Unmotivated meowing

[Lydia Leftcoast]

For the past week or so, Kidley has started meowing at about 4:0-4:30PM and keeping it up for an hour or so. None of the usual suspects for discontent (food, water, litter box) are out of order, and toys never interest him much. (His reaction to a cat teaser is "Get that stupid thing out of my face.") Attention soothes him for a while, but then he walks away and starts meowing again.

He's an apartment kitty, so I thought he might not be getting enough exercise. I let him out into the hall (with fire doors closed so he can't escape) and threw a jingle bell ball), but he didn't seem particularly excited or interested. He just sniffed at the doors of a couple of other apartments and stood there looking bewildered.

Any theories?

[erinlough]

1. I don't know your schedule

but the only time I have problems with my cat like this is when the time change comes. I usually get up at 6:30 and the cats go out. When the time change comes in the fall the kitties don't get it and wake me up consistantly an hour early.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Hmm, he usually gets a treat between 5 and 6PM

(meat scraps if I'm cooking meat, a little canned chicken or turkey if I'm not), but with the time change, his treat is actually coming earlier than it used to.

I could understand it if this were happening in the fall, when his treat time would suddenly be pushed back later...

He basically likes DST, though. He's trained not to wake me up till the radio comes on in the morning, and since the radio is on an hour earlier than before, he seems to be very happy, as if to say, "You're finally getting up at a reasonable hour."

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Maybe there is a new neighbor with something that is bothering Kidley?

I assume he is neutered..and a hot kitten next door would not be a reason for him to get restless....

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. He is indeed neutered, and there are two cats (gender unknown) across the hall

but they were there when he moved in.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. This definitely a puzzle...

[ginnyinWI]

6. is he an older cat?

My older female started meowing last September. (I have posted about it here before.) She always does it when no humans are in sight, and tends to pick places where her voice will sound the loudest, like at the bottom of the stairs or in the basement. It's always after eating, so it's not hunger. If we distract her, she obligingly lets us pet her or play with her, then trots right back to the stairs and does it again.

We've come to the conclusion that she just likes doing it. She might be a bit deaf and likes hearing her voice that way. She's probably at least 14 years old. The other change is that there are new cats in the household now, and she might just be asserting dominance--a "roar" if you will to announce that she's the boss. She actually isn't the alpha cat though.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. Hmm, Kidley is five years old

and today, he started meowing at 4PM CDT, like clockwork.

This was after I'd tried to forestall it by taking him for a run in the hallway. (As I may have mentioned above, one of his previous owners had him declawed, so he has to be an indoor kitty.)

He may have spring fever and be longing to go out and chase birdies, but there are a lot of dogs in this neighborhood, and I can't risk having him defenseless.

[badgerpup]

8. My ex's cat used to do this...

About 9PM she'd go to the door of his apartment and start MEOWING.
If you opened the door for her, she'd look out into the hallway, go "ZOMFG YIKES!":scared:... run away and hide...
and then come back and start MEOWING about five minutes later.
She'd keep this up for about an hour or so whether the door was opened for her or not. :banghead:

The door was in a sort of little hallway, so it ECHOED...and I've read some other kitteh blogs where the kitteh likes to MEOW for no apparent reason at the same time (usually in the wee small hours) every day (Max the PsychoKitty chooses a stairwell as his venue. Again, with the echoes...).

Had one cat who was in the Top 100 Contenders for Coolest Cat On The Planet (well, I thought so) and he'd sit in front of a three-way mirror and SING his furry little heart out.
He got a really good bounce-back from the sound that way...and it was always and only in front of the mirror he would do this.

Maybe it's entertainment for them...maybe exercise...or maybe it's ART.
Don't think it's "I'm lonely", because ex's cat, Coolest Cat, and blogging kitteh all had feline roommates. Granted, they weren't lovey-dovey bonded 'almost like littermates' best friends...but they WERE company, and there was friendly interaction...

I dunno...:shrug:
Because they're cats, and they will do as they do do, and there's no doin' anything about it?

[ginnyinWI]

9. the echo chamber effect again!

That pretty much confirms it: they just like to hear themselves sounding like big, fierce kitties. It's funny mine didn't do it when she was younger--but she might have learned it from my daughter's cat last summer. We were cat-sitting while she was on her honeymoon, and her big male Maine Coon cat would pace the house going, "AHOWW, AHOWW, AHOWW" every evening. Maybe Kitty thought it was cool and thought she'd try it for herself.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Last night I consulted my cat consultants

(the many members of my church choir who are experienced owners of multiple cats), and their consensus was that since the meowing had coincided with the start of warm weather, it was due to a sort of spring fever, perhaps the sight of birds flying past the window (I live in an apartment at treetop level), perhaps the angle of the light.

They agreed that sometimes cats just meow for unfathomable reasons.

I wish I could let Kidley out to run around and chase small critters, but unfortunately, one of his former owners had him declawed. :-(

[japple]

11. Maybe you should try getting him some new toys and fresh

catnip, or plant a container with oat grass so he can nibble on something green. It does sound like spring fever. That or maybe a ghost kitty in your apartment building. :)

[Bluestar]

12. If this continues, you might have his thyroid checked

I had a kitty once who did this in the middle of the night. He kept us awake night after night. The vet determined that he had a thyroid problem and it sort of made him "out of his head"--not unlike humans experience when that gland is out of whack.