Jake’s Yowl

Posted on June 15, 2010 by Patrick Shearer, BVMS, PhD

I have a cat called Jake. He’s your usual black and white moggie, a bit bigger than your average cat (a little chunky, too, if I’m honest), loves his cuddles and has plenty of attitude. Attitude’s fine during daylight hours, but not so much fun at 5am. I’m sure plenty of you know exactly what I’m talking about when I say that his yowling is driving me crazy.

Back in Australia (he’s a well-travelled cat) he was an indoor-outdoor kitty but he got into so many fights that when we moved here he became an indoor kitty. He still yowled if he managed to escape at night, 5am outside the bedroom window, but we had a room we could keep him in that blockedmost of the noise. In our current place, we can’t do that because the only areas that aren’t carpeted are the kitchen (no doors to shut and I wouldn’t keep him there anyway) and the bathrooms (too small and they echo a lot).

We’ve tried everything and I’m almost at my wit’s end. Cats yowl for a variety of reasons, such as when they’re unwell, hungry or in need of attention. If you have a cat that’s yowling, get your vet to check him out first to rule possible medical reasons.. My parent’s older cat often yowls because of hyperthyroidism; the changes that the disease cause are often attributed to “old age.”.

Not for Jake, though. He’s had a clean bill of health on multiple occasions. He yowls when he gets bored or hungry.. If your cat yowls for attention during the day, the best thing to do is ignore it, then reward your cat with play or cuddles when he or she is quiet. If your cat is yowling at night, have playtime before bedtime so your cat goes to bed tired. Putting your cat to bed with a little food (make sure it’s not extra to their main meal, to avoid weight problems) can help with the hunger problem.

I’ve done all this. Jake still yowls. The only things that have worked are locking him in a room with Jackson, the Kelpie/Husky cross (on the very first day that Jackson came home, there were some loud noises but we’d had enough of the yowling so we didn’t care. They’re best friends now) and clomicalm. We tried a feliway diffuser, it worked for maybe a week. The clomicalm works well, but it turns him into a vegetable during the day so we didn’t use it for long. The experts say you should never yell, but I have to admit caving in. I can hit a moving target with a cushion from 20 feet as well. It’s so frustrating that I even started to look into bark-stopping collars for dogs that emit small electric shocks. I can hear the chorus of “oh, that’s terrible” and I agree, but sleep deprivation does funny things to you.

My point is, don’t give up. A friend of mine recommended a timed feeder and a “food toy” (a plastic bottle with some holes in the side and some kibble in it), so I’m going to give that a try. Hopefully, the feeder will be able to give him breakfast nice and early and the food toy will keep him busy during the day. The best-case scenario is that he’s fed nice and early and kept busy during the day so that he gets some exercise and is nice and tired at night. Fingers crossed…



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