I'm going to kill my frickin' cat!

[TXlib]

Well, OK, I won't kill him, but I will delight in minor kitty torture such as running a laser pointer across our slick tile floor, so that he runs full-tilt into the wall.

Anyway, we just moved to a new house, and one of our cats (the one who's always been the annoying little shit of the two) has taken to yowling very loudly at night.

I end up having to chase him all over the house for several minutes before I can catch him and toss him into the garage.

Why is he doing this?

[mhr]

1. He Wants To Go Home?

eom

[HEyHEY]

2. Kill em kill em

I'll make you a deal...you kill mine, and I'll kill yourd...they'll never suspect a thing! :evilgrin:

[TXlib]

4. Not if your cat looks like the one in your sig!

[HEyHEY]

6. Dang...I thought I had a way to get rid of him...

He's been runnning the house for years.

[Richardo]

5. criss-cross!

[arissa]

3. Maybe he's doing it because

you're so mean to him. Cats are social creatures who, like people, crave attention and love. You're not talking like you treat the cat with much, if any, respect for his feelings as a sentient, living, independent creature with all the same emotions as a person.

Cats also lean towards being nocturnal by nature, and especially if you haven't neutered the cat, they will get antsy at nighttime a lot of the time. This nighttime behavior is less common in neutered cats, but it still happens. Ultimately it's probably just an instinctual throwback to the cats wilder days, triggered by the nighttime urge to hunt.

If you haven't already, get your cat neutered. Try stimulating him more, playing with him more, and showing him more compassion and respect. Understand that he's an independent creature with frustrations and emotions and he doesn't exist just to please his human guardians.

[TXlib]

10. He has been neutered.

I do give him plenty of (positive) attention.

He usually used to curl up on our bed, and was content to purr at me feet.

Now he just caterwauls all night.

And I am respecting his feelings: I am ranting about him here, since he lacks opposable thumbs and the manual dexterity to turn on the computer, click to DU, and read my posts!

[emad]

7. Maybe he can smell new pussy?

Or he's just an attention seeker who's gonna pay you back for the indignity of moving to a new locale....

[Don_G]

9. That's What I Was Thinking

I had a female kitten once that barely meowed until she went in heat for the first time. Nothing is louder or more pitiful than a yowling cat at 2 in the morning that can't get any.

[TXlib]

11. Both our cats are male and neutered.

[Don_G]

12. Then I Have No Idea

Maybe something is physically bothering her. In a new house, it could be VOC's outgassing from the carpet or possibly the odor of an unfriendly rival in the neighborhood.

Good luck!

[TXlib]

21. I haven't seen any strays in our neighborhood.

The previous owners had no pets.

The ground floor has no carpet; tile and wood. The upper floor has high quality carpet - little outgassing.

[RebelOne]

14. After my cat's first heat,

I rushed her to the vet and got her spayed. I was not going to go through that again. She kept me up all night with her howling.

[trogdor]

22. They are creatures of habit.

They don't like change. Not one little bit. Best try to reassure the beast; he'll come around.

[Bozola]

8. Obviously

because your house is built over an old cemetary, and your cat is yowling at the wandering undead as they shamble through your house.

[Blue_Chill]

27. lol

great post. :D

[Javneh]

13. they love the night

My cat just plain goes bonkers as soon as the sun goes down. Tears around the house and puffs up his tail. We just put him outside all night and he loves it. I'm guessing yours does not have claws?

[mbartko]

15. Maybe a feral cat in the neighborhood?

That makes our cat go apeshit. He pees everywhere, makes those psycho kitty growls.

[gWbush is Mabus]

16. that's pretty cruel to do to a cat

i advise you to give them up for adoption to a loving family.

[TXlib]

20. What's cruel?

Playing the laser pointer trick with him (he only ran into the wall once, and it was unintentional on my part...), or putting him in the garage, where he's got lots of nooks and crannies and hidey-holes to play around in?

I probably shouldn't mention how I test the doppler effect by swinging him around by his tail, then... :eyes:

[xultar]

17. He misses the old house---Prozac

I had a cat that went nutz when I moved. I took him to the vet and we tried some antidepressants for a few months and he's fine now. You might wanna get some of the Feliway spray or the plugins for your home and confine him to a room with the feliway plugin until he gets more comfortable then allow him to roam the house supervised. Depending on the size of your home you may need 2 Feliway plugins. IF that doesnt work. Go for the antidepressants. Amytriptaline, Prozac, or another that comes in a transdermal gel applied to the inside of the ears.

Good Luck

[sistersofmercy]

18. Ahhhh, he's trying to tell you something.

Poor kitty! He probably just needs to adjust to his new home.

[thom1102]

24. I agree...

You may have to put him in the garage before you go to bed at night, at least for a few more days until he adjusts. You may also have created a pavlovian response with him. If he likes the garage, and when he meows in the middle of the night you get up and put him there, he may have discovered a way to get into the garage in the middle of the night. I used to rent a room when I first got my cats, and I had a routine every night. Before I would go to bed, I would turn off the TV, get undressed and then feed the cats before getting into bed. They learned that the trigger for getting fed was me taking off my pants, so then when ever I took off my pants, they got all excited! (not the response I really wanted from my CATS!)

