately he's been yowling like crazy, a plaintive cry like he's upset, lonely or wants us in the room together, or something. He'll stand at the bottom of the stairs meowing incessantly up the stairs for DH, while he's up there. I mean, he certainly can hear him up there. My husband will call him, tell him to come up, and he'll just yowl sadly. It's like he's waiting for a personal invitation from him - waiting for him to walk down the stairs and pick him up and bring him up there, instead of him walking up himself.
Or he'll wait there while we're both in the living room watching TV, doing the same thing. If we go upstairs he'll run after us, come into the bedroom and settle in with us for a while (or all night, depends)- it's nice to have him cuddle, but it's also strange. I mean, it's like he's telling us sometimes "hey guys, time to go to bed!"
There isn't anything wrong with him health-wise. He's been checked out. He did have a UTI a couple months ago, but that has long been resolved. He runs around the house playing perfectly well with his toys. He's been checked for every bit of infection there is - all is well. It seems to be a behavioral issue for sure.
We think it may be related to the fact that my husband had been out of work the entire time Pierre has been with us and just recently found a job in the past month. He's out of the house now 8-9 hours a day, like me. It's likely Pierre is missing him very much, they get along famously - best buds kind of thing. He will keep him company in his office, on a pillow by his desk overlooking the window or on the little couch in the room. He's by his side a lot, even more than mine (Avril and I are more "sisters"). He's also been ignoring Avril's pleas for help (i.e. when she bats at his tail, it's usually "come play with me" and they normally play for hours. Recently, whenever she bats at his tail, he just keeps walking.). So now Avril's becoming very vocal as well.
Normally Nebelungs are known to be very quiet, unlike Siamese and other breeds of the like.
Anyway, if there are any other ideas someone may have I'd love to hear it - or ideas on how to make him more secure right now. We're home with him a lot on the weekends, and interact with him as much as possible (and, leave him be when he needs that too). The meowing is concerning to us since it's so out of character for how we've gotten to know him and he never does it directly to our faces - only out of earshot.
Thanks!
