howling at night

I have two ten year old female litermates. These are indoor cats and
neither has been outside where the evil monsters reside. Both cats are
would appear to be in good health, but neither has been to the vet for
several years. Their behavior is normal for them as they play and wrestle
and occassionally get into arguments like any sister will. Their appetite
is good and they drink ample portions of water. There is no signs of
parisites in their stool.

One cat will sleep all night with my wife and I, waking up usually minutes
before the alarm goes off each morning. The other girl has started pacing
the floor after the lights go off and howling. She has a lowd voice and it
makes sleep impossible. She usually gets put into the garage where she can
howl as much as she wants. She has water, food, and a literbox of her very
own out there.

Any thoughts on this irritating behavior?

"Clyde Ferndock" wrote in message
...
I have two ten year old female litermates. These are indoor cats and
neither has been outside where the evil monsters reside. Both cats are
would appear to be in good health, but neither has been to the vet for
several years. Their behavior is normal for them as they play and wrestle
and occassionally get into arguments like any sister will. Their appetite
is good and they drink ample portions of water. There is no signs of
parisites in their stool.

One cat will sleep all night with my wife and I, waking up usually minutes
before the alarm goes off each morning. The other girl has started pacing
the floor after the lights go off and howling. She has a lowd voice and
it
makes sleep impossible. She usually gets put into the garage where she can
howl as much as she wants. She has water, food, and a literbox of her very
own out there.

Any thoughts on this irritating behavior?

I'm assuming they're spayed?

If they haven't been to the vet "for several years" I would say that's the
*first* thing you should do. Any behavioral change is usually caused by a
physical problem and that should be ruled out before you start to work on
changing the behavior. She could have a UTI. My Percy started going into
the bathroom and howling when he was in the final stages of renal failure
right before we had to have him euthanized.

Hugs,

CatNipped

The other girl has started pacing the
floor after the lights go off and howling.

This behavior in older cats is a classic symptom of a hyperthyroid
condition. Please get your cat into the vet and have her thyroid
function tested ASAP.

Megan



"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing."

-Edmund Burke

Learn The TRUTH About Declawing
http://www.stopdeclaw.com

Zuzu's Cats Photo Album:
http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22

"Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one
elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and
splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then
providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and
material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his
way."

- W.H. Murray

"Clyde Ferndock" wrote in message
...
I have two ten year old female litermates. These are indoor cats and
neither has been outside where the evil monsters reside. Both cats are
would appear to be in good health, but neither has been to the vet for
several years. Their behavior is normal for them as they play and wrestle
and occassionally get into arguments like any sister will. Their appetite
is good and they drink ample portions of water. There is no signs of
parisites in their stool.

One cat will sleep all night with my wife and I, waking up usually minutes
before the alarm goes off each morning. The other girl has started pacing
the floor after the lights go off and howling. She has a lowd voice and
it
makes sleep impossible. She usually gets put into the garage where she can
howl as much as she wants. She has water, food, and a literbox of her very
own out there.

Any thoughts on this irritating behavior?

Drinking "ample portions" of water is not necessarily a good sign, most cats
don't drink much, so this might indicate a problem, particularly if their
water intake has increased. There are a number of possible causes of howling
at night in an older cat:

http://www.felinecrf.org/symptoms_tr...ts_index.htm#H

Please get her checked by a vet. Actually, please get both cats checked by a
vet.

Helen

Clyde Ferndock wrote:
I have two ten year old female litermates. These are indoor cats and
neither has been outside where the evil monsters reside. Both cats are
would appear to be in good health, but neither has been to the vet for
several years. Their behavior is normal for them as they play and wrestle
and occassionally get into arguments like any sister will. Their appetite
is good and they drink ample portions of water. There is no signs of
parisites in their stool.

One cat will sleep all night with my wife and I, waking up usually minutes
before the alarm goes off each morning. The other girl has started pacing
the floor after the lights go off and howling. She has a lowd voice and it
makes sleep impossible. She usually gets put into the garage where she can
howl as much as she wants. She has water, food, and a literbox of her very
own out there.

