The Ever-Meowing Kitty

by Ruth
(Michigan)

We have 6 cats - 3 sets of siblings. The youngest pair is male and female, about 2yrs. Everyone is spayed and nuetered. Recently the youngest female cat began meowing incessantly. She's a runt kitty. We've moved into a new home and been here 2mos. She has her brother and 4 other kitties to play with, though I must admit she's the most active out of all of them, and her brother broke his femur last year and is not as active as he used to be, though still in very good health according to the vet. We play with her whenever we have time, 3 or 4 times a day to make sure everyone's getting some activity. This female cat is driving us crazy meowing. It's not only at night when we're asleep (as we've come to accept that when we sleep it's playtime) but all day long. She runs around the house meowing, comes downstairs and sits in front of us and meows, follows us into every room just meowing away the whole time. She and her brother are a mixed breed, I'm not entirely sure what they are but they're both tiger kitties. Her brother is very light in color with no brown on him other than his nose, and she's got a lot of brown and orange in her stripes. This is a new thing - she is a vocal kitty when we get home and if we're in the kitchen, but this is just crazy. There's fresh food and water and clean litter and lots of other kitties to play with and of course lots of attention from us. Any ideas on what could be causing her to start meowing constantly?

Answer from Kate
Hi
well unfortunately some cats are just more vocal than others, however this sounds to me like she has recently learned that making a meow sound gets her what she wants, which could be something as simple as eye contact.

I know its hard but if you respond to her meows this will just reinforce this behavior and she will do nit all the more. You all need to try and start to ignore her when she meows and only play with her when she is silent. this will be tough for you all i know but it will be the only way for the cat to learn that meowing does not get her what she wants.

There is more information on my page here

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-meowing.html
best wishes Kate

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