Does your cat do anything that puzzles, stumps, or downright annoys you? What kinds of behavior problems have you seen in your cat or cats? Join the discussion and share your cat behavior questions or problems with our Online Community, and let our educated community members help you resolve the problems caused by the mysterious ways of your feline friend.

If you're in the Denver-Boulder area, the Boulder store (28th & Pearl St) will be featuring cat behavior expert Jackson Galaxy and mysef (a holistic veterinarian) talking about pet behavior issues, so stop by between 5-7 pm next Monday, April 13, 2009 to get personal advice!

My cat, Rye, has a nails-on-chalkboard, piercing MEOW and it just gets on my very last nerve. He will be 20 in August, and I adore him, but it was bad there for a while. REALLY bad. It would hit you out of nowhere, and it actually hurt my heart physicially, like I'd been sucker punched.

On the medical side of things, his lab results are pretty fantastic, even though there are some minor kidney and thyroid issues. We do 1/4 of a 5mg tablet of methimazole 2x/day for the thyroid, and it works great. His X-ray showed some arthritis in his back, and his back leg muscles are emaciated, but he walks fine and struts around like he owns the place. He just doesn't run up the stairs anymore.

Rye is very finicky and refuses any sort of vitamin supplement, including rescue remedy, glucosamine/chondroitin, or MSM, and I have spent a FORTUNE trying every last one, I think. Finally, I started giving him drops of Buprenorphine Hydrochloride in his cheek in the evening (.075 mL), and he is able to relax. It's a form of morphine, I'm told. It's not a sedative. It's a pain killer, so the vet says if he quiets down afterward, that's a good indication that the meows meant pain. So at least he is more comfortable. I just wish there was a CURE FOR ARTHRITIS. He's had chiropractic and acupuncture treatments via DCs and DVMs who make housecalls, but nothing has really made a significant impact like this morphine derivative.

Hey, fellow Bay-Arean (I'm from Oakland!)... :)  Good for you and Rye that you found something that works! These little old guys really can yowl...it's awful. Buprenorphine (brand name Buprenex) is definitely a wonderful thing! It is really the only safe painkiller for kitties; everything else has bad side effects, like extreme depression and kidney failure!

Cats are very good at hiding pain; they're predators, but they're small enough to be someone else's lunch if they walk around looking sick or crickety. The arthritis that can be seen on x-rays doesn't really tell you how much inflammation is going on around it, so the pain can be quite severe and you'd never know it.

I'm with ya, too, on the arthritis cure! I said something like that to my orthopedic surgeon after he fixed my right shoulder...like what can I do to prevent the other one from going down the same road...his answer was "Turn back the hands of time!" Oh, terrific! For future reference, though, taking things like glucosamine can actually prevent arthritis from developing and slow down its progression. But once it's there, it's made of bone, it's not going anywhere! You can only deal with the inflammatory part of it. Homeopathy can also be very helpful for that. Richard Pitcairn tells a story about a severely arthritic dog whose x-rays looked horrible...treated with homeopathy and running around like a puppy...so they took new x-rays and guess what? They hadn't changed at all! Homeopathy had dealt with the pain anyway...so, pretty cool!

I HAVE TWO MALE INDOOR ONLY TABBIES,ONE OF THEM(TYE) HAS SUDDENLY STARTED WITH SEPARATED ANIXEY,IT HAS NOW GOT TO A POINT THAT HE SULKS IF I DON'T HOLD HIM RIGHT AFTER WALKING IN THE DOOR.NOW THE VET SAYS HE IS STRESSED - I DEAL WITH THIS AS BEST AS I CAN - WHILE MY OTHER ONE(BARDAHL) MEOWS CONSTANTLY WHILE HE IS AWAKE,THE MEOWS ARE A DIFFERENT SOUND EACH TIME,I THOUGHT HE MIGHT BE IN PAIN BUT THE VET SAYS NO HE IS JUST A VOCAL CAT.WE'LL GET IT,THEY ARE MY BOYS,I LOVE THEM.

I know this post is kinda old, but hey, we continue to worry about our "furry kids" no matter what.  For you guys who have cats with arthritis, I've been doing some research on colloidal silver and have recently purchased what I believe to be the best one (based on our intense research prior to purchase).  It looks like the colloidal silver (actually it's ionic silver to be totally honest) will be a real boon to my animals.  The reports of what it can do for arthritis seem to be very promising.  They tell me that we can put a small bowl of pure CS as it's called, right next to their regular water bowl and let them drink as much as they want.  Apparently it doen't hurt them in any capacity, but the animals seem to (not always, but most of the time) take in however much they seem to need at the time.

I'm hopeful for it helping my orange tabby male Harley, who has developed something with his leg where he licks it down to blood and shakes it a lot like he has a neurological issue (which he's had some severe issues with in the past).  The vet has given him two rounds of antibiotics, and even prescribed ