Is your cat meowing too much?

An author on the website Catster.com asks whether your cat is meowing too much. My first thought was that a domestic cat cannot meow too much. It's impossible to envisage that situation. For a start off, domestic cats are not, in general terms, that vocal. Some cat breeds such as the Siamese are more vocal in others. The Siamese' rather raucous and harsh voice may grate sometimes but when you adopt a Siamese cat you know what you're getting. You are adopting a loyal, vocal creature and you like it. So no complaints. Cats start to meow at around 4 months normally. And they only meow at humans. Feral cats don't meow at each other.

The only time that a cat can meow too much is not when they're meowing but when they're howling at night at midnight in the morning! Yes, cats can be too vocal but it will be when they are vocal at times which are undesirable from a human's perspective.

Image: PoC

The reason why this should happen is because cats are essentially nocturnal hunters. Or to be more precise they are crepuscular creatures. They like to be active when we like to be inactive and fast asleep. The vocalisation aspect of this behavioural trait is an adjunct to the more important behavioural trait as described.

Howling at night, can be caused by a cat who is elderly and who may suffer from early-stage dementia and is therefore confused. The howl is a call for company. The response should be to provide them with company even if it is highly inconvenient. If you're awake because of the howling then it is not much of an added burden to get up and deal with it. We should be very sympathetic and sensitive to our cat's emotional problems.

However, if your cat wants to wake you up at four in the morning by meowing and you don't like it, the classic treatment is to ignore it. For the immediate future your cat will try harder and then eventually she will give up. That is the argument. The argument is to ignore demands that you don't want to meet because if you respond to demands you feed them and encourage more. Personally, I don't subscribe to ignoring requests from my cat. Maybe that's just me but if he is asking for something there's good reason for it and I feel duty bound as his caregiver to do something about it.

The cat's meow may irritate some people some time. This is because it is a demand or polite request depending upon your viewpoint for food. And sometimes cats can linger around your feet as you walk around the kitchen meowing at you and rubbing their bodies against you. They can get in the way. Cats are persistent and they will go on until they get what they are asking for. As I said, this may irritate some people if they are not in the mood to respond. The best response is to respond! Cats get their way. It's an example of the cat training the human rather than vice versa.

Caterwauling is rarely heard in my opinion. It is described as "an aggressive, threatening sound made by sexual or territorial rivals.... It may be heard at any time when two or more cats are fighting and may, on occasion, have nothing to do with sexual encounters". I am quoting Desmond Morris.

The author on Catster says that an indoor cat when seeing an outdoor cat may vocalise their frustration or excitement. My experience tells me that under these circumstances the indoor cat is normally quite silent. They may look intently and wish to get out side and do something about it. If they are allowed outside they will go but this is more about action rather than vocalisation. It's like the hunt: cats are silent when in pursuit.

If a cat owner is going to complain about meowing it will normally be because their cat is not meowing enough. And on this subject, some cats produce silent meows. If a person wants to adopt a cat and wants that cat to be relatively quiet then they should consider seeking out a cat who likes to meow silently. This happens when the cat opened their mouths as if to meow but no sound comes out.

My conclusion is that domestic cats can never meow too much. They can never vocalise too much and if you are irritated and consider their noise-making too much then I think you should look at yourself and ask whether you might be unreasonable.

World's most dangerous cat?

The answer depends upon whether you are referring to people or animals. If you're referring to the most dangerous cat species in respect of small animals then you will go for the black-footed cat. This cute looking and diminutive wild cat species is considered to be the most efficient hunter of all the cats. They hunt relentlessly, mainly at night. 

Lions lose teeth in old age through hard usage. Picture: Ernest Porter.

So to small mammals and birds this fast hunting and relentlessly efficient cat is highly dangerous. They employ three methods one of which is called "fast hunting". The cat jumps along through tall grass flushing out prey. Another method is to sit outside the burrow exit and entrance and wait for the animal to emerge. They can stay immobile for two hours (reminds me of my domestic cat). The third method is in between these two in which the cat employs a careful weaving action as they walk through their habitat sneaking up on potential prey.

