With the appearance of a cat in the house, the owners immediately have a lot of pleasant and not so pleasant troubles. Many owners complain that their pets are excessively talkative, which is impossible to cope with. In fact, no pet will scream, meow, or otherwise vocalize constantly. Finding the reason and weaning the cat from yelling becomes the primary task for the owner.
Sexual instincts
Different in males and females. But they also have many similarities.
Cats
Females demonstrate their readiness to mate by behavior and attract males.
The cat's behavior is characterized by the following signs:
- refusal of food;
- frequent visits to the toilet;
- often urinates in places other than the potty;
- constant licking of the intimate area;
- rolling on the floor;
- frequent screams;
- swollen vulva.
Cats
In many ways the behavior is similar, but there are a few differences:
- refuse food;
- doing business in the wrong places;
- urine acquires a pungent, unpleasant odor;
- urinate on vertical objects;
- constantly howl for a long time.
Solution
An option is to regularly let your pet outside.
But the solution has a lot of disadvantages:
- cats will become pregnant as a result of binge drinking;
- both sexes will not stop behaving badly, will continue to mark the territory until the sexual hunt passes;
- cats will definitely fight, and as a result they will end up without an ear or an eye;
- the pet may get lost and not find the way back;
- They often catch worms and always come back with fleas.
The second option is the use of hormonal agents, due to which the animal will stop suffering. But this will lead to the development of tumors. So the only correct, truly humane way to solve the problem is castration, sterilization. These surgeries are simple and performed frequently, so the techniques are refined.
The operation is completed in half an hour. Pets are injected with anesthesia into the bloodstream to numb and immobilize the animal. Castration and sterilization takes place quickly. The cat comes to his senses within a few hours. To prevent the pet from licking the surgical field, wearing a collar is prescribed.
Why is my kitten so vocal?
You didn't know it, but as your kitten weaned from its mother, you gradually took on the role of "chief caregiver." Most likely, during this transition period, your kitten was simply redirecting his requests for food and attention to you.
But now the kitten seems to meow louder, more often and for longer than before. As it turns out, the overly vocal kitten meows because he can and because it works!
If your kitten meows because he's hungry and you immediately fill his bowl with food, he's learning that meowing at you will get him what he wants—in this case, food (a classic case of reinforcement). You are teaching your kitten that meowing will make you comply with his demands.
Of course, a kitten whose meowing you can't silence may be making sounds for other reasons. In addition to hunger, attention, and greeting, an overly vocal kitten may feel pain, bored, or sick. It's also worth noting that some cat breeds (Siamese in particular) are instinctively more vocal.
Urolithiasis (UCD)
This is a common pathology among cats. Cats suffer from it relatively rarely. Males are predisposed due to the structural features of the urethra. Firstly, it is too narrow, and secondly, it is tortuous. With urolithiasis, stones and sand form in the bladder. The former cause irritation and take up extra space. The latter clog the urethra, complicating the outflow of fluid.
Important! The result of ICD is a ruptured bladder, the painful death of a cat .
Causes of urolithiasis: poor diet, lack of vitamins, obesity, metabolic disorders. As a result, the acidity of the urine changes, due to which elements (salts or, conversely, proteins) begin to quickly precipitate. As a result, sand and stones are formed, which cause urolithiasis.
Symptoms of urolithiasis:
- the cat tries to go to the toilet a little at a time, but he can’t defecate;
- an important symptom is the pot is dry;
- urine is concentrated, amber-yellow, with a pungent odor;
- constant licking of the groin area;
- there is blood in the urine;
- the pet is lethargic and refuses food;
- body temperature rises;
- palpation of the abdomen reveals a distended bladder;
- X-ray shows stones in the bladder area.
Solution
First of all, you need to visit a veterinarian so that the doctor chooses and prescribes a treatment method. To remove urine through surgery, a catheter is inserted for several days, and a collar is also put on to prevent the cat from licking the perineum.
To resolve urinary stones, a diet is prescribed. Special food is purchased at pet stores. There are veterinary products that should be used separately for oxalate or struvite stones. It rarely happens that stones are removed by surgery.
Anti-inflammatory drugs, painkillers, and diuretics are also prescribed. The veterinarian prescribes pharmaceutical preparations of medicinal herbs. It is necessary to understand that the pathology returns if the cause is not eliminated. Therefore, a diet is prescribed, and the cat must also be walked so that it moves.
How to stop a cat from scratching furniture using improvised means?
Fill the spray bottle with water. And as soon as your pet starts tearing up the sofa or other unauthorized place, sprinkle water on it! There will be no harm to either the cat or the furniture, but the pet will begin to associate its favorite activity with unpleasant phlegm!
If you are thinking about how to stop a kitten from scratching the sofa, then this method is unlikely to work. Usually, kids accidentally damage furniture while playing. They begin to climb the curtains, try to conquer the sofa, the carpet hanging on the wall - this is normal behavior. If you pour water on your kitten every time he plays, you will simply grow a nervous creature, apathetic to everything. The same applies to scaring sounds.
Eating behavior
Pets often start screaming at 5-6 in the morning to be fed, and they also become indignant and fight if feeding time is delayed. An animal can cause a scandal when it is given the wrong product for hunting. Other reasons are possible (requires treats, impaired hunger).
Solution
In any case, you need to behave the same:
- Animals should not be allowed into the kitchen during food preparation or human meals;
- throwing, screaming, scratching must be ignored;
- if you refuse food, you cannot exchange it for a treat;
- the treat should not serve as food, it is given to the pet during training;
- the treat is given on a full stomach;
- do not show any reaction to your pet’s howls;
- food intake must be regulated and adhere to an hourly schedule;
- if the pet begins to behave violently, it can be locked in a separate room (toilet) and placed on the landing.
Latest Chinese warning
It is possible that you are busy and cannot devote much time to your pet. At least as much as he needs. He may choose this method (by the way, not the most outrageous one) to remind you of your responsibilities: playing together, talking, ironing the back and scratching behind the ear.
As you can see, there is no paradox or mythical cat harmfulness in the “closed door syndrome”!
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High activity at night
Cats are nocturnal animals. Therefore, when the sun sets, they begin to run around the apartment, play wildly, drop objects, meow, howl, and demand feeding. It is a completely natural behavior that is present to a greater or lesser extent in all cats.
Solution
There are 2 possible strategies:
- Drive the cat out into the street, onto the landing, into the room at night, outside the door. Let him seek adventure if he wants. Some owners do this. Their pets constantly walk at night and during the day, hunt pigeons, fight with cats, and run from dogs.
- Accustom your pet to a daily lifestyle. To do this you need to play with him. Use laser pointers, jingling balls, radio-controlled cars, mice, and teasers. This is purchased at a veterinary pet store. Owners also walk their pet on a leash during the day. Of course, in the evening the toys and bells are removed and the scratching post is left behind.
The border is under control
We know well that a cat is a territorial animal and will spend its entire life inspecting its possessions and updating its marks.
But please tell me, how can one understand what is going on, for example, in a closet if the door there is closed? A cat's senses are excellently developed, but not enough to see through a closed door.
And it is possible that there (that is, behind a closed door) a competitor has appeared who needs to be driven away immediately!
When you can’t stand it and open the door, your pet either doesn’t move at all, or is limited to a quick glance and a couple of deep breaths.
What was it? The cat did “visual and chemical tests” of the space and made sure everything was in order.
Ideally, all rooms should be accessible to her at any time of the day or night. But if there is a forbidden one (the same closet), then your pet should never cross its threshold. This way he won’t consider this room his territory and try to control it.
Boredom, loneliness
At night, pets get used to sleeping next to their owner; when separated, they do not fall asleep, ask to go to bed, and become active. During the day, an animal in an apartment may be openly bored, meowing from boredom, asking to be played with, dropping and scratching objects.
Solution
To prevent your pet from getting bored, create a corner for him to play and have fun. There you need to put a scratching post, hammocks, hang bells, balls, teasers. Toys need to be updated periodically; the animal gets used to them. The owners also keep fish in a closed aquarium and small parrots. It’s better to play with the cat with mice and radio-controlled cars yourself, and start training it.
The problem of loneliness can be solved by leaving the doors to the bedroom open and making a hole so that the cat can walk back and forth freely. If you need to wean your pet from sleeping with its owner, first make a bed, train it with mint, and then move it to the right place.
Variety of sounds in cats
With the help of sound signals, animals express their feelings and sensations, communicate with fellow tribesmen and exchange information. The cat's “language” includes a wide and varied audio set, each element of which has its own intonation and emotional coloring.
The domestic mouse can reproduce:
- vibrating purring;
- gentle meow;
- aggressive hissing;
- angry growl;
- long, loud shout
The last sound impact is also described as a “howling scream” and “heart-rending scream”, and its strength and duration often reaches the limit of human patience.
Main reasons. Animal psychologists name 3 reasons for cat loudness:
- instincts and physiological needs;
- boredom and loneliness;
- malaise and pain.
By carefully looking at your pet and identifying provoking factors, you can deal with the problem.
How to avoid what is predicted in omens
The most important thing in communicating with cats is good intentions and care. You should not anger the cat, mock, or neglect the animal. If he feels unnecessary, then one way or another he will leave the life of a superstitious person, but he will also take everything that is his – protection, warmth and comfort.
Signs about cats are very peculiar in nature. They promise warmth and cold, additions to the family and illness. They treat everyone who is possible, but they also honestly indicate with whom things will be difficult. For a cat to protect the house, all he needs is to eat and feel loved.
Intestinal helminths
“Concerts” may be due to helminthiasis. Acute obstruction, pain and colic in the intestines accompany the active activity of parasites. After two years of life, preventive treatment should be regular. A constant feeling of hunger makes the cat wake up its owner even at night.
If the animal starts screaming, it needs to be examined
Feel carefully, if the cause of the cries of pain is in the abdomen, then increased discomfort will cause the cat to break out. Don’t delay, you need to urgently take your pet to the doctor
The causes of pain can be very serious, and the consequences of negligence can be catastrophic.
Will sterilization help?
As we wrote in the first paragraph, cats mark their territory by leaving their scent and marks. As many people know, if you sterilize an animal, it loses interest in the opposite sex. But sterilization will not help overcome the instinct to mark oneself with claws!
Yes, it is necessary to sterilize pets; this will protect them from many diseases and prolong their lives. You, in turn, will not need to listen to cat concerts or think about what to do with the offspring. How to stop a cat from scratching furniture and wallpaper? There are other productive methods.
Nocturnal lifestyle
Before moving on to the reasons for unwanted behavior in cats, it should be remembered that all felines are active primarily at night or in the early morning hours. This rhythm of life gave wild cats an advantage over prey and other predators, which were less active after sunset.
Cats' visual organs are also geared towards a nocturnal lifestyle; they function even worse in illuminated conditions than in twilight. In a word, even cat physiology is on the side of their activity from dusk to dawn.
For wild cousins of domestic cats, night hunting is a way of survival
However, the millennia lived side by side with humans were not in vain for cats. Pets, in the process of long evolution, have learned to adjust their rhythms of life to human rhythms. Nowadays, it is not uncommon to find cats sleeping side by side with humans. But you need to keep in mind that cat sleep has little in common with human sleep.
Instead of sleeping once a day, cats take short naps of a few minutes each.
Cats sleep very lightly and often wake up, since full, deep sleep is an unaffordable luxury for them. Wild cats couldn’t afford it and slept in “portions.” This sleep order was passed on to their distant domestic descendants.
Hormonal changes
They occur at different points in the life of pussies:
- During mating, they can use a cry to signal their partner about their passionate desires.
- Cats that have not been spayed may scream during heat. In this way they show their difficult moral state on the eve of the birth of offspring.
- The same situation can be observed with non-neutered cats.
In the case of changes in the pet's hormonal levels, the owners can only survive this difficult period in his life, calming emotional outbursts.
Hunger
A kitten may give a vocal signal for a completely natural reason: it is hungry. This is the most common reason why animals meow. This applies to both children and adult pets. First of all, any living organism tries to satisfy its nutritional needs. And the kitten, once in a new place, first learns where the “food source” is located. Not finding food, the small animal begins to worry, and then declares its needs to the person.
In some cases, the cause of meowing is pseudo-hunger. That is, the kitten is full, but with the help of its voice it tries to beg for tidbits. Usually this characterizes the pet in a certain way: he wants to dictate conditions, tries to beg for something tasty, and thereby force the person to follow his lead. As with children, you need to be firm. You cannot indulge your pet's first desire. This does not mean that an animal should not be pampered at all, but in childhood this is especially fraught with consequences. If a person does not want to constantly endure impudent extortion from the cat, then he should make it clear from the very first attempt who is boss in the house. The pet must understand that nothing will be given to him upon request, and the decision as to whether he will receive a treat or not will be made solely by the “senior”.
Reasons for cats crying in the morning
Vocal exercises are not always a result of hunger or a desire for attention. The reasons for cat screams are varied - from the most harmless need to communicate with the owner to serious pathologies. Therefore, it is advisable for the owner of a vocal cat to monitor not only the fact of screams, but also their frequency, the conditions in which the screamer manifests itself, and so on. The most common reasons for cat arias are presented below.
Table 1. Causes of morning cat crying
| Cause | Description |
| Hormonal background | Hormones have a particular effect on uncastrated individuals. Changes in behavior accompanied by a prolonged loud meow may be associated with the onset of sexual heat in females. The calls of females are an important ritual for attracting males for the purpose of having offspring. Males prefer marking corners to acoustic manifestations of sexual need. This problem can only be solved by timely castration, since no educational influences can lull the sexual instinct in a pet. However, it is worth considering that residual elements of sexual heat may remain even when the reproductive organs are removed |
| Disease | Some diseases worsen at night and in the pre-dawn hours, which sometimes makes their identification difficult. A seemingly healthy cat during the day begins to scream at night, as if possessed. Diseases that manifest themselves fully under the cover of darkness include all kinds of parasitic diseases, urolithiasis, arthritis and arthrosis. If a previously calm cat begins to stage concerts, you should carefully examine him, or, even better, entrust the examination to a veterinarian. Excluding physical pathologies in advance will simplify the education process and will not allow the disease to quietly become chronic. |
| Intense experiences | Increased anxiety may occur in a cat when the environment changes or any change in the usual rhythm of life. Moving, the arrival of new people or pets in the house, renovations - all this is acutely felt by pets and affects their internal sense of comfort. Moreover, cats never remain indifferent to the psychological climate in the family. There are cases when, after the owner's quarrels, the cat did not find a place for itself for a long time. Anxiety and nervousness are common to varying degrees in both people and their pets. At such moments, trying to suppress the meowing of a distressed cat will only worsen the situation. |
| Territorial issue | This reason applies to a greater extent to small apartments in which the cat shares a common room with the owners. However, in spacious houses a similar problem sometimes appears. The fact is that a cat needs its own “corner” - both in the wild and in domestic conditions, the distribution of boundaries is very important for cats. In their absence, pets' behavior may change for the worse. Cats wake up for various reasons, since they are sensitive to the slightest rustle due to their developed hearing. If they have their own territory, where they can hunt for flies and look out the window, then they will not come to visit someone else’s |
| Excess energy | Cats, sleeping 16-20 hours a day, just like other living organisms, need to relax. If your pet's short waking hours occur in the pre-dawn hours, prepare for surprises. Not only screaming will be used, but also the famous running along the corridors, climbing through closets and extreme descents from curtains - depending on the physical inclinations of the cat. Owl cats are prone to hunting at night, trying to catch flying flies or spiders running under the baseboard. |
| To attract attention | Despite the fact that cats rarely seek a human reaction for the sake of the reaction itself, there are individuals who want to occupy all the owner’s time with themselves. Keep in mind that there are breeds that require increased attention due to their temperament. These breeds include Siamese cats, Ukrainian Levkoys, Orientals, etc. More often, such behavior has very specific utilitarian goals, which the pet hints at. The reason for the scream is not always a whim - the cat can convey information about a dirty tray or empty bowls of food or drink. To avoid such situations, leave food and fresh litter for the cat overnight. |
| Mental pathologies | Some cats have an unstable psyche and react violently even to situations that do not involve such behavior. Since educational measures in this case are of little use, only a veterinarian can help. There are special sedatives for cats that help pets come into harmony with themselves. However, they are prescribed only when necessary and are taken under the close supervision of a doctor. |
Many owners lose sight of the likely painful underlying cause of cat cries and recognize pathologies in the later stages. To avoid such situations, it is advisable for cat owners to have basic knowledge about common ailments among their pets. You can find out more about the main cat diseases and their symptoms on our portal.
Sticky surfaces
How to stop a cat from scratching the sofa? Just let it stick once or twice! Attach double-sided tape to the upholstery. As soon as the animal approaches to scratch its favorite place, it will immediately stick its paw or fur on its side. Cats hate being clingy, so you won't need a lot of lessons.
Place the tape in all places where the cat sticks its claws - the window sill, corners, doors, and so on. Soon the animal will avoid dangerous places three meters away!
