Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with meow

Night Meows

jrchaplin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:55:32 -0800

New cat meows all night. Sleep much disturbed ... I adopted a cat this past Friday. Filbert is about 16-18 months old. He was a stray, fed for 3 months or so by a very nice couple who wanted to bring him indoors and adopt him, but couldn't do so or reasons that will become obvious.
Last week, they captured him & brought him to the vet, got him neutered, brought him up-to-date on his shots, de-worming, etc. But the vet discovered Filbert was FIV/FL positive, which precluded this couple from adopting him (they have 3 other cats without FIV).
Long story short: I decided to adopt Filbert.
Since Friday, he's been more or less hiding, which is fine; gotta give him time to get accustomed to his new digs. But he is eating, using the litter box, and occasionally, gracing me with his presence, even spending some time curled up with me on the bed last night.
But every night, starting at around 11 or midnight, he wanders the house, meowing loudly, jumping up on windowsills as if he wants out. Given he was a stray, I suppose this is quite normal, as he's lived most of his recent life outdoors.
I loathe the idea of letting him out. One, his feline leukemia is contagious to other cats (and there are several other outdoor cats in my neighborhood). Two, I live on a very busy road and lost a cat 4 years ago to its traffic.
So ... any way to reduce his night meows, short of letting him out?

Meowie.

bunny hugger — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:33:23 -0800

Cat shot question. How often does my cat need boosters? I have an indoor cat over 10 years old. He has never been an outside kitty and never will be. I have been taking him yearly for boosters for: feline leukemia, rabies, distemper, etc. He is a healthy boy. Someone, not a vet, mentioned to me that these boosters are not necessary every year and could be administered every two to three years, if at all, after a certain age. Can you point me to trustworthy information on the web on what shots a cat really needs throughout its lifetime?

linguistics question

bukvich — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:19:08 -0800

Is there a word for the accent or vocalization style where an adult woman talks like she is either pre-pubescent child or some sort of species mix of human and feline? Jennifer Tilly talks like this. Ted Baxter's girlfriend Georgette on the Mary Tyler Moore show talks like this. Maybe it is perfectly natural to some women but it sounds like an artifice, like they are doing feminity display and it's overkilled. My google fu is failing me. Googling on Jennifer Tilly meow reveals that she was once in a movie called "The Cats Meow" which seems a little bit sick

Kitty needs to eat while I'm away - help!

Sijeka — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:13:19 -0800

Really worried about my kitty! I'm looking for a last minute cat-sitter for next week in London, UK (E2, Bethnal Green). A friend was supposed to be able to house-sit for us but he dropped out at the last minute. I'm left really worried about my kitty Scully, who's six months and has not been spawyed (therefore cannot go in a shelter).

I'll gladly take any recommendations! Where to look for a trusted pet sitter, any companies you have had experience with, etc...

Wondering Why My Cat Greets Me This Particular Way ...

WCityMike — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:25:53 -0800

Consistently, every single time I come home, my cat will come over to a particular corner of my desk -- I need not be sitting at it or indeed be anywhere near it -- and meow while faux-scratching it. He occasionally will stretch his back after the scratch, but not always. It's extremely cute, and he's such an affectionate cat that I'm even kind of touched by it. But I suppose I find myself curious as to what the gesture breaks down to. I'm assuming it's a greeting, since he repeats it without fail every time I come home after being out for more than a few minutes, but I suppose I'm curious as to what the action signifies. I doubt it's totally random, but I can't quite figure out what "animal world" thing he would be doing by that particular pattern.

WTF is my cat doing?

jtron — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 23:40:58 -0800

WTF is my cat doing? He'll start meowing plaintively, kneading the bed, and looks like he's about to make a pickle (but isn't). So yeah. I'm about to go to sleep but the cat was just doing this and the laptop is nearby. I've seen him do this a few times; as noted before, it generally starts with plaintive meowing. He then starts avidly kneading the bed surface, while squatting his haunches in a way that suggests that he's about to ruin the sheets (although there has, as yet, been no discharge of any kind during this ritual). Sometimes this is accompanied by his hindquarters shivering. The behavior usually lasts about 3-5 minutes at which point he'll either lay back down or start engaging in a secondary behavior I've termed 'log-rolling' where he'll try to climb on my or my partner's calf (he can't manage this, hence the name) for another few minutes.

