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Do you have a cat that just won’t stop bothering you? Every time they see you, they yammer on and on like a stranger at a grocery store. While sometimes it might be no problem, it can be extremely annoying and even cause issues with your connection.
The bottom line is that some cats are just naturally more vocal than others. Sometimes, you only know exactly how that personality trait will be once they start to develop a little. So, in this article, we’re going to discuss some things you can do to calm your little chatty Cathy.
When to Call a Vet
Before reading this article, if your cat is suddenly meowing more than normal and seems out of nowhere, get them to a vet immediately. This might be a temporary behavior change, but it could also indicate an underlying health condition.
Overly vocalizing sometimes signals pain or is a sign of aging or illness. A vet can do a quick examination and tell you their professional opinion.
If you need to speak with a vet but can't get to one, head over to PangoVet. It's an online service where you can talk to a vet online and get the advice you need for your pet — all at an affordable price!
The 7 Ways to Stop Your Cat from Overly Vocalizing
How do you prevent this behavior? The truth is, unless there’s a true underlying cause, there really is little to be done. Below are some suggestions, but it helps to understand why your cat is vocalizing in the first place, which we’ve discussed later on in the article.
1. Stop Feeding into It
Do you let your cat get their way no matter what? You could be spoiling the heck out of your feline friend. Maybe it’s time for us humans to learn some boundaries and stick with the rules. If they’re being a little extra, don’t immediately give in to the meowing. Your cat will eventually learn a little patience.
2. Separate Yourself If Needed
You deserve quiet time too! If you temporarily need to put your cat in a separate room, just for a few minutes of silence, don’t feel bad! Make sure they have a litter box, entertainment, and a freshwater source, and have yourself a guilt-free vacation in the other room.
3. Get Your Cat Fixed
If your cat isn’t fixed, that’s going to be a major problem when it comes to vocalizations. This is especially true if it happens during obvious heat cycles. To stop these vocalizations for good, scheduling a snip-snip appointment works wonders.
Leaving your cat intact certainly comes with consequences. Most pet parents don’t want to deal with it at all. Luckily, cats are good candidates to get this surgery as early as 5 months of age, though some veterinarians may recommend earlier based on health, specific situation, and welfare guidelines. Consult with your vet for the best time to spay or neuter your cat.
4. Provide Lots of Entertainment
If boredom is the culprit, make sure to provide lots of different forms of entertainment to your cat. If you haven’t had a cat for very long, you might not know just what will keep them busy quite yet. Get a variety of toys.
You can purchase anything from small catnip-stuffed toys to large exercise wheels and everything in between. The more they have to keep them busy, the better!
5. Praise Your Cat for Being Quiet
If your cat is not excessively meowing at you, try to give them a treat. Sometimes they won’t bridge the connection, but many can grasp that quietness rewards them. This might not work in every scenario, but it’s worth a shot!
6. Make Sure Your Kitty Has a Playmate
Have you thought about adopting another cat recently? If your kitty is all alone, they might be extremely lonely and even suffering from depression. When their humans are gone all day at work, and then they come home and don’t spend enough time with them, it can leave them feeling unsatisfied.
Having another cat around can curb these behaviors and decrease your responsibility for constantly keeping them entertained. Plus, it’s always a wonderful feeling to adopt a cat that no longer has a family. They certainly need you!
You can create a duo that might just even out all that energy—or at least channel it positively. Your kitty might just be too reliant on you, requiring the company of their own species.
7. Deal with It
The bottom line is that sometimes we just have to deal with the quirks that come along with our cat’s personalities. If that means listening to incessant meows every time you interact with your cat, that’s just what it means sometimes.
Often, meowing isn’t a sign of a behavioral issue. It is just a part of your cat’s overall character. While there might be some ways to calm the meowing down, you have to accept that this might just be a part of who they are—and love and accept them anyway!
Why Do Cats Vocalize?
Cats vocalize to communicate, just like us. After all, we all jabberjaw around our house all the time, but suddenly get annoyed when one of our pets does it. While it isn’t very fair, it can be challenging if it’s something you’re not used to. Here are a few reasons why your cat might be a little more vocal.
