Our cat is making strange yelping noises.

RocketFalls

Up to about 2 months ago, we had three cats. Two got eaten by foxes within a weeks of one another, probably due to the harsh winter. I like to thing the older one put up one hell of a fight [he was pretty much a feline juggernaut].

Anyway, since then, our remaining cat has been fussy about food and has recently started to make weird yelping noises periodically, scaring the living crap out of everyone within earshot. Is this some kind of bereavement-related nervous disorder? He was on very good terms with the younger cat while she was still alive, acting as a foster parent of sorts.

We're getting two kittens in a couple of weeks, and this may help. But in the meantime, does anybody have any idea if this is a nervous condition or physical?

Thanks.

morganafay

I don't know, it could be a few things. Does he just yelp at random times, or is it after eating, before going to the toilet, or anything specific like that?

He could just be lonely, or he could have just picked up a new habit, I have no idea. What age is he? Is there anyway to describe the yelping, like does it sound like anything, is it like a meow or . . . ? I dunno.

If he does it a lot then it might be worth getting him checked out, especially if he's not really eating much,

RocketFalls

morganafay wrote: »

I don't know, it could be a few things. Does he just yelp at random times, or is it after eating, before going to the toilet, or anything specific like that?

He could just be lonely, or he could have just picked up a new habit, I have no idea. What age is he? Is there anyway to describe the yelping, like does it sound like anything, is it like a meow or . . . ? I dunno.

If he does it a lot then it might be worth getting him checked out, especially if he's not really eating much,

Quite randomly.
For a while, he wouldn't eat if somebody wasn't there to give emotional support or dispel his existential doubts or whatever, but that seems to have abated somewhat.
Though now that you mention it, he's 'yelped' once or twice after eating. He's always had a sort of neurotic attitude to food, though. Goes nuts whenever somebody is eating, though he gets fed three times a day. Seems to enjoy the novelty of getting food as opposed to the actual eating part.

The yelping sounds kind of like..Hm. Like a short yowl. A sort of truncated mewl, I guess. Difficult to describe, but he often does it a few times in rapid succession. Freaky as hell.

He's around..4, 5 years old? I'm not entirely sure, as he just moved in with us one day a few years back and was grown by that point.

Graces7

So sorry about your two cats; a dreadful thing to happen.

This one is pining; grieving.

His way of expressing it is that yelp.

By all means get him checked out though.

We lost one like that; still brings tears to remember him. As siblings the three were very close.. We always knew that when one went, the others would follow.

As they did within a few months.

The last of the three simply pined to death. Stopped eating but would drink and use his tray and that was it.

Even getting three new kittens was no use. He had made his mind up and that was that.

Just love him? Cuddle and pet him. Try whatever food he will eat. Keep him warm; he will miss the physical presence of the others; we gave ours a hwb often.
We were too far away from any vet to get him checked, and we knew what was with him.

The Sweeper

Does he do anything physical along with the yowling, like hunch close to the floor or stretch his neck out?

Is it a sound that comes with play or movement, or will he just be sitting there or lying on the counch and then yip a few times or whatever?