If the question relates to people then you have to say that the world's most dangerous cat is one of the big cats. You would have to choose the tiger or lion. Their sheer power can prove fatal very quickly. There are numerous stories of zookeepers either making mistakes or being reckless in their interactions with captive tigers. Quickly the tiger can kill a zookeeper with a bite to the neck.

I don't think the bite force of the cat is particularly relevant because all the big cats have a very strong bites. The jaguar has the hardest bite of the big cats. They can bite through the shell of turtles. They got to have strong canine teeth as well! I'm sure that you will see jaguars with broken teeth. Lions often are broken teeth as well in their old age. Perhaps their bite is too strong for their teeth.

At the time of writing this there are no individual cats that are notoriously dangerous. When there were more big cats in Africa and more conflicts between them and humans, it was more likely that an individual big cat could be regarded as a man-eater. These were often injured cats forced to prey on humans (easy prey). The cats were tracked down and shot by specialist hunters often white men described as big game hunters. One such person was Jim Corbett. He has a tiger reserve named after him in India.

Thirty pound tabby cat abandoned by her owner

There is a report today (20 Sept 2020) that a Philadelphia tabby cat weighing 29.5 pounds was abandoned (and fortunately rehomed). We have to presume that her owner abandoned her. If that is the case, and of course I am speculating, then the owner is the person who made her obese. He or she then decided that having done that to their cat they didn't like it so they got rid of her. They didn't even have the decency to take her to a rescue centre. They probably avoided a rescue centre because they were embarrassed by what they had created.

Obese cat Lasagna was abandoned in Philly, USA. Photo: ACCT Philly

The cat's first name is Lasagna which is appropriate considering her weight. She was found abandoned in a dog crate overnight in Hunting Park by ACCT Philly shelter workers last Sunday (20 September).

Having posted her picture online they have been inundated with offers by people who fell in love with her. They like a chunky frame. She was quickly adopted by the Hammer family who live in Vineland, New Jersey. She is very sociable and friendly and likes her belly to be rubbed. They're going to work, I hope, with their local veterinarian to help Lasagna lose weight. We know all about feline obesity and how it can cause health problems such as bad joints, heart problems, diabetes, thyroid issues and others! She already suffers from stiff joints and cannot groom myself.

She still quite young at five years of age and therefore there is time to get her on a good diet and to gradually lose weight. The point of the article is the oddity about Lasagna being abandoned by her owner. If the owner did abandon her then it is a double whammy of irresponsible cat ownership.

Feeding your cat once a day improves their health

You may have heard about the study from the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada). The researchers say that feeding your cat once a day with the same quantity of food that you would have given them over the entire 24 hours, improves their health. They suggest that a once-a-day feeding to some extent mimics a mild form of fasting and fasting improves health. This is a known benefit in people. So I think that this one meal a day suggestion is partly based upon the concept of intermittent fasting to improve health.

Does once a day feeding mimic wild and feral cat feeding? I think not.
Photo in public domain.

The researchers say that when you feed a domestic cat once-a-day they have higher levels of protein in their blood, leaner bodies and higher levels of hormones which are linked to appetite regulation. The regime allows cats to build more protein and improve muscle mass. The cats are more satisfied with their food and they are less likely to beg for food throughout the day.

The once-a-day feeding goes against the general consensus of all cat experts. The general feeling is that domestic should be fed several times a day with small amounts. The stomach is small and therefore small and frequent amounts is the better policy. I would suggest that the stomach size of cat is a barrier to feeding one large meal in 24 hours. A domestic cat's stomach is the size of a ping-pong ball approximately. How can you provide them with 24-hours of nutrients with a stomach that size?

I get the message about fasting and the improvements that it might bring but I think in practical terms and in the sense that it goes against the general consensus, this advice is probably a nonstarter. It may apply to certain cats and it certainly may help obese cats. We know that obesity is widespread amongst the domestic population in the West.

Another practical aspect of this advice is that the majority of cat owners, I would suggest, allow their cats to free feed on dry cat food. This is not good but it happens. It is convenient. To ask these cat owners to go to once-a-day feeding with wet cat food may be too big a call. The transference from dry to wet would benefit their cats, however. There are health negatives associated with dry cat food and health positives linked to wet cat food. Some of the current major feline health problems are arguably linked to their diet and obesity.

