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cat howls like a dog- is she senile?

cwjr Dec 24, 2010 11:20 PM

we have an 18 year old calico and she is in relatively good health. she eats and drinks like normal, very sociable. recently she goes into the bathroom by herself and starts howling like a dog! she is very loud. it sounds like a small dog being tortured. its really embarrasing when we have company and i can only imagine what the neighbors must be thinking about how we treat our animals. there is nobody in the bathroom when she does this. it will go on for about a minute and when she's done she'll come back into my room and meow like normal and she'll act as if nothing happened.

i've busted her a couple of times and when i catch her she stops and looks at me then meows like normal and walks away as if everything is normal. is she seeing ghosts in our bathroom or what? or has she just lost her mind?

Replies (1)

Cyclopsgrl Jan 01, 2011 04:44 PM

Hi! This is fairly common in older cats. One of my two did it more than the other. He'd wander off and start yowling a very deep sound in the middle of the night from time to time. I would call him and distract him and he would stop. I have heard a couple theories, one being they do start going a little senile or get disorented when they get older. Nothing to be overly concerned with if it is simply meowing loudly when they are out of sight -- many say they are confused and trying to find you sometimes. If you think it may be more, get him checked with the vet.

It isn't something he is doing wrong or that you should discipline or try to correct -- it is simply confusion as he is older and may get disoriented from time to time.
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Tammy
(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)
(Pookey 8/91 - 11/10)

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