Howling in Geriatric Cat

My 15 year old is an an occasional night yowler. He calms down if we speak to him in response, so we tend to chalk it up to disorientation/cognitive decline but I've also noticed it picks up when his thyroid levels increase.

It's actually helpful indicator for us to get him checked out to see if his meds need adjusting as increased vocalization is a sign of hyperthyroidism.
 
Thanks to everyone for chiming in. I finally got a chance to take her to the vet this morning. He said she looks great for her age. Teeth aren't terrible, cyst is still just a cyst. Heart sounds great so he doesn't think it's her thyroid. He says it's likely just old age/dementia causing the howling. It was nice to get our regular vet's eyes on her since it was a different vet in the practice who saw her back in December.
 


My cat lived to be 19 1/2 and had some dementia the last few years. She would howl if she was in a different part of the house and couldn’t see us. She was confused and all we had to do was let her see us and she was fine. She just couldn’t figure out how to get to us.

She also lost weight because she had no interest in eating. I had to give her appetite stimulants the last few years.

This is pretty much where we are with Weasley, our 19 year old kitty. If he can't see us, he will yowl. All I have to do is call to him or make kissy-noises and he'll settle down and come find us. It's annoying in the middle of the night, but I'll bring him up onto the bed and he'll go back to sleep. It's also kind-of funny during the day, as I'll have just left the room and he starts calling for me. He likes to be scratched now more than ever. He's also turning into more of a lap-cat. He's never been a cuddly kitty, but now he likes to sit next to me on the couch and lean up against my leg. It's how we spend most of our evenings, in fact. I'm not worried about it as we went through the same thing with his brother, Potter, 2 years ago. I know our boy is starting to decline- I can tell by the way he stands, how his hips are narrowing, and that he's eating about half of his normal amount- but as we went through this with Potter, I'm not alarmed this time around. Just the circle of life, I guess.
 
My cat lived to be 19 1/2 and had some dementia the last few years. She would howl if she was in a different part of the house and couldn’t see us. She was confused and all we had to do was let her see us and she was fine. She just couldn’t figure out how to get to us.

She also lost weight because she had no interest in eating. I had to give her appetite stimulants the last few years.

This is pretty much where we are with Weasley, our 19 year old kitty. If he can't see us, he will yowl. All I have to do is call to him or make kissy-noises and he'll settle down and come find us. It's annoying in the middle of the night, but I'll bring him up onto the bed and he'll go back to sleep. It's also kind-of funny during the day, as I'll have just left the room and he starts calling for me. He likes to be scratched now more than ever. He's also turning into more of a lap-cat. He's never been a cuddly kitty, but now he likes to sit next to me on the couch and lean up against my leg. It's how we spend most of our evenings, in fact. I'm not worried about it as we went through the same thing with his brother, Potter, 2 years ago. I know our boy is starting to decline- I can tell by the way he stands, how his hips are narrowing, and that he's eating about half of his normal amount- but as we went through this with Potter, I'm not alarmed this time around. Just the circle of life, I guess.

Thank you both for your stories. It helps knowing this is just how some older cats behave. This is the oldest pet we've had so it's new territory. The pair we got when we were first married died around 12 and 13 and we've lost a couple unexpectedly to different illnesses around 7 and 9. This is new territory for us. I honestly had never heard about the howling thing before. I'm trying to call to her when she howls now, but she still seems to want to see me. It's kind of cute (although I know it will get old very very fast) but when I show up she immediately stops the howling and gives me one quiet meow.

And yes @leebee these older cats absolutely make the best lap cats!

I can see my girl changing in the way she stands and how she walks but thankfully her appetite is still strong.
 
This is pretty much where we are with Weasley, our 19 year old kitty. If he can't see us, he will yowl. All I have to do is call to him or make kissy-noises and he'll settle down and come find us. It's annoying in the middle of the night, but I'll bring him up onto the bed and he'll go back to sleep. It's also kind-of funny during the day, as I'll have just left the room and he starts calling for me. He likes to be scratched now more than ever. He's also turning into more of a lap-cat. He's never been a cuddly kitty, but now he likes to sit next to me on the couch and lean up against my leg. It's how we spend most of our evenings, in fact. I'm not worried about it as we went through the same thing with his brother, Potter, 2 years ago. I know our boy is starting to decline- I can tell by the way he stands, how his hips are narrowing, and that he's eating about half of his normal amount- but as we went through this with Potter, I'm not alarmed this time around. Just the circle of life, I guess.

It sounds like you are really calm and giving him just what he needs. And, of course, I love your cats' names!
 


I like seeing thread updates so I thought I'd offer one here.

The howling continued to be a problem all summer. In early September I decided to take her back to the vet for the full geriatric cat blood panel. She was less than cooperative so I ended up having to leave her to be sedated just to get the sample. This time the blood sample showed kidney disease (not unusual even in younger cats, but pretty predictable in older cats). They had us start her on Prescription Diet K/D. It hasn't been easy to get her eating it (very hard to break the Fancy Feast addiction!), but she's finally settled in.

At some point along the way, it dawned on me that she really wasn't howling any more. And her urine and waste output seemed much lower. So it's doing what it was supposed to do. Not cheap. Not easy. But worth it. We know we're on borrowed time. But I'm enjoying more bonus time with the world's best lap cat.

This was from a few years back:

The Family Matriarch by mom2rtk, on Flickr
 
I like seeing thread updates so I thought I'd offer one here.

The howling continued to be a problem all summer. In early September I decided to take her back to the vet for the full geriatric cat blood panel. She was less than cooperative so I ended up having to leave her to be sedated just to get the sample. This time the blood sample showed kidney disease (not unusual even in younger cats, but pretty predictable in older cats). They had us start her on Prescription Diet K/D. It hasn't been easy to get her eating it (very hard to break the Fancy Feast addiction!), but she's finally settled in.

At some point along the way, it dawned on me that she really wasn't howling any more. And her urine and waste output seemed much lower. So it's doing what it was supposed to do. Not cheap. Not easy. But worth it. We know we're on borrowed time. But I'm enjoying more bonus time with the world's best lap cat.

This was from a few years back:

The Family Matriarch by mom2rtk, on Flickr
Nice work! Thanks for the update!
 
Thanks for the update! Sorry to hear about the diagnosis :( but at least it appears things are being managed and the original issue has subsided/gone away.

What a beautiful kitty :)
 
Thanks everyone! So happy we get some more bonus time with her. @Mackenzie Click-Mickelson , I'm not too upset at the diagnosis. I think at this age it would be more remarkable if she didn't have some degree of kidney disease. At least it appears to be manageable for now. She was not a fan of the new food at first, and sometimes takes some coaxing to finish, but seeing results makes it worth the effort. I'm hoping the update at least gives some inspiration to others dealing with the howling to keep after a diagnosis.

To give an idea of her place in our family, here she is shortly after we got her, with my daughter who started college this year:

 
Our geriatric cat did that. She had both hearing and sight loss. She would become disoriented and start howling. Unfortunately, it often happened at night I'd go get her and put her next to me and she'd be fine for awhile. Then, she get up and it would start again.
 
I have a 15 yr old cat and she has just started yowling in the middle of the night. To be fair, we did just move so I get that she is uncomortable/disoriented. We have been here about 3 months she is driving me crazy. She'll yowl to get in my dd's bedroom, she'll yowl to get fed, she'll yowl just after getting fed, she'll yowl for any reason. She will even go into the bathroom so she can be louder. I cought her peeking around the bathroom door to see if I was coming. She does a bit better when I feed her later in the evenings and when she gets enough cuddles during the day. She does like it when we have all been in the same room and she has had a chance to just be with all of us. I think she misses the layout of our old house. She could lay in a central place and see in multiple rooms. Here it's not quite as open floor planned.
I also have another cat(he's young) that is bored because we have to keep in indoors now and he'll trill in the middle of the night. So between the two I am usually up anywhere between 1:30 am and 4 am. Throw in my husband snoring and I never get any sleep :) It's starting to wear on me :)
 
Our geriatric cat did that. She had both hearing and sight loss. She would become disoriented and start howling. Unfortunately, it often happened at night I'd go get her and put her next to me and she'd be fine for awhile. Then, she get up and it would start again.
I have a 15 yr old cat and she has just started yowling in the middle of the night. To be fair, we did just move so I get that she is uncomortable/disoriented. We have been here about 3 months she is driving me crazy. She'll yowl to get in my dd's bedroom, she'll yowl to get fed, she'll yowl just after getting fed, she'll yowl for any reason. She will even go into the bathroom so she can be louder. I cought her peeking around the bathroom door to see if I was coming. She does a bit better when I feed her later in the evenings and when she gets enough cuddles during the day. She does like it when we have all been in the same room and she has had a chance to just be with all of us. I think she misses the layout of our old house. She could lay in a central place and see in multiple rooms. Here it's not quite as open floor planned.
I also have another cat(he's young) that is bored because we have to keep in indoors now and he'll trill in the middle of the night. So between the two I am usually up anywhere between 1:30 am and 4 am. Throw in my husband snoring and I never get any sleep :) It's starting to wear on me :)
I feel for you guys with the night howling! When I started this thread she wasn't doing it much at night, but she did eventually start. She peaked at about half a dozen times one night. It was like having a newborn baby again.

It's so hard because there are a number of potential causes. And it's hard to know whether it's worth the stress to an older cat to drag them to the vet or subject them to any testing.

I still just can't believe the marked difference in ours. She's still a cranky old cat (our vet says the fiesty ones live the longest!) but that deep, loud howling at the wall has stopped. So for now, we're good.
 
My cat lived to be 19 1/2 and had some dementia the last few years. She would howl if she was in a different part of the house and couldn’t see us. She was confused and all we had to do was let her see us and she was fine. She just couldn’t figure out how to get to us.

She also lost weight because she had no interest in eating. I had to give her appetite stimulants the last few years.
Our 19 1/2 year old kitty is the same way. Weasley loses us sometimes, even if we are just down the hall. We call to him or go find him and he's fine. I worry about when we are on vacation. We usually have the neighbors come in once a day to feed him, but he's getting older and really needs to be fed smaller amounts of fresher food several times a day. I've found some friends who'll come cat-sit and stay in the house while we are gone for 10 days. They are between jobs and living with her parents so appreciate the opportunity for a little cash and some privacy/space, and we are relieved that there will be someone around to feed Weasley several times a day and keep him from being lonely. Win-win!
 
It sounds like you are really calm and giving him just what he needs. And, of course, I love your cats' names!

We got the cats when they were kittens, and DD was 7. She was all about Harry Potter at the time. Her 2 new kittens were a black/white/mix tiger with lines on his head, so he was Potter, and his brother is a yellow/orange tiger, who became Weasley. DD is an only child so "the boys" were like siblings to her. She is married and off now, and has 2 kitties of her own. At home it's just, DH, Weasley, and me... sigh.

I'm going to try some of the Prescription k/d food for him, to see if he seems better. I'm sure he is having kidney issues.
 
That is sometimes a symptom of thyroid issues. I'm not sure when you last had a senior blood panel drawn, but I would start there. I think Dementia is also a possibility.
 

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