Hello all,
I recently adopted an 18-year-old blind female cat from the local kill-shelter from foster parents as a first-time cat owner. I've had two dogs in the past. She has been recently yowling and meowing throughout the night and early mornings.
I was told that she really only sleeps like 20 hours a day and the hours she's up is only to eat and drink. I was told that she also likes catnip toys. When I looked at her full medical records from the shelter and the foster parents, there was a recent vet visit ( a week before I adopted her) about her yowling, but no medical findings. There had been a note in it saying that she had been yowling day and night keeping them up. The foster parents told me that she would usually stay downstairs because their resident cat was very protective of their bedroom too.
I have her over my place most of the time and after the first few nights of having her, she started to meow very loudly once throughout the night and yowl around 8 AM. I know for many, 8 AM is not very early but I am doing all of my classes on Zoom from home and my earliest class is at 11 AM and so I don't wake up until around 9:30/10 AM. I have brought her over to my boyfriend's place with the same bowls and bed a couple of times so far. Recently, I've had to stay for a few days due to the local snowstorm. She's been meowing and yowling even more at his place than at mine multiple times throughout the night and sometimes even gets more aggressive if I don't give her attention. I've tried shushing her too, which seems to work 1/2 of the time. I've read online when they're yowling for attention, to ignore them but them read for blind cats to give them attention as they may be disoriented. Additionally, I thought oh maybe I need to clean her litter box or replace her water bowl or fill up her food bowl again even though there is still some food left. The first few times, after doing that, she would stop, but then she started doing it again and even louder. Basically, she meows and yowls really loudly the few hours she's awake.
I've bought a catnip toy that has a section in it to put the catnip and a ball around to play with. I thought hmm maybe she wants to play or needs to release some type of energy, but she only reacted to the catnip strongly the first time and ignores it now with a few light exceptions. I recently got her those crinkle ball toys too but she only bit them once and ignores them now. The foster parents also gave me a bell toy when I first got her but she had no reaction to it.
The foster parents also told me she likes to cuddle but whenever I bring her on the bed with me, she most of the time tries to jump off and when she does, she's almost always off balance and falls. She's only fell a few times, the other times I try to carry her down myself.
I also free feed her the dry food her foster parents gave me too. I've read that might be an issue? I do have wet food and am planning on transitioning to do combo feedings.
But also now, even after petting her, she'll lay down for a few minutes only to get back up and yowl some more.
I even thought about getting another cat but one that can see, to see if maybe she's lonely? I'm not sure because the foster's resident cat seemed to not be the biggest fan of her and they just ignored one another, as well as their resident dog.
My boyfriend thinks I'm mad at her for yowling and that I shouldn't be, but I'm more annoyed at having my sleep disrupted and waking up groggy. I'm also scared that if she yowls or meows too loudly, my roommate or the neighbors might complain and I will have to rehome her which I don't want to do. I like my cat otherwise but I wish the foster parents didn't tell me she was a lowkey, low maintenance cat who would be great for a first-time owner. I'm not planning on returning her but I am a little salty that they didn't disclose everything especially the yowling.
I know this seems like a long rant but I'm not necessarily sure how to target this seeing that she's a blind elderly cat who is otherwise healthy. Any tips or recommendations would be great!
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/lca1rc/newly_adopted_elderly_blind_cat_yowls_at_night/
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