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Were you asking yourself why is my cat walking around meowing? If the answer is yes, then you might want to continue reading.
It is very normal for kittens to meow because that is one way they learn to adapt to the new environment. Meowing is the only means by which kittens communicate with us and with their adult cats.
So why does my cat walk around meowing?
Kittens meow towards their mothers when they feel discomfort either arising from harsh weather conditions, hunger, or when they are frightened by the environment or other factors.
When your feline friend transits from kittenhood and becomes an adult cat, he now adapts to other forms of communication in addition to meowing.
An adult cat can yowl, hiss, or grow as part of the feline language, and your cat will use meowing mainly to communicate with people.
It is perfectly normal to see your cat meowing once in a while especially when they are around you. It is also important to note that this behavior varies in the various cat breeds that we have.
It is common to wonder why does a cat walk around meowing, in the case where the habit is overdone which can be a sign of a health condition.
Before I delve into the excessive meowing behavior, let me first outline to you the reasons why your cat meows in general.
Why do Cats Walk Around Meowing? 6 Reasons
1. Saying hello
Your adult cat will meow in happiness whenever you return home after a long day at work.
Alongside the vocalization tone, your cat will also rub his body around your legs if you are still standing and when seated, he will immediately jump on the seat to feel your presence.
2. Seeking Attention
When your cat is feeling lonely or secluded, it is common for him to find out where you are and immediately call for your attention. By doing this, your cat is simply telling you to play with him or just engage him with a few words.
If they are used to regular training and playing during specific times of the day, you will notice your cat wandering around meowing when the play time comes.
3. When he wants to be fed
When you are partaking your meals on the dinner table, you will mostly find that your cat is around the table meowing at every face requesting food.
You can schedule your cat’s feeding pattern to match yours. Do not keep your cat for too long without food and water, they might become malnourished.
Your cat probably knows where the kitchen is, and when a person enters the kitchen area, your cat will meow at them in anticipation of his favorite cat food to eat.
4. When in heat
When it reaches the reproductive cycle in cats, it is common for them to meow and yowl all at the same time. A female cat will do this to publicize to the male cat that she is ready and a male cat will do the same to seek a mate.
5. Asking to be released or allowed in
Your cat will meow towards you when he wants to go out and stretch among other things. The same will happen when he wants to get into the house. It is similar to knocking on the door to us human beings.
Sometimes your cat might use small openings on your house to either get in or leave e.g., an open window. It is important to know all the routes your cat is using to access your house.
6. When ill
Being the most vocalized communicator to humans, your cat will meow at you whenever he is not feeling well. Mostly, for this reason, the meowing might be on a reduced tone to signify a loss of strength and sound.
Whenever you notice an abnormal sound pitch or level in your cat’s meow, they may be crying, so please visit your vet for further diagnosis.
How to Know When Your Cat Is Meowing Excessively
Similar to other normal cat activities like staring at the wall, your cat can overdo a habit and it is normally an indicator that he is not comfortable in his current state.
When it comes to excessive meowing, your cat will do it consistently and with a loud voice to the extent that it may become an annoyance to you.
As I have pointed out earlier, cats will normally meow towards a person rather than another pet or when alone. When you notice your cat is meowing while walking around the house freely, then it could be a sign of a problem.
4 Reasons Why Cats Meow Loudly
1. Your cat might just be suffering from a medical condition that makes him feel discomfort.
You might have a little capacity to know what ails your cat by keenly observing other signs and symptoms including coughing and sneezing.
If you have established that your cat has health concerns, it is very important to visit the vet as soon as possible before it becomes too late.
2. If your cat is elderly, he might be experiencing elderly cat health problems
He might even begin to lose his eyesight and as a result, end up using his vocals to interact with you and the environment.
Confusion also arises when the cat transits to the elderly stage which can be another reason why your cat walks around meowing at night.
You need to see a vet when you notice these age-related problems, medication should be prescribed to your cat in this case.
3. A stressed cat will easily meow and yowl excessively anywhere in the room without necessarily communicating with a person
Stress can be a result of a new environment, a new pet in the house, receiving less food, and playing time, or when your cat has lost a close pet friend. You need to quickly establish the environmental, social, and mental factors that affect your cat by closely monitoring his behavior changes.
To eliminate stress, you simply need to give your cat a heavenly home for him to thrive.
4. When your cat is very hungry, it is definite that he keeps meowing and walking around
It is good to have scheduled time to feed your cat, but also ensure that your cat does not go for long hours without anything to feed on.
Whenever your cat meows at you, avoid giving him treats because he will get used to that as a way of soliciting treats from you.
You can opt to purchase an automatic pet feeder that dispenses treats at a scheduled time during the day. This way, your cat will shift his attention to the feeder whenever he is hungry.
Your cat can also meow loudly when their territory has been encroached on by other cats. You need to introduce your resident cat to your new cat properly to avoid resistance.
Always watch out for the warning signs when introducing cats. This will allow you to prevent them from physically attacking each other.
Can You Do Anything to Reduce Loud Meowing in Cats?
At this point, I believe you have already visited the vet and have ruled out any health concerns with your cat or your cat is on medication if he has an illness.
For excessive meowing that did not concern health issues, you can adopt some techniques that will ensure your cat keeps his calm within the house and only meows when necessary.
It is important to point out that it is not possible to completely make a cat stop meowing but you can train him to reduce the voice and only meow when necessary and use the correct vocal tone and pitch.
The first thing to determine is what makes your cat meow loudly and excessively. You will then think of the things that you can do to reduce the voice or stop the behavior completely.
8 Tips on How to Reduce Loud Meowing in Cats
1. The first reason I highlighted that makes cats meow, is when he is saying hello to you after a long day. For this one, there is not much you can do because it is one of the ways your kitty is showing love and affection towards you.
2. Immediately you notice that your cat is meowing because of transiting to the elderly stage, you need to visit a vet for advanced services.
It is best to keep your elderly cat in optimum health conditions that will make him feel comfortable hence reducing the meowing.
3. If your cat is meowing to solicit attention from you, you need to show him that attention will only be given to a calm and quiet cat.
When he meows, do not immediately shift your attention to him, you can rather wait until he substantively keeps quiet than start patting him and reward the good behavior by giving him his favorite cat treats.
Be careful when to give him the treat, only wait until he is completely quiet otherwise the cat might think that you are rewarding him for meowing.
I recommend waiting for a minimum of 10 minutes after being quiet. Doing this repeatedly will produce positive results.
4. If you spend long hours of the day outside leaving your cat lonely, make sure your family members keep him busy throughout the day. If you are living alone, you can have a pet sitter to stay with your feline friend when you are away. This will reduce the lonely feeling experienced by the cat and in turn, it will reduce the stress levels significantly.
5. Consider having other cats and pets in your house. This will make your cat engaged in games with another feline friend or pet.
6. You can install cat doors in your house so that your cat will not be meowing loudly towards you whenever he feels like going out. Always let your cat have the freedom of moving around your house and your compound, do not confine him to one place.
You can go further and build an outside cat’s place for him outside the house where he can be spending some outdoor time. When your cat receives this freedom, he will not meow for purposes of movement.
7. If you have a female cat that never mated with a male, you can consider spaying her to reduce the excessive meows occasioned by heat. You can know that your female cat is in heat by observing other behavior like when she rubs against your body excessively and rolls on the floor for a long time.
When a female cat is not spayed and has not been bred, she will have continuous heat cycles every eighteen to twenty-four days.
8. A male cat will also meow excessively and loudly so long as he can smell a female cat in heat. If he is unable to get the female to breed, you can also take steps to ensure that the cat is neutered early enough to cut on the loud meows.
9. Consider getting a pheromone collar, it might help your cat to calm down and relax which in turn will make them meow less. This collar is very safe and completely harmless.
