# Rescue Cat won't stop miaowing



## debbie29 (Feb 6, 2011)

Hi There,
My first post on here and I am going to be making good use of all of the other posts on here!!

Ok, so my problem. We got our first rescue cat yesterday, young male around 6 months old. Lovely friendly temperament, he loves a cuddle and there have been no issues with him being nervous of contact with us. He is eating and toileting fine BUT he will not stop miaowing! It is constant unless we are playing with him or he is on top of the kitchen cabinets!

I'm no expert with this but I can only assume this is because he is enjoying a fuss with us and then he feels safe up high on the cabinets and elsewhere he doesnt feel settled. He has been in a pen his whole life and now he is in a house. We have confined him to the kitchen/living room for now.

He doesn't seem to know how to play and when I try and play with him he gets scared and runs away from the toy.

I know patience is involved and I definitely know its going to take some work to get him settled but does anyone have any tips on the miaowing.....?!?

I just dont want to re-inforce negative behaviour and make it a habit but then at the same time I dont want to ignore him when all he needs is a bit of re-assurance to help him feel settled and stop miaowing!

Anyway, any advice is greatly appreciated! 

Debbie

I nearly didn't get to write this post, he kept jumping on the keyboard of the laptop as I was ignoring him!

x


----------



## Guest (Feb 6, 2011)

Mine type too 

My rescue cats have always been noisy at first but they honestly settle. All cats love to be high up  

He'll soon get round to playing and such

Em
xx


----------



## rcmadd (Feb 6, 2011)

give him time to settle.. basically thats it.
remember you have just got him.. hes young..and a rescue cat... personally i think thats worse than getting a younger kitten freshly removed from mum and siblings.

and my birman just loves to jump on my pc table and sit right in front of the monitor cleaning himself.


----------



## louiserp1 (Jul 14, 2010)

Take it slowly, play with the toys and let him watch you play.

As for the computer- our two regularly switch ours off.


----------



## jill3 (Feb 18, 2009)

Ah Bless him. It is early days and i am sure he will start to play with you soon.
Would love to see some pictures of him


----------



## debbie29 (Feb 6, 2011)

Well I just screwed some tinfoil up and he was chasing that around the kitchen happily, almost to prove me wrong that he doesnt play!! Although he has just wandered around miaowing constantly for a good few minutes again and now he is off chasing the tinfoil again!! Bless. Hopefully the miaowing is just a settling in thing..... cos if not I think my boyfriend will move out!! haha. Here are a couple of piccies!
So from you lovely peoples advice the best thing is take our time with him and just try to reassure him and hopfully the mute switch will come on! haha

x


----------



## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Hi and welcome to the forum.Everything sounds fairly "normal" to me.This poor chap is going to have to learn ,firstly to be a kitten, then to learn everything else.Give him time,fuss,and loads of play time but only on his terms at the moment.He has crossed the first hurdle.He is eating,using the litter tray and responding to you.Treats will be a useful tool at the moment,when he responds to you and interacts try using the treats as a reward .Depending on his tastes I find Thrive chicken treats are fantastic .My Ragdoll will nearly do hand stands fot them.Thrive 100% Natural Cat Treats (Flavour: Chicken 27g): Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home sainsbury's and [email protected] both sell them.The meowing is probably just a part of his nature ,as is the being up high.Good luck and we are here if you need help.There is usually someone around to help,or at least to point you in the right direction


----------



## Vampyria (Dec 14, 2009)

I agree with what everyone has said, some brilliant advice being offered  also, welcome to PF!



buffie said:


> The meowing is probably just a part of his nature


I agree, he may just be a vocal cat! He may meow less once he's settled in and feels more at home.

I am an owner of a natural chatterbox - Locke will meow and trill in all manner of occasions: For attention, when he's done something as if to say "Hey, mum and dad! Look what I did/am doing!", or just to chat. Locke much prefers it if he has human company in the same place he is in, and will meow loudly to summon you :lol: Your little man could be meowing for similar reasons, maybe?

Just my two pennies


----------



## kota (Jun 17, 2010)

I agree that it's necessary to give him time. And about miaowing - it's normal for some cats. It's their behaviour. Some other cats never miaowing and it's also normal.


----------



## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

He is a very handsome boy!
As others have mentioned above, some cats are just more vocal than others...and some of us 'confirmed crazies' get to like this chatter and find we can have quite productive conversations with our cats! 
Funnily, I find that cats use different sounds when talking to _us_ rather than _each other_....so the obvious meaowing seems to be their attempt to talk human, whereas chirrups and grunts are more 'cat'.
More pictures are always welcome, and please keep us updated on his settling in.


----------



## Cloudygirl (Jan 9, 2011)

Paddypaws said:


> He is a very handsome boy!
> As others have mentioned above, some cats are just more vocal than others...and some of us 'confirmed crazies' get to like this chatter and find we can have quite productive conversations with our cats!
> Funnily, I find that cats use different sounds when talking to _us_ rather than _each other_....so the obvious meaowing seems to be their attempt to talk human, whereas chirrups and grunts are more 'cat'.
> More pictures are always welcome, and please keep us updated on his settling in.


one of my boys makes noises like sweep from sooty when he wants me to open doors for him but he has a far more manly miaow the rest of the time. What does that mean lol.


----------



## mrswoodwoose (Jan 23, 2011)

Gosh, one day is no time at all - when my latest cat was locked in for the 1st time (to recover from being neutered as per the vet) he flung himself against the windows for hours on end and worked himself into a frenzy. He also used to run from any new noise, the printer being switched on, a cough, a sneeze..but now he is fine with anything and everything.

Your cat is still trying to figure out where what and how and why, so he doesn't yet know your body language etc, which may be why he initially ran away when you tried to play with him - as you have seen, he is already trusting more, brilliant.

I think it will just take time and agree with that it needs to be on his terms: you can gently try new things but back off is he's nervy, let him think about it for a while and perhaps slowly try again? 

Cats feel safe high up - he may retain this habit or may not feel the need once settled. I think your cat is behaving very normally under the circumstances. Good luck and enjoy him - oh and I would get insurance if you haven't yet done so, vet bills can be very costly.


----------



## honeysmummy (Oct 17, 2010)

debbie29 said:


> Well I just screwed some tinfoil up and he was chasing that around the kitchen happily, almost to prove me wrong that he doesnt play!! Although he has just wandered around miaowing constantly for a good few minutes again and now he is off chasing the tinfoil again!! Bless. Hopefully the miaowing is just a settling in thing..... cos if not I think my boyfriend will move out!! haha. Here are a couple of piccies!
> So from you lovely peoples advice the best thing is take our time with him and just try to reassure him and hopfully the mute switch will come on! haha
> 
> x
> ...


hes gorgeous..and lucky he has found a good home with you...he will settle

oh and welcome to the forum


----------



## debbie29 (Feb 6, 2011)

Thanks everyone for your advice!!

Well he is playing much more happily now with me and on his own, LOVES the tinfoil ball and a few of the other toys I got him. He is still miaowing although on reading what all of you have said and thinking about his past I really am holding out hope that it is just him settling in. 

I quite like the idea of him being a bit vocal as it is quite sweet and looks like he is talking to you it is just a bit much when he is miaowing constantly for ages, the nuisance noise is when he is wandering around or is sitting somewhere on his own. It almost seems like he is calling for other cats, but he has been in an outside pen with other cats all around at the cats protection, so I suppose being inside and on his own is going to make him wonder what the heck happened!! 

I might introduce him to the conservatory tonight where he can sit on the windowsill and look out!

What are your opinions on Feliway? His fosterer said it might help when I spoke to her on Saturday.

I will be getting my camera out tonight and will post some more piccies up of him! He has massive canines and looks like a little vampire when he is asleep on his back!! 

Thanks again all!
x


----------



## troublecat (Feb 1, 2011)

Oh, Debbie, he looks just like my rescue tom Katie (long story ) Gorgeous!

Have fun together!

troublecat


----------



## sskmick (Feb 4, 2008)

I wouldn't worry about him meowing, he is just settling in. At some point he had a home, then ended up in a strange rescue centre and now in this strange new home.

The fact that he is sat with you and playing with you is a very good sign.

One of my lads, I have had him from 6 weeks old - he's a right chatterbox, hardly ever get a purr out of his brother.


----------



## debbie29 (Feb 6, 2011)

Well we have some progress!! :thumbup: Although I am probably jinxing myself for tonight by saying this!

I thought maybe giving him the run of the downstairs while we were at work yesterday might help get him used to it, so he could investigate on his own terms without us humans chattering at him and distracting him!!

So while I was out yesterday I also bought a Feliways spray, got in and he came running to meet us and I sprayed the Feliway everywhere. He had a few little Hello miaows which was sweet and had a little mooch around the house now all of the doors were open. Then for most of the night he was a content little thing and either layed out on the floor at our feet, sat on the windowsill, played or layed on the sofa. He had a few crying moments but settled down relatively quickly. Each time he has been crying I have been distracting him with play, so last night when he was crying he tended to get bored after a little bit and start playing on his own. Im so glad there is improvement!

The only time he really started was at bedtime when we left him downstairs but after 5 mins he must have gone back on top of his kitchen cupboard as we didnt hear a peep out of him after that!

We might try leaving all the doors open tonight and see if he will settle somewhere to sleep without crying if he knows he can come in and check where we are.

So fingers crossed!!

