Please help me understand why this cat meows so loudly

March 26, 2007 7:31 PM

For nearly a year, we have been feeding a few stray cats in the yard. Two cats in particular, we'll call them Dale and Greenbean, come to visit every day...

We always assumed that they were brother and sister, and now it would appear that Greenbean is pregnant. Anyway, my question concerns Dale's behavior of late. For the last week or so, he has been circling around the yard and wailing incredibly loudly. I mean, loud enough to wake people up. The mewing does not seem to be directed at us, as he has plenty to eat, and every time we open the door he sort of runs away from us; no interest at all in coming inside or anything. Greenbean just sits there as if this were all completely normal. Has anyone ever experienced such a thing? Is Dale trying to protect Greenbean, or could Dale actually be a lady trying to get a bit of action? We have been completey unsuccessful in trying to catch them, even with the assistance of the local cat rescue team, so I just want to make sure that they are comfortable. The wailing really concerns me. Any advice?

posted by waywardgirl to pets & animals (10 comments total)

When my youngest cat was in heat she acted in an easily recognizable fashion. She would run into a room, lie on her back, and writhe around while screaming. I've often described it as the most obscene display of desire I have ever seen. I would wake up to hear her screeching, when I turned on the lights she would have this intensely wide-eyed crazy look.

Using that as a reference point, it sounds like Dale is in heat. This doesn't rule out the need to take him/her to the vet though, if you can.
posted by aburd at 7:44 PM on March 26, 2007

Feeding strays is the #1 way of creating feral cats. Trapping strays and ferals is easy, and if you care about them, you'll trap them and have them neutered and vaccinated, at a minimum, before re-releasing them. Or, take them to the animal control shelter nearest you, where, if they can't be adopted safely as pets, they can at least give other cats who can, a better chance.
posted by paulsc at 8:13 PM on March 26, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Totally agree with paulsc. There are a lot of vets/rescue groups that will do low cost spay and neuter. It's the best thing for the cats.
posted by bolognius maximus at 8:22 PM on March 26, 2007

Spooky. There are two "outsider" cats here and the male (notDave) does exactly the same - Apart from the circling though. He's an old ratty thing with a limp and I'm not sure if he's got it on with the female (Slinky) and don't know if she is... but when she goes wandering off notDave starts the loud meooowing.

My wife asked somebody she works with who owns 10 cats and she thinks it could be a companionship thing. They seem to be partners. For now anyway. We'll see what happens if a litter comes along.

Sorry if this isn't much help, wanted to tell you of the exact same thing happening here. My thoughts are to wait and see what comes along and then try the cat rescue again.
posted by Webbster at 8:34 PM on March 26, 2007

Because I really was not looking for advice on spaying and neutering cats, I did not go into much detail about what I have done for these cats. You see, there are dozens of feral cats in my neighborhood. We have trapped at least three of them and had them spayed or neutered. The local cat assistance team is very aggressive and very helpful about taking care of these cats, and we have been working closely with them. But, unfortunately, Dale and Greenbean must be too accustomed to the yard, and have never fallen for the traps. It is only the visiting cats, for whom the trap was not necessarily intended, (and the occasional possum) who fall for it.

Trapping cats can be easy, yes, but it can also be quite a challenge. I know this because I have a lot of experience with it. In fact, I have spent a lot of time and a lot of money on it because I do care about cats.

I continue to feed these two cats because it is the only way I know of to keep an eye on them. I want Greenbean to have the babies in the yard so we can take them to be adopted. If I do not feed them, I am afraid she will have her babies somewhere else and they will continue to spawn.

Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts on the wailing, I would love to know your experiences with it. It is the first time I have seen such behavior in any of these cats!
posted by waywardgirl at 9:25 PM on March 26, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Either you are my father, and have a mefi username I'd never have expected, or you just described the situation at my parent's house verbatim. Their Dale (let's call him Daddycat) and Greenbean (Dusty) did the exact same thing. While Dusty had kittens (and then got spayed), and slowly got more tame, the old tomcat Daddycat would come and go as he pleased, doing the circle-the-house-death-howl. The only time he actually shut up was when he'd been away for a while, got bitten by another cat or dog, and came back quite hungry. Just like Greenbean, Dusty sits by and pretty much ignores him, whether he's quiet, or being a fluffy little banshee.

I can't tell you if it's because he's frisky, or if he's lonely, or what, but our Daddycat started up the howl right after Dusty got pregnant, just like your cats. Perhaps he was pissed off and couldn't figure out where all the sex had gone, and why Dusty was getting fat. I don't know. Once we got Dusty spayed, and her two kittens too, she got a bit less feral, but Daddycat would occasionally still stop by and remind everyone in the neighborhood how quiet raccoons having sex was in comparison to a Tomcat singing the blues.
posted by conch soup at 11:34 PM on March 26, 2007

"... Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts on the wailing, I would love to know your experiences with it. ..."

Fair enough, waywardgirl. I have seen similar instances of male ferals caterwauling the perimeter of a territory as they prowl it, many times. One reason they do this is to stimulate other cats and litters of kittens into identifying themselves. Tomcats often go to great lengths to find and kill new litters, for a variety of reasons, and the loud crying they do sometimes causes litters of new kittens, who may be hungry, to mew enough for the tom to find them, when scent alone might not be enough, due to wind conditions, or prevailing masking smells. Cats noses are nowhere near as good as dogs, and they tend to find things as much by sight and hearing, as by smell. Hence their forward facing eyes, and rotatable ears.
posted by paulsc at 2:49 AM on March 27, 2007

Wow. I sure hope Dale is the daddy of Greenbean's babies!
posted by waywardgirl at 7:45 AM on March 27, 2007

That preserved cats link is kind of disturbing. I'm not sure seeing that image is going to encourage people to bring cats into shelters, even if it is the more humane thing in the end.
posted by Jupiter Jones at 9:49 AM on March 27, 2007

I sure hope Dale is the daddy of Greenbean's babies!

If you're thinking that Dale won't kill his own kittens, there's really no way for him to know- that is, it won't stop him. I know you haven't been successful in catching him so far, but the best way to stop this behavior would be to neuter him.

Good luck with your kitty situation. We had a cat whose favorite pasttime was getting into the bathtub and howling at three in the morning. It's certainly not the most soothing noise.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:35 AM on March 27, 2007