Hunger
We all know that cats are little bottomless pits. You forget to fill up their food bowl one time, and you’re certainly going to hear about it. So, if you have a kitty with a voracious appetite but no food available, it could just be those hunger pangs sounding out.
Of course, as annoying as it might be to be pestered and badgered about food, you’re doing the right thing by regulating their intake. In rare cases, some cat parents might need to feed their kitty more.
If you’re concerned about portioning versus what your cat is telling you, speak to a vet. Based on weight and lifestyle, your vet should give you a nifty diet plan tailored right to your cat.
Attention
Some cats just can’t get enough love. You can spend time with them, but they won’t stop craving your attention. This can be quite a change of pace for people who are used to independent cats that do things on their own. But different personalities call for different reactions.
Boredom
There’s a good possibility that your cat is just bored. Do you have lots of forms of entertainment? Is your cat a little more energetic than you’re used to?
Having any type of social action and exercise outlets is incredibly important for felines. Your cat might just be yapping at you because, like a little kid, they can’t figure out what to do about it themselves.
Breed Trait
Some cats are simply more vocal than others. If your cat has been pretty quiet and it’s just now vocalizing, that’s a different story. However, if they’ve always been a chatty Cathy from day one, that could be how they are.
Science has proven that some breeds, such as the Siamese, Oriental breeds, and Burmese, tend to have higher vocalizations than others.
Different Cat Vocalizations
Our cats meow at us for a variety of reasons. Some of them do it to greet us when they see us after a long day of work. Others do it to grab our attention, such as when the food bowl is empty, or they want to go outside.
Try to figure out triggers. Some cats perform caterwauling at night, which is when they let out long, drawn-out meows that are both very obnoxious and hard to ignore. In this section, we will go over precisely what certain vocalizations mean.
Meowing
The classic meow can mean so many things. This is the one thing that our cats do to communicate with us, setting them apart from their feral cousins. As far as science knows, feral cats who typically avoid humans and may run away do not use meows to communicate with each other, relying instead on other vocalizations such as yowls, growls, or hisses. Meowing is most often directed at humans and is considered a behavior that developed during domestication.
Yowling
Do you have a cat hanging around that has yet to get spayed or neutered? Yowling is usually a sign of heat. The call of the wild, if you will. This sound signals I want to mate, and I want to now. It can also occur in males who sense a female in heat, or in cats experiencing pain or cognitive dysfunction.
One thing is for sure: it’s pretty hard to ignore. So, suppose you notice that your cat is much more vocal at certain times than others. In that case, you could very well be experiencing heat with a laundry list of other signs like excessive friendliness, rubbing and raising the backend, and other over-the-top behaviors.
Purring
Purring isn’t so much a vocalization as it is an odd capability that a cat has. Research suggests that purring actually has healing frequencies that promote relaxation and bonding, and its low-frequency vibrations may contribute to healing in bone and tissue, though the mechanism is not fully understood. Not only does it have powerful healing capabilities for cats’ own bodies, but it can help us, too. Isn’t that remarkable?
Purring is often a sign of affection, but it can sometimes signal something more sinister—like pain. So, keep an eye on your cat if they are excessively purring.
Chirping
Chirping is a little like meowing with a twist. Often, owners describe it as a combination of a purr and a meow. It often indicates curiosity, interaction, or simple conversation—usually signaling that they want something like food or affection.
Chattering
We’ve all seen the hilarious online videos of cats chattering. They’ll be extremely fixated on some type of prey outside of a window, and they won’t stop making this bizarre vocalization. Chattering is often associated with prey drive.
While scientists don’t quite know if it’s anticipation or aggravation from not being able to execute their predatory instincts, it is certainly related to capturing unsuspecting critters.
Conclusion
You might be unable to do much about your cat yacking your ear off. But remember, we do the same to them all the time. There is a good chance a cat that likes being vocal is just trying to communicate with you in a way they think you’ll understand.
If it’s abnormal, it might indicate a bigger issue, though rare. If you suspect something is wrong, contact your vet immediately.
Featured Image Credit: athree23, Pixabay
