Howling cat

We have two female cats. The oldest is 15 and the younger one is around 10. The older one has always been quite vocal, but it has become excessive lately.

The cats can't come in the bedroom because there is a flat screen TV and they have already knocked over one and broke it. Plus, the dogs sleep in the bedroom and the male dog has a very strong prey drive. We have been working on doing supervised introductions with him and the cats, but he gets overexcited and stresses them out. So, the cats have access to the living/dining area and their room at night.


The older cat has started loudly howling at the bedroom door in the middle of the night. It can go on for hours. It is disrupting our sleep. On top of the howling, we have new neighbors with a truck that beeps when they are in reverse. They take the truck in and out at all hours of the night and their driveway is close to the bedroom so the noise sure doesn't help with sleep either.

I did some reading and it seems that she could have some sort of feline dementia due to her age. I also read cats often vocalize more loudly with age because their hearing is not as good.

I have tried calming treats, sprays, and Feliway. At times they seem to help, at others not so much. The cats are due for their annual visit to the vet soon, so I also plan to mention it to him.

I was wondering if anyone else has dealt with this and maybe had some ideas that I haven't thought of. They like to sleep downstairs, so I don't want to have to make them stay in the upstairs room. They already spend part of the day there due to the dog.

My first cat had feline dementia. I found bringing her to bed with me would help her to settle

I'm sorry you dealt with that too, willowtigger. Unfortunately, due to this guy https://mysupportforums.org/album.ph...ictureid=64054 and the fact that she already broke one TV, she can't stay in the bedroom at night. I've been making sure she gets attention and cuddles before I go to bed, but I guess that's not enough.

Does she have a special toy or anything that she always recognises? My old girl Beauty found it helpful to have me going to her, my presence reassured her ❤️

Rechu, when you go to the vet talk to him about a low dose of Prozac for your older kitty for a few months. It might help settle her.

Years ago my kitty developed kitty dementia. We called it cat-hiemers. He would lose track of where I was and scream looking for me. He also lost his hearing so calling to him did no good. I found if I stomped my foot on the floor he could find me. That is obviously not going to work for your lady.

Could you crate your dog at night so kitty could be in the bedroom at night?

Let me think on this some more, maybe I can come up with some other ideas.

Thanks for your thoughts, lizardlady. I will ask the vet about prescribing her kitty Prozac or similar. Crate training isn't really a thing in this country. I've never tried it and since I have almost always worked from home, it didn't really seem necessary. If I tried that, I think we'd have him whining all night, wanting to get close to the cat, instead. It would probably end up stressing her out more.

Speaking to the vet is your best bet.

Some other thought...
Thundershirt makes makes shirts for cats. I wonder if one would help your cat.

How about giving kitty something you wore so it has your scent on it?

Have you tried a calming collar? They are infused with calming pheromones.

I have been working on giving her more attention and I rearranged the cat room a bit with different beds, which they seem to like. The howling has gone down somewhat and she spends less time outside the bedroom door.

I checked their vet papers and they are due for their check-ups this month, so I will also talk to the vet. Now, that is going to be a lot of howling. They hate the car. When we moved to this house, it was 45 minutes of three cats (at that time) howling. I even put on some Cat Stevens for them to listen to.

Does listening to their cousin Cat help?

Unfortunately, no. That was a long 45 minutes of howling.

Moving the pets was the most challenging part of our move. We sent the two young dogs to the kennel for a few days because they are so rambunctious. My husband went to pick them up. They had fed Bruni not long before he went to get them and didn't use her no-gulp plate. So, she got carsick, basically the complete combo while he was stuck in traffic in the city. We have a hatchback and Helmut hid up in the hatchback part of the car to escape it! At least there was a seat cover, which helped somewhat. For some reason we started laughing like crazy as we were trying to clean it all up.

I don't want to do another move like that for a while.

Oh I know, dog barf!

Used to have a kitty (miss you Sambeckett) that howled his head off until he barfed in his carrier. Then he would go silent. I used to verbally encourage him to go ahead and barf so he would shut up. Also learned early on to have a spare towel in the truck so I could change out for the nasty one.

Well, we went to the vet. I was going to try and take both, but it was impossible to get the younger one into the carrier. She gave me a nasty scratch. I will see if the vet that does home visits can come see her. I didn't give them any food the evening before the appointment, but the cat that did go still managed to poop and puke some sort of liquid during the 10 minute trip.

According to the vet, meds for her behavior aren't really used here and he didn't prescribe anything. He said another factor may be that many cats sleep less as they age, I guess that explains both the howling and the running up and down the stairs at 3 AM.