Whilst there are things you can do to reduce meowing, there are some that you are not supposed to do because you might just be worsening the situation.
2 Things to Avoid Doing When Your Cat Is Meowing
Some people have the habit of ignoring meowing from their cats and it is not only dangerous to the cat, but it will also be costly to you in the end.
I will highlight two mistakes that people do in this situation that need to be avoided at all costs.
1. Punishing your cat for meowing
Do not hit or shout at your cat for meowing however loud it may be. Many people resort to this measure because it easily sends the cat away from their presence hence offering a temporary ‘solution’ to the problem.
Unknown to many is that punishing your cat will worsen the situation and you might realize when it is too late.
As a result of punishment, your cat may resort to the following behaviors:
- He will be extremely fearful of you.
- He will avoid your presence completely.
- He will hide when doing things, including eating food from your kitchen’s pot.
- He will aggressively attack you and then go into hiding whenever you cause discomfort to him, e.g., when waking him up.
- As an act of revenge, your cat will be disobedient to your commands and even harm other pets in your house.
2. Giving treats to your cat whenever he meows
Many people believe that cats will only meow at them whenever they are hungry, as a result, they end up giving treats to their cats every time. In such cases, you will realize that your cat might even not be interested in the treats you gave him.
Before making any move or solving the issue try and figure out why is your cat meowing and think of the best steps you can take to help him out.
To Conclude
Meowing is the best communication feline language between cats and their owners. It is very important to know the meowing behavior and reasons for your cat because it varies across breeds.
If you were inquisitive about why your cat walks around meowing all the time, then I hope you have found important insights that will help you correct the behavior.
Has your cat ever meowed loudly till it made you wonder? What was your experience? Please let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading through this post.
Laura is the founder of Furs'n'Paws. She is a also a pet writer and expert with more than 20 years of experience of working with dogs and cats. She developed a very strong love for animals at a young age. Her passion led her to establish a thriving pet sitting and dog walking business in Dubai. As an expert in pet training, behavior, and nutrition, Laura is committed to helping pet owners and pet lovers by offering high-quality information on a wide range of topics.
5 Responses
My Queen has 4 5 week old kittens and she has suddenly been trying to get our attention by meowing incessantly and walking around. She seems to be hungry but she eats regularly and when she is done she starts right back up. Then we put a small bowl of food down so there is always food in case she was having some food insecurity. Nothing helps. We have paid attention to her, fed her, let her out, in, changed the litter, let her nurse the kitties and kept them away from her for a bit in case she was in pain from her nipples…she is not seemingly in pain but the only other thing I can think of is she is in heat. That said, she is meowing at us. She is very clearly trying to get our attention but once we give it to her she just starts right back up. What do we do? We have an appointment with the vet next week but what can we do in the meantime?
This is a fascinating read on why do cats meow when walking around. There are so many reasons as to why cats meow, but I have always thought that meowing is to convey a message. It might be saying I need food, or attention, or maybe I am not happy with the status quo.
I grew up with Siamese cats, that were always relatively quiet compared to our neighbour’s cats (not sure what breed they were). And my mother-in-law has Persian cats that purr more than meow. So do you think that certain breeds meow more than others? Thank you.
Thanks for your input. Yes, some cat breeds are more vocal than others. It’s strange that your Siamese cats were quiet, usually they are the most vocal cat breed and they are known to walk around the house meowing.
Hi…my wife and I were Google searching for habits of cats and came a cross this article. What a wealth of information! We have always been a dog family for years when our kids were growing up and so we’re pretty familiar with their habits and ways. However, now we just got a cat that always walks around meowing especially at night. She has her own unique personality and traits that we are unfamiliar with…so thank you for helping us understand this habit.
-Mike
Sometimes cats meow at night when they feel lonely, bored, or when they want attention. They also do it when they’re hungry so make sure you leave her enough food and water. I also suggest that you leave a few toys for her so she can play hunting games.