Additionally, we had a water fountain that the cats used to drink from. After the motor broke, they would drink from the faucet. Well, Calvin started scratching the boxspring on our bed. My partner would wake up and smack the side of the bed to make him stop. Then, since he was up, he would go to the bathroom, and Calvin would jump up on the sink looking to drink. Soon, Calvin realized that if he wanted to drink in the middle of the night, all he had to do was claw the boxspring, and my partner would predictably get up and turn on the faucet. We have since purchased a new fountain, and he has stopped scratching the boxspring. Cats are really smart, and creatures of habit. They don't like to have their routine interrupted, or to be out of their territory. Once he has time to adjust to his new territory, he'll be fine. Patience, Danielsan!

[sistersofmercy]

26. Great story, you should have your on pet show!

Cats do have a tendency to train us, don't they!

[trof]

19. Yowly cats

We moved from NH to Lower Alabama with a dog and two cats. The dog and one of the cats were just fine with it, but not Big Red. He SCREAMED every foot of the way. Both days in the car, ALL day long and ALL NIGHT in the motel. At 1 a.m. the manager called to tell me our neighbors had complained. I got up and put him in the car.

We got into the new house and he kept screaming. I put him in the glassed-in bay room where we couldn't hear him. The next morning when I got up he was still howling. I opened the back door and said "OK buster, have it your way". He walked across our yard, into the neighbor's yard, and out of sight without a backward glance. Never saw him again. We (half-heartedly) looked around the neighborhood when he didn't show up for supper. I guess he headed out for New Hampshire.
Good riddance.

[TXlib]

23. I talk trash about my cats, but I do love them.

We have two cats: Mephisto is a black rag-doll we found in the parking lot of our apartment about 7 years ago. Behemoth is an orange tabby we got to keep Mephisto company when we were on campus all day.

Behemoth is the one I call a little shit. He plays with water every chance he gets; he's spilled so many drinks, I've lost count. He hates everybody but KCDem and me. Often, when you come across him, he gives you a sly look and slinks away, like he was doing something he shouldn't have been. If he's in a tile-floored room with one little patch of carpet, he never fails to puke on the carpet. I don't know how he'd act around the kids, really. He runs whenever they approach. He's a clown, though, and really funny to watch. He likes to hang out in the bathtub. Once, there was bathwater still in it, and he jumped in. We heard a "MWROWR!" and saw him streak across the floor, soaking wet, to hide under the couch. He gives little kitty massages on your arms and neck.

Mephisto is the gentlest cat I have ever met. I have seen a dozen little kids pile on him, and he just sits and purrs. Our kids have mistreated him, pulled his hair and whiskers, pulled his tail, and he's never snapped at them. I sometimes wish he would. When he's had enough, he goes and hides for a while, but his tolerance for toddler torture is amazingly high. Our 4-year-old now knows how to treat him properly. Our 2-year-old still pulls his fur, yet we often find him curled up, asleep in her crib with her.

[catpower2000]

25. He doesn't know where he is yet..crate him for a few nights, he'll be fine

[VOX]

28. If you were in a completely strange place, you might cry too!

Some cats are *extremely* sensitive to their environment. Right now, nothing is familiar to your cat: sights, smells and sound. Was there another animal (dog, cat?) that lived in the place before you moved in? Whatever, he's obviusly stressing right now. And they do stress.

Try using pheromone spray -- Feliway, I think it's called. It's a colorless, harmless, odorless (to humans) liquid that you spray on furniture, doorways, etc. at the cat's height, say, where he might rub his face or nose. It's supposed to have a very calming effect on cats. You can pick up some at your vet's.

Also, try some *truly* interactive play with him. The laser pointer is fun for you, but it's ultimately frustrating for the cat, because there's nothing to catch and bite, kick and chew, etc. Use the old stand-by, a piece of twine or string. Set up some boxes (if you just moved, I'll bet you have plenty around!) or throw pillows to make places for the cat to crouch behind. This may be a bit boring to you, but it centers the cat, builds confidence, and bonds him to you. I know this from experience, and I can almost guarantee success in relaxing the cat with these interactive play sessions.

He'll quiet down as soon as he's able to get comfortable in his new surroundings, and he can develop a new routine.

We're moving in a week, and I know our cats will have a period of adjustment.

Hang in there, and be patient -- :toast:

[qwertyMike]

29. Time for . .

Flying lessons!

[TXlib]

30. Flying kitties?

[joeybee12]

31. Is he fixed? Yes, then it just means he's unhappy!

He'll get over it in a bit, the little angel!

All cats are good, don't forget that!

[geniph]

32. Try wearing him out before bedtime

to reset his clock a little. Give him some catnip if he responds to it, and play with him vigorously for some time right before bed. Make sure he isn't lonely, and that he has food and water.

One of ours has a peculiar habit of wandering the hallway at night carrying his toy rat and howling. It's the only time he does this. We've never figured out why he does it - if you come out and look at him, he spits out the rat and looks embarrassed. So I put a cat door in my bedroom door to let them come and go, and I shut the door to keep the noise down. He only brings the rat into the bedroom very rarely.

I've had cats that yowled at night because they woke up in the dark and were disoriented and scared. If you called them, they'd come running in, all a-purr. I'd try behavior modification with catnip and exercise before anything else, but your vet can probably offer other suggestions. I'd bet the little fellow is disoriented by the new surroundings.

[Mz Pip]

33. Cats are very

place oriented. Some more than others. I have one cat who I cannot take with to our vacation house. He just howls the whople trip, with or without kitty drugs. Then when he gets there he walks around howling-even though his family and best cat buddy are there. The other cat doesn't care too much and ends up getting annoyed at all the howling.

He'll settle down. Don't let him outside for awhile since he might bolt. He has to forget about his old home.

MzPip
:dem: