Thanks for your advice everyone! Jake just had his vet check up recently and he's in perfect health. He also visits almost daily with Jiggs his "brother" but I think you may be right - he still misses him even though Jiggs used to beat him up!! I think maybe just became more (and more and more) vocal as he learned that it gets him pretty much anything he wants! You see he was a loner before he came to live with us and got very little attention and affection. He's very smart and he probably figured out that we're suckers and he can get anything he wants if he is loud enough, you know things like shrimp and endless belly scratches!! I guess that's what they call spoiled rotten!