Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have recently added a new addition to our family in the form of an adorable 6 month old calico. She was a stray that was living in someone's front yard for the first 3 months or so of her life. She didn't have adequate food or attention until she came to live with us and pretty much had to fend for herself. The problem that we are having is that she meows constantly. I don't mean just every now and then, she walks through the house and meows non-stop. It is driving us up the wall and it has to be exhausting for her. Any suggestions on what could be causing this and how to stop it?

The best thing I can think of is to try to reward her silences if there are any at all and ignore the meowing - and I mean looking away and walking away. When she is quiet, give her a really lucious treat and say "Quiet". Hopefully she learn that quiet means a treat.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

Hi There,

This cat may be one that just likes to talk. I personally love talkers, but I can understand that not everyone would......lol

Is there any chance that this kitty may be deaf? Cats that are deaf often talk up a storm, even though they cannot hear themselves.

Perhaps this calico is so happy to have found a loving home that she just has to keep telling you I think the meowing may lessen if you try not to respond to her or answer her when she has something to say. It may just be a normal part of her personality though.......and therefore very hard to change.

Please keep us updated.

Regards,
PHKitkat

Pookey was a meower when he was younger. Meowed continually. About the only thing that helped is what the others have already advised -- I ignored him. Eventually it lessened to just spurts every once in a while. It won't be overnight -- but if you ignore her, she will likely slow down to almost a stop (with only occasional meow sessions). I hope she doesn't meow overnight. That is the worst. He'd meow for quite a bit at bed time (it seemed like hours) and he'd also get started in the middle of the night. Thank goodness ignoring him worked and he pretty much only gets into occasional meow sessions during the day.
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

She is meowing any time that she is awake, whether it's day or night. The only time that we get some quiet is when she is asleep! She's driving our other cat crazy, too. Cookie gets so fed up with it sometimes she runs across the room and tackles Callie! We will definitely try the ignoring thing (as impossible as that sounds right now!). She's definitely a keeper whether she can shut up or not, so we will just have to find a way to deal with it. Thanks for the feedback.

We will definitely try the ignoring thing (as impossible as that sounds right now!).

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I do feel your pain -- he meowed continually when he was younger. Made me insane.

Ignoring worked eventually. It will take some time. I did remember one other thing that helped. Try this. Get a spray bottle of water and when she gets going, mist her with it and say "NO" firmly. Make sure the water hits her. You may have to put it on stream instead of spray. Try that a few times. I did that over the overnight spells. He'd get going and I'd get the bottle and mist him and he'd stop. It got to the point that I kept it by the bed and when he started, I'd reach for it and he'd stop meowing almost immediately. He sometimes would start back up. The water and the ignoring (ignoring more than anything) did the trick.

Just don't ever use the spray bottle for anything other than to stop her from doing something bad. She'll associate it and stop, hopefully. It'll be hard to do as you love her, but the water won't hurt her. She may hide out, so you don't want to be continually spraying her. I saved it for the middle of the night when I really needed him quite until the ignoring kicked in.
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

If you use Tammy's idea make sure you don't spray her in the eye. I did that to Gabby by accident once.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

another possiblity is she is trying to find her other feline friends when she was an outside cat. cats will call out to one another to look for/locate them. did she have other cats she hung out with outside?

also is she spayed? females in season will call out for a male. my cats will call out looking for me sometimes. i know you've had advise on ignoring the behavior but could be she is looking for company and is very insecure. my old cat smokey would carry a toy in her mouth meowing and when she saw me she would drop it and want to be petted. i'm not say to reward this cats behavior. this is just want my mokie did.

what we do for the love of our pets...right.