Excessive Vocalization

[Cougie Wechsler]

Hello everyone,
We are hoping someone might have some advice for us. We currently have 3 indoor girls. Around the 4th of July, we noticed a grey stray walking through our backyard who became progressively skinnier as the weeks passed. We started to feed her and she eventually moved into the backyard. We bought her a dog house but with some serious storms and cold, my wife and I decided to bring her in. We took her to the vet who determined that she was spayed and most likely had been a pet. We suspect that she may have been abandoned in the neighborhood. No one came looking for her.

We brought her in and set her up in a safe room for two weeks without introducing her to the other cats or the rest of the house. She did great in her safe room - used the litter box and did well.

Once we let her have access to the rest of the house, she started to vocalize excessively - sounding like a baby crying. She does this several times a day and at night, making it hard to sleep. She also has been marking outside the litter box.

Everything I read suggested that this is common for a cat in a new environment and especially dealing with three other girls who aren't too pleased that she is here (but who have not been overly aggressive). Anyone else have suggestions or advice? We have set up Feliway emitters to hopefully curve the marking. We hope we did the right thing by bringing her in and do not want to put her back outside. She is a great little cat.

Thanks!

[happylabs]

Bless you for bringing her in!

I would say maybe give her some more time to get adjsuted.

I have an indoor cat, Buddy, who still does this on occasion and he has been doing it more frequently lately.

As far as urinating outside the box. How many litter boxes do you have. They say one per cat and an extra one.

Hopefully they can work it out.

[Freedom]

How lucky for the sweet one that you took her in, and have had her to the vet!

I know a few on here have tried the Feliway, most don't like the plug in one, and say it doesn't work too well. Two people made a sort of "sleeve" for a cat collar, and spray Feliway on that, then put it on the collar. Feliway should NEVER be sprayed right on the cat, but this keeps it close to the cat. So that is something to consider.

Has she shown any interest in cat toys? Tried catnip on a toy? I have one cat who cries unless he has a toy mouse to carry around with him -- and it better be the RIGHT toy mouse! I buy them 6 at a time, as he tends to drop it and forget where he left it. Again, just something to try out.

Two weeks is a short time for cats to adjust, so that is likely the issue.

Let us know what you try, and what works and what doesn't.

[Cougie Wechsler]

Thanks for the replies! We have three litter boxes so we might want to explore getting another box but we will have to find a place to locate it. We have a good sized house but alot of clutter.

She has shown interest in bottle caps and we have tried some catnip - we will probably continue to try that as well.

And thanks for the tips about Feliway - it is quite pricey so if we don't see results, we might not go with the emitters.

We are commited to making it work - she is a great cat who we believe needs some love.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Some cats take a long time to feel at home and some will only learn to tolerate each other. I currently have 6 cats and my four males get along pretty well but my two females are still having issues with my two newest additions,Alani & Blaze, and they've been here for 1 year and 5 months.

I've tried both the Feliway plugins and spray and it worked for a while but later they seem to become immune to it. The best thing that worked for me when a few of my cats started peeing elsewhere was to buy some Cat Attract cat litter which you can either buy online or at Petsmart. I also had to buy some more litter boxes. Now I use the unscented version of Dr. Elsey's Precious cat litter. I've tried so many kinds and I keep going back to this one. Here's a wonderful website full of all kinds of great information: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=litterbox. Good luck.

[moosmom]

How about a calming collar by Feliway or the concentrated spray. Also, try a night light. Everyone here echos what I would've said. Great advice!

Thank you for taking her in!! No kitty should be left out in this cold (it's 0 degrees here in CT)

[mrspunkysmom]

It took Bertie-Bella 10 weeks to adjust after being dumped. She was adopted out recently and is taking a slow route to entering the new household.

Emily and Bob were abandoned/poofed/rescued 6 months back. For the longest time Emily found every small piece of laundry (underwear, washcloths, socks) and carried them about the house, crying all the while. She would leave a trail. I figure that after she felt comfortable and well fed here, she started to grieve for her previous owner. Every time she did it when I was home, I would pick her up and cuddle her. She did this for 3 or four months but has stopped.

Your kitty may be grieving and looking for her previous people even though she was abandoned or lost. Now that she feels safe with you, she is able to vent her emotions.

Bless you for taking her in.

You might just want to give her some time out in her room from time to time. Or some smelly socks to carry around with her.

Good Luck!

[Cougie Wechsler]

Thanks for the advice and reassurance! In the past two nights, we have noticed an improvement in the vocalization - she will still howl but it is not as sustained as it was a few nights ago. We also noticed her being a bit more confident - last night she started using a cat bed to lay in, claiming it as her own. It was one we bought for our girls and they had failed to use it so it is hers. She also jumped on a sofa for the first time so we are taking these together as positive signs - baby steps

She is here to stay and we have grown quite attached to this one who we are calling Nala! Now if we can start to improve the marking we will be good. Thanks again!

[mrspunkysmom]

She is here to stay and we have grown quite attached to this one who we are calling Nala! Now if we can start to improve the marking we will be good. Thanks again!

The extra litter boxes will probably help. My former foster Bella went outside the box only once. While sequestered in her room she had excellent litter manners. but once she was out and about she did go outside because all of the four boxes were dirty and not to her standards. That was my oops that day.

Good luck and thanks for not giving up on her.

[Cougie Wechsler]

Great news! The excessive vocalization has stopped and we have not noticed any noticeable marking. She is also trying her best to engage the others in play so we hope that she now feels like she's at home.

[Karen]

That's good to hear! Thanks for the update.