Any thoughts on this irritating behavior?




Two issues here...

-Are they both spayed?

-Resolution of behavioral problems, particulary in this case since as
you say they have not been to a vet in several years, start with a visit
to the vet for a checkup. Discuss these issues with the vet when you are
there.

"Clyde Ferndock" wrote in message
...

Their appetite
is good and they drink ample portions of water. There is no signs of
parisites in their stool.

One cat will sleep all night with my wife and I, waking up usually minutes
before the alarm goes off each morning. The other girl has started pacing
the floor after the lights go off and howling. She has a lowd voice and
it
makes sleep impossible. She usually gets put into the garage where she can
howl as much as she wants. She has water, food, and a literbox of her very
own out there.

Any thoughts on this irritating behavior?

The first order of business is a thorough veterinary examination to rule out
potential medical causes (e.g., hyperthyroidism, hypertension). However,
the fact that she vocalizes apparently only after the lights are turned off
leads me to suspect a possible decline in hearing and/or sight and/or
cognitive function (she may become disoriented with the lights off). Some
older cats begin to vocalize as their senses or cognitive function begins to
decline. So, you might want to have your vet check her hearing as well.

If the vet gives her a clean bill of health, you might want try leaving a
few night-lights on around the house - particularly near her food and water
bowls and litterbox.

Best of luck.

Phil

Phil wrote:
However, the fact that she vocalizes
apparently only after the lights are turned
off leads me to suspect a possible decline
in hearing and/or sight and/or cognitive
function

If this was an older cat I might suspect this too, but the cat is only
10 years old, which makes it unlikely. It's more likely this is related
to hyperthyroid or hypertension. I point this out just to underline the
need for the OP to take the cat to the vet and not chalk this behavior
up to old age.

Megan



"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing."

-Edmund Burke

Learn The TRUTH About Declawing
http://www.stopdeclaw.com

Zuzu's Cats Photo Album:
http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22

"Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one
elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and
splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then
providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and
material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his
way."

- W.H. Murray

wrote in message
...
Phil wrote:
However, the fact that she vocalizes
apparently only after the lights are turned
off leads me to suspect a possible decline
in hearing and/or sight and/or cognitive
function

If this was an older cat I might suspect this too, but the cat is only
10 years old, which makes it unlikely.


Not necessarily. I've seen cognitive dysfunction affect cats as young as
10 - that's why I mentioned it.



It's more likely this is related
to hyperthyroid or hypertension.


Possible but not probable in this case -- unless the cat becomes
hyperthyroid or hypertensive only when the lights are turned off..


I point this out just to underline the
need for the OP to take the cat to the vet and not chalk this behavior
up to old age.



I absolutely agree that the cat definitely needs to be seen by a vet.
That's why I opened and closed my post with advice to have the cat
thoroughly examined *before* considering cognitive dysfunction.

In , on 04/11/05
at 08:58 AM, said:

If this was an older cat I might suspect this too, but the cat is only 10
years old, which makes it unlikely. It's more likely this is related to
hyperthyroid or hypertension. I point this out just to underline the need
for the OP to take the cat to the vet and not chalk this behavior up to
old age.

Our two cats do a little yelling after we go to bed for the night. I
think that's when the ghosts come out.


Alan

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On Sun, 10 Apr 2005 23:02:38 +0000, Clyde Ferndock wrote:

I have two ten year old female litermates. These are indoor cats and
neither has been outside where the evil monsters reside. Both cats are
would appear to be in good health, but neither has been to the vet for
several years. Their behavior is normal for them as they play and wrestle
and occassionally get into arguments like any sister will. Their appetite
is good and they drink ample portions of water. There is no signs of
parisites in their stool.

One cat will sleep all night with my wife and I, waking up usually minutes
before the alarm goes off each morning. The other girl has started pacing
the floor after the lights go off and howling. She has a lowd voice and
it makes sleep impossible. She usually gets put into the garage where she
can howl as much as she wants. She has water, food, and a literbox of her
very own out there.

Any thoughts on this irritating behavior?


Perhaps a night light would help MLB