Hi

I have a female spayed cat who is 17. Three years ago she started howling when she was upstairs. It was at the time when our grown up son went on holiday. As she used to spend a lot of time with him, we thought it was due to him being away. However, he came back and she still continues to howl. Son has since left home and cat is no better or worse. She howls on occasions in the garden but never in the house downstairs. I have read that it can be due to her age and dementia but she has no other symptoms. In fact we took her to the vet last week for her jabs and vet commented on how well she was doing.

She likes to come upstairs with us a night but she is starting to wake us up in the night and so she is being confined to the kitchen.

Anyone have any suggestions, I am convinced this is nothing medical as she would howl downstairs too, she never does, its linked to upstairs mostly morning and night.

It is possible it's a bit of dementia setting in and she gets confused bless her, my cat Nellie very occasionally will do a howling cry suddenly in the middle of the night but as soon as i reach out and touch her she stops. 17 is equal to 70 or 80 in human years i believe

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Ha ha Gem....I too have a geriatric/senile/howling Nellie!

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Nellie Paddy Mitzy Milo Peggy Murphy

Millie and Monty, the White Devils!

Howling can be due to high blood pressure which older cats can suffer from. I would get this checked as a priority to rule this out first. It's easily treated, but like humans if left undiagnosed can lead to more serious things like seizures and strokes.

It can also be a symptom of hyperthyroidism and even though the main symptoms are ravenous appetite and weight loss not all cats fit nearly into this category.

When was the last time she had full blood tests? It's always a good idea with older animals to have these done to pinpoint any potential problems and nip them in the bud. If she were drinking/urinating more I would suggest the howling could be due to the toxin build up in the bloodstream owing to kidney disease.

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Great post Ianthi, really informative

I didn't know any of this could cause a cat to howl. Gives me something else to worry about in future

It is a possibility but so is the old age thing so no need to panic just yet!

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Thankfully, my cats are mere youngsters, I'll be senile myself before they grow old
Seriously though, I didn't know any of that info Ianthi posted, so it was useful to me.

To the OP - I hope your cat is okay and gets the all clear from the vet

Thanks for the replies, I accept what you are all saying but why does she only do it when she goes upstairs?

Jan

Hi folk

Well my cat is still howling and we are coming to the conclusion that she is deaf.

Apart from that she is fine and you would never believe that she is 17.

I am hoping it is just an old age thing and not a tumour, but I am thinking that if it was a tumour it would just be in one ear and not the two.

Any one know why the deafness is making her howl. We have had to put her in the kitchen an night now as she keeps us awake howling. She moves from room to room and announces her arrival by howling. She loves to be upstairs but after about three weeks we decided that enough was enough.

Jan

well I have two 13 year old howlers. They always howl when they are upstairs and I am down stairs [or vice versa]. Neither of them have any health issues apart from both having IBD.