So, any feline ethologists out there, professional or amateur? Is this anything we should be worried about? Is some weird feline need going unmet? Or should I just file this away under inexplicable cat behavior?

Should I be racist against the Siamese? (cats)

tula — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:19:59 -0800

Dog person needs cat advice. If I adopt a kitten that has any of the physical attributes of a Siamese (blue eyes, lighter body with dark tails, etc.) or has litter mates with any of these attributes, am I condemning myself to live with a cat with a noisy needy Siamese personality? I've been warned that as a cat-non-lover who can be bothered by extraneous noise, I shouldn't adopt a Siamese cat. But since I'm looking at shelter and rescue kittens, I'm not likely to find a purebred anything. So what about all these adorable lynx mixes and part snow-shoe, part tabbies I keep seeing? I'm attracted to the interesting markings of cat mutts. If they're quiet, sweet and social as little kittens does that mean they'll be anything like that as adults? Can you predict any of cat's eventual personality by its behavior as a kitten? Help me oh cat people of the internets.

Please help me understand why this cat meows so loudly

waywardgirl — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:31:05 -0800

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?

[catfilter] Why does my cat go into corners, look up, and meow?

Señor Pantalones — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 20:43:50 -0800

[catfilter] Why does my cat go into corners, look up, and meow? Three locations, 2-3 times a week, 9 years: Living room corner (behind the lamp), bedroom corner, studio corner. She'll do it for a 10 minutes sometimes, just looking up and meowing. Sometimes she'll get up on the coffee table and meow, but mostly it's in the corners. Why?

Cat wants OUT

rio — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 09:22:23 -0800

My indoor-only cat meows like CRAZY every time I go near my front door. Does my cat hate me and want to escape? Or, is it separation anxiety?? AskMe cat experts, please please help... My cat Milo is 2 years old. He is an indoor-only cat in our decent-sized apartment with an enclosed patio, so he gets a taste of outside air and can see birds and other cats. He is neutered. He is the purringest cat I've ever seen, very loving and sweet. HOWEVER...lately he is driving me nuts with a certain behavior: every time I go near my front door, he meows like crazy and it seems like he wants desperately to get out! He gets all agitated, rubs my legs and the door and paces back and forth right in front of the door. If I'm going outside just for a little while (to take out the trash or get the laundry), when I come back he is waiting RIGHT at the door and meows long and loud when I noodge him with my foot out of the way.

A couple of months ago this behavior got even worse after my husband and I got back from our honeymoon -- we were gone for 3 weeks and left Milo and our other cat Spike with my parents. My parents said that Milo was very quiet and timid while we were gone, and didn't come out from behind their couch for the entire first day (Spike was perfectly fine, and still is). After we came back, Milo's door-freaking-outedness got worse, and now sometimes he'll suddenly race over to the door even when no one is going out, and start meowing and pawing the door like mad. And recently, we were leaving for a short weekend trip, and while we were packing, Milo peed on a blanket on our bed, which he has never done before!

And now for my barrage of questions: What the heck is going on? Separation anxiety? Is he trying to escape? Should I just get him a collar and let him be an outdoor cat now? We live near a pretty busy street in Los Angeles and I'm afraid he'll get hit by a car or maybe join a cat gang and never come back. Oh, and he actually managed to get out twice now through a window with a broken screen...I came home from work and found him just outside the window, meowing to get back in! Crazy freakin' cat. Has anyone here had this problem? Did you figure out what it was? What should I do?

International Animal Sounds

twine42 — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 09:54:08 -0800

International animal sounds : In English, dogs go 'woof', cats go 'meow' and ducks go 'quack'. Does anyone know what noises they make in other languages (or maybe other countries)? [I don't mean to limit this to those three, it just seemed like a good selection to show what I meant...]