Nighttime meowing and lots of it

[Lydia Leftcoast]

When I got Kidley Catton nearly five years ago, my cousin told me that he was "about five years old," but she didn't know for sure, because she'd picked him up after his former owners moved away and left him.

He's been an excellent kitty for much of the time, but last October, I went to Japan for a week, and when I came back, his usual cat sitter noted that he wasn't as friendly as before and seemed to have less energy. She also said that he had become fascinated with the bathtub and begged for water from it.

As many of you know, I had him trained not to bother me in the morning until the radio came on. It worked great. Sometimes I'd wake up a bit early and spot him sitting by the bed, ready to pounce.

After I came back from Japan, I noticed that Kidley was not waking me up with the radio and was usually asleep on the couch when I came out for breakfast. Well, no inconvenience there, so I didn't think anything of it.

Then I realized that he was no longer right at the door when I came home. Instead, he seemed to be surprised when I walked in. He was also having occasional tremors and neglecting to groom himself on one side.

Finally, I took him to the vet who did the "senior cat blood profile" and discovered that he had kidney and some mild liver trouble. (I think I already mentioned this before.) The vet gave me special diet food for him, but he won't eat it. At all. And it's expensive, so I figure that it's better for him to eat something than not eat at all.

I'm beginning to wonder if Kidley is developing dementia. He gets anxious and starts meowing if he can't see me, which is only a minor annoyance, but what's really driving me mad is his meowing at night.

In the past, he meowed in the middle of the night only if something was wrong. Now he's meowing at random times, and loudly and insistently. It's as if he has a sense of exactly when I'm about to drop off to sleep. Now he always has the option of sleeping on the bed, so it's not as if he feels exiled. But sometimes he will get up on the bed and start doing what feels like a tap dance.

Then, since he's unable to hear the radio anymore, he goes by outside light, which means that he tries to wake me up earlier and earlier. (Sunrise today was at 5:54AM).

I make a point of NOT getting out of bed when he meows (not wanting to reinforce the behavior), but I spend the early morning hours half asleep, again with frequent and loud meows preventing me from really sleeping for the 90 minutes or so before the radio comes on.

As soon as he sees me get up, the Brat Cat iinsists loudly on an immediate breakfast and brushing, after which he curls up on the nearest piece of furniture and goes to sleep.

The result is that I'm exhausted by mid afternoon, have no energy to do anything beyond what is absolutely necessary at the moment, and still often have to stay up late at night to finish work for customers in Japan.

Have any of you faced this situation and handled it successfully? (I'm beginning to wish they had tranquilizer darts for cats.)

[mopinko]

1. has he gone deaf?

he sounds like an old man, mostly, but i wonder how his hearing and eyesight are.
can you make him some food? vets hate to tell you what kind of diet those special foods really are, but i would think a kidney diet is pretty easy to research. maybe just mixing a zero/low protein food with his regular food would be better than nothing.

i hate when pets get old and that question hangs in the back of your mind alllllll the time.
:hugs:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. Yes

It's pretty clear that he's deaf.
My brother the people doctor wondered if he might have a brain tumor, given the sudden onset deafness, the tremors, and grooming only one side.
I mentioned the possibility to the vet, who just shrugged it off, probably since there isn't a lot that can be done, at least not anything I can afford.

[mopinko]

4. yeah, bout the best you can do is find out for sure.

if you have a K to burn, you can get an mri and find out for sure, and how bad. but then what? then you evaluate his quality of life (and yours) and make the decision there.
does sound neurological.

[ginnyinWI]

3. Been there.

Our older calico (now deceased) began to yowl once in a while, at night, at about age 17 (never knew her exact age) and then began to do it regularly at night, and then in the daytime too, until her final illness at age 19. At first she would pick a spot with a good echo to it, like at the bottom of the stairs, then it was near the fireplace, then anywhere.

Your cat is younger, but each one is different. We figured it was a combination of deafness and worsening eyesight that made her yowl at night. Because it got louder and louder as time went on. She was pretty deaf by the end. Probably felt isolated and lonely.

The only thing we could do for her was to ignore it at night and scoop her up and cuddle her to distract her in the daytime and let her know she wasn't alone.

We also installed many night lights throughout the downstairs to help her see (she never wanted to spend the night upstairs). And the litter boxes--she couldn't see at night to navigate the stairs and started pooping on the carpets. Leaving the basement light on at night solved that.

She had an overactive thyroid for her last six months and was on a pill for it, but what caused her death was an inoperable bladder tumor.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. i'll try leaving lights on at night

but not in places that would keep me awake.

I give Kidley a lot of attention in the evenings, and he still sits on the bed while I'm reading myself to sleep, demanding to be petted, although he often curls up and goes to sleep before I'm finished reading.

So far so good.

It's the meowing at 2:00AM and sunrise that is driving me crazy.

[ginnyinWI]

7. all cats lose some night vision as they age

according to my vet. So lights might help, especially if he's feeling isolated by his deafness. He'll rely more on his other senses.

Did lights help last night?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Yes!

I'm in an apartment, so there is a limited number of lights that I can leave on without keeping myself awake, but I left the bathroom light on (for guidance to his litter box) and the light over the sink in the kitchen (so he could find his food). There was one outburst at about 1AM, but after that, all was quiet until just before 7:30.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[ginnyinWI]

9. That's wonderful!

A simple solution if it continues to work.

Alternatively, you could buy a four-pack of LED nightlights like I did and put them around. Pretty inexpensive and it might be all the light he needs. Put them in the low outlets-- at cat level.

Poor baby--imagine going deaf or almost deaf, and then not being able to see very well at night either.

[ginnyinWI]

10. One more thing

As cats age the back of their eyes gets kind of cloudy and that is why their night vision declines. Does your cat have those kind of eyes? If so, I'd put his age at around 16. That's when I've noticed it in two cats that I've had. You had said you don't know his age for sure. You could also ask your vet for an age estimate.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. Sounds like your kitty is going deaf and blind.

If the cat cannot see you or hear you, she may be anxiously looking for you.

I had a cat who went blind because of kidney disease. But, although Kidley has been diagnosed with kidney problems, I have to wonder if it is not a stroke or other brain damage because of the grooming on only one side. A brain tumor, as you mentioned, could also cause these problems. I don't know if you had thyroid testing done, but cats with hyperthyroid will be very loud when trying to get fed....because they are always starving since the metabolism is so high. You would also notice weight loss with this.

I wish you well. Older cats who are starting to show health problems are the hardest thing to handle.....all you want to do is help them, and some times there is nothing you can do.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Update: I've kept lights on in the bathroom and kitchen for a second night

and Kidley seems to find this reassuring. Maybe one outburst in the middle of the night, and blissful silence for the rest of the time.