Interestingly, Helmut, the dog, has become increasingly annoyed by the howling. When it starts he goes to the door and barks at her. That stops her for a while, but she comes back. And the barking isn't exactly fun either.

When I was a kid, my godmother (aunt) and uncle had a cat named Beckett.

Well, she's only gotten worse. The howling routine has been supplemented by scratching the door. She really doesn't seem to get the point that she won't be let in. I'm a light sleeper, so even the scratching wakes me up. I've started taking a two strike approach. At the first scratching event, I go to the door and tell her no. She usually goes up the stairs. If it happens a second time, they have to go to their room.

Maybe she will learn? I don't know. Why does she even want to come into the room if Helmut's there? She's never been the brightest cat. I rescued her because she ran in front of my car and I had to brake to not hit her. It was in in an undeveloped area with no houses or businesses around, so I loaded her into the car.

Cat Dementia: Identify Signs, Best Treatment & More | Purina

Symptoms and Treatment for Feline Dementia

What Are Signs of Dementia in Cats? | ASPCA Pet Health Insurance

Thanks for those tips, Motts. I'm doing a lot of that. They have their schedule and are both on a premium senior food.

I could see if I can get her to play before bed. The thing is, she has never showed much interest in toys. Her only interest in cat toys is to try to chew off any sort of string like a mouse tail, eat it and puke it up. So, I only let her have toys under supervision and she rarely wants to play with them.


As I mentioned the vet didn't prescribe her anything. I talked to a friend who has been a vet tech for years and he said he hasn't heard of vets prescribing medicine in a case like this. So, it may be that it's not done. I wonder if it has to do with a lack of experience with geriatric cats. Culturally, it's common in this country to let cats roam, so they are likely to die younger. If I try to get another opinion, I am thinking of trying the animal hospital at the zoo in town. Of course, I first need to prepare myself emotionally, physically and mentally for another trip in the car with her!

We have Omega supplements here for dogs. My dog takes it for her skin and fur. I imagine they have one for cats too. I'll look into that.

I just realized the birds too. The room where the cats normally hang out overlooks the back yard and we have a lot of bird life. They sit on the window sill to watch.


I just realized something. Some years back, another cat she was buddies with passed. Some months later Puntuda (the howling cat) developed urinary problems and was diagnosed with cystitis. The vet we saw that day happened to be a cat behavior specialist. He asked a lot of questions. My husband said he felt like he was on Jackson Galaxy's show. The vet said that with cats, traumas like a loss of a companion can have physical and behavioral effects, sometimes months later. He said that about six months after the major earthquake we had in 2010, he started to see many cats with issues.

We had to put our dog, Jade, to sleep in October 2022. Puntuda and Jadeknew each other since they were young. In the last 4-5 months of her life, Jade slept in the living room. She was having accidents in the middle of the night that started to damage the flooring in the bedroom. The living room is tiled, so easier to manage. Anyways, if I got up in the middle of the night, the two of them were usually sleeping close by. I wonder if Jade's death is impacting her behavior. She does seem to seek out our girl dog, Bruni, who is more tolerant of cats than Helmut. I'm thinking of giving them more time together to see if that helps.

My cat howls a lot during the night because she's deaf, and then wants to go out and hunt. What we do is wear her out before bed (she's 20 so all it takes is a lot of pettings and then put her in her box and she's good until 3am when we just wake up and feed her which makes her content for an hour or so and then it's daylight so then we let her out for a few bit which is all she wanted in the first place).

Rechu, will your cat play with a laser pointer? You could use it to tire her out.

Hmm, I wonder if a laser pointer would get her attention more than toys. I'm not sure. Maybe I could try to find a cheap one.

Rechu, don't know if you have Dollar Tree where you are, but they sell them.

No Dollar Tree in this part of the world. I guess the closest thing we have would be the mall Chino, stores where they sell a lot of cheap stuff imported from Asia. My husband passes by one when he goes to the office. He could probably stop in and see what they have.

Well, we tried the laser, she has no interest in that either. Playing isn't her thing. Honestly, I am starting to think we have to accept that it's her world and we're just living in it, as an old friend used to say. She's happy howling, scratching on the door, running up and down the stairs and puking up random pieces of carpet or other things she shouldn't be. I guess she will live out her last months or years like this.

In the morning, she's become almost like an alarm clock. 7 AM sharp and she starts scratching the door.

Sorry the laser didn't work.

Does this cat go outside? I've never had a cat that was content to stay indoors all the time.

AceRimmer, I have six cats, five of whom want nothing to do with the outside world. The other is very attached to me. She will beg to be outside with me if I am working in the yard. She hangs out with me and happily goes inside when I do.