I will upload some new piccies of him when I get 5 mins at home!

xx


----------



## debbie29 (Feb 6, 2011)

Hiya 
Just an update on Reggie

Well, he is much more settled and only cries occasionally now (usually when he feels neglected - as in we havent played with him for more than 5 mins! :lol: )

We tried him sleeping in with us but that just resulted in him rolling around on my face and head every half hour after a cuddle, so we now have to shut the door. Only problem is he scratched and cried at the door all night and has ripped all the carpet up :scared: little monkey! So now under every door upstairs there is tinfoil to try and stop him, it seemed to be doing the trick! He was being really good though and when we got into bed coming up for a cuddle then he would take himself off somewhere and then we would shut the door - he accepted this easier as I think it made him feel he was making the decision to leave! 

But we have had a little set back, it started from Friday and Saturday night when we fell asleep with him still in the room and both of us were too tired to get up and put him outside and sort the foil out, Sunday night we did shut him out but as we had been around all day and playing with /cuddling him he didn't seem too bothered about being shut out but last night oh my goodness did he play up!!

Scratched the tinfoil out of the way and proceeded to scream and scratch at the door and carpet from about 3.45 onwards. I didnt give in though as I don't want him to associate that with getting his own way

I'm still not sure if it is because he is still settling in or because he is lonely. As he is quite a sensitive little thing I really am hesitant about bringing another cat in as I dont want to upset him and he start other unwanted behaviours.

He has been perfect on the toilet and other stress things and I dont want to cause more issues but if getting another friend for him would help him then i want the best for him!! Oh I don't know, it just keeps going round and round in my head! 

Weekends do seem to muck him up though, as during the week we are out all day and home only in the evenings and then weekends we can either be in all day or popping in and out. We have had him 4 weeks this coming Saturday, so I know it is early days. I just hate the thought that he is unhappy.

Anyone got any thoughts or had similar experiences?


----------



## debbie29 (Feb 6, 2011)

some piccies of my little man Reg. xx


----------



## mrswoodwoose (Jan 23, 2011)

He probably just needs more time. I found that my cats love sleeping with a snugglesafe heated pad and this might settle him and make him happy enough to be on his own (do hunt around for a good price). They can stay warm for up to 12 hours and are safe to use. 

I also found that automatic cat feeders are a blessing - cats often want to eat in the early hours of the morning and setting a feeder with a small feed at a particular time could distract him, he may go eat and feel full enough to go back to sleep again? 

Once he realises that your cuddles aren't going to be withdrawn and he feels more secure, he may stop wanting cuddles through the night. One of my cats who came to me via the backdoor one Xmas was so grateful that every time we touched her she had to get up and make a big song and dance of it, in time she realised that she would get many cuddles and kisses and finally she accepted them calmy (as was her right )

good luck


----------



## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

oHHH, he is gorgeous!!


----------



## debbie29 (Feb 6, 2011)

Thanks mrswoodwoose and Paddypaws. He is much more settled now, I do hear him in the night miaowing but he seems happy enough. I think he is just a bit a of a noisy boy!
I make sure we give him lots of cuddles and play when we are around, which isn't exactly a chore! bless him.

I thought we had lost him at the weekend, I was running round the house calling him. The last place I had seen him was the bedroom, so I went back in for my second look and suddenly realised the lump under the duvet was not a pillow as it was moving!! 

I will definitely look up one of those heat pads though.

Thanks!
xx


----------



## Jenny1966 (Feb 7, 2011)

We've had Molly for nearly 3 months now, and the one thing she still isn't happy about is being locked out of the bedroom at night! She will meow and scratch constantly at the door. Though on a positive note she is a lot better than she was (for the first 6 weeks, it was a case of one of us getting up just so some sleep could be had!!) What she now does is come to bed with us, laying in between us until she has fallen asleep  She then decides she's had enough and takes herself off to lay by the bedroom door (dont think she trust us not to shut it :lol She will come for another cuddle about 3am without any trouble, then another one at about 6, with this one she knows we have to get up soon so is a bit more playful 

I think with a bit more time she will stop the 3am cuddle, and tbh I'm hoping she wont stop the coming to bed with us cuddle


----------



## springfieldbean (Sep 13, 2010)

He is a beautiful cat! And I see what you mean about the vampire fangs!!

I'm sure he'll settle down in time. He might have got a bit confused about the bedroom door sometimes being open and sometimes closed - it might be best to always have it one way or the other?

Our cat, Kinvara, has the run of the flat all the time, and meows if we close any door - which is ok for us but obviously doesn't work for every family. She used to be a bit annoying in the night but after a few weeks of us just ignoring her purrs and licks and nose-taps she did learn that we are NOT going to play with her at night, and she just occupies herself or sleeps quite contentedly now!

Good luck with Reggie, keep us updated! :thumbup:


----------

