# Cat meows when wakes up?



## soulnymph

Hi there, 

I am a little concerned about one of my cats. 

Automatically when waking up she meows in a kind of cry tone a few times and looks surprised. She licks her fur quite a lot. 

She will only eat dry food. 

Just wondering if I should be concerned? 

Thanks!


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## Charity

Dont know what that could be, as long as she appears healthy I wouldn't worry but you could mention it to your vet next time you are there. Have you tried her on various wet foods which would be better for her than all dry?


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## Jiskefet

Maybe she wakes up during a dream and is meowing in surprise at finding herself in a different place and a different situation from her dream.
Do you know her background?
She may have had some bad experience she relives in her dreams and reacts to when she wakes up. Or maybe she is just having vivid hunting dreams and waking up frustrated her prey eluded her.

One of my cats sometimes dreams of hunting or catching insects. I know because she will chatter in her dream, the same way she does when watching birds or insects. If she wakes up in the middle of a dream like that, she will be very frustrated for an instant.

I also had a cat that was going slightly senile, and she would often wake up apparently not knowing who she was or where she was. She would yammer her despair till we answered her, called her name and told her it was all right. Later on, when her senility progressed, she would also have these episodes while awake. She would sit on the stairs, from where she could not see us or the living room, and get totally confused. The moment we answered her yowling and called her by name, she would seem to remember who and where she was.


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## soulnymph

Hi, thank you both for your replies. We have two cats and offer both wet and dry food, but she has always gone for the dry food. Even if we offer leftover chicken etc sometimes, she never shows interest in it whereas our other cat will eat a variation. 

She seems happy and healthy within herself; one thing I have noticed with her is she has always been a bit jumpy sometimes and chases shadows, gets a bit obsessed with them, or lights of any kind/torches etc, and goes crazy for them. She stares at the walls sometimes as if to have seen something, maybe a reflection of some kind. But other than that, happy, healthy and playful. 

Maybe she has vivid dreams like you said Jiskefet. She seems to have an overactive mind so it could all be linked. 

We've had her and her sister since being kittens, and the owner that had her with her mother for the first few weeks was lovely and they were well treated. They're about 4 years old now so not old. 

She does hunt a lot and always brings dead birds and mice back, so maybe if it is her dreams, they may be of hunting like you say. 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts  I'll keep and eye on her, hopefully it's nothing to worry about.


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## Charity

Sounds pretty normal to me. Most cats have their crazy moments when they rush around or seem to be looking at things on walls etc. which we can't see, perhaps they have sight of things we don't, who knows.


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## Lurcherlad

Sounds like she is dreaming and waking herself up.

My dog sometimes growls in his sleep then looks up and goes back to sleep again.

I occasionally wake myself up by snoring loudly!


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