The study concerned 80 healthy cats. One group was fed four times a day for three weeks. A second group was fed just once a day with the same amount of food. For another three weeks the participants were switched over. The researchers monitored their health outcomes, metabolism, physical activity and body weight. The admit that their suggestion goes against the grain and say that the regime should be considered on an individual cat basis.

Most common domestic cat diseases treated under pet insurance policies in America

The most common domestic cat diseases treated under pet insurance policies in America in 2018 were reported as: undiagnosed diarrhoea and vomiting, urinary tract diseases, kidney diseases, gastrointestinal conditions, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, periodontitis and general oral health problems. This information comes from five different pet insurance companies: Trupanion, ASPCA, Pets Best, Nationwide and Embrace. 

You can see a trend there or at least I can. Urinary tract problems including kidney disease are a major issue in domestic cats and also it seems are diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. These would appear to be related to diet because what goes in has to be digested and waste is expelled. Both ends of the food processing channel are affected.

Photo: Pixabay.

I have this feeling that there is something hidden is going on in homes in the West which is affecting the health of domestic cats. The high incidents of kidney disease is unacceptable. And I don't think anything is being done about it. I'm referring to food and the chemicals in the home such as fire retardants and carpet chemicals. These are volatile chemicals which give off fumes and these fumes linger in the atmosphere inside the home. I wonder whether the air quality inside homes is sufficiently good for domestic gas. If it isn't it can't be good for people either but cats are nearer the surfaces.

Cats lie on sofas. If that sofa has a fire retardant inside it then the cat is more likely to absorb these chemicals. The same goes for carpet chemicals. These are examples. And as for cat food, I think we know now that the cheap dry cat food is simply not good enough. A lot of people rely on it because it is cheap and convenient. They allow their cat to graze at any time day or night. Arguably this is overly convenient.

You add to poor quality dry cat food the extended daytime absence of solme human caregivers and you create a slightly toxic world for the domestic cat which can result in urinary tract health problems such as cystitis, a bacterial infection of the bladder, exacerbated by stress.

If there is a high predominance of gastrointestinal diseases causing vomiting and diarrhoea then surely this points to food. Doesn't it? Shouldn't veterinarians be looking at the quality of food provided to domestic cats? Perhaps they don't want to look at it because they want a huge number of cats coming through their doors vomiting and shitting diarrhoea. I am too cynical. One pet insurance company said that they paid out US$9,650 to treat a cat with a gastrointestinal condition.

They also said that they paid out US$40,000 to treat a cat with kidney disease. Do the insurance companies investigate the cause of these diseases? Do they dig around and try and prevent the diseases happening? Do they have a vested interest in doing nothing about these diseases? Do they work together with veterinarians and pet food manufacturers to try and eliminate them? I know there are lots of questions but can you find the answers? I don't think you can. I know that the pet food manufacturers work with veterinarians and this to my mind creates a conflict of interest.

Two pet insurance companies rated diabetes as their third most common cat illness claim. Arguably, feline diabetes, which I presume refers to type II diabetes or sugar diabetes, might be caused by the high carbohydrate content in dry cat food. Dry cat food has to have a high carbohydrate content in order to make it. It is there simply as a manufacturing necessity. Domestic cats don't need this sort of carbohydrate level in their food. It is unnatural to them and it is causing, it is argued, hypoglycaemic cats and overburdening the pancreas which produces insulin. This upsets the insulin/sugar balance in domestic cats which can lead to type II diabetes. This is the argument of a well-known veterinarian in America called Elizabeth M Hodgkins DVM.

I am harping on about cat food. And I do give my cat dry cat food although it is the highest quality I can find. And I also feed him lots of high quality wet cat food. But I am dissatisfied in general with the quality of cat food. It does not reflect accurately enough the perfect domestic cat diet which is the mouse which is 40% protein, 50% fat and only 3% carbohydrates. The average dry cat food for cats contains 35-50% carbohydrate calories according to the catinfo.org website. Do you see the massive difference and how that could impact a cat's metabolism and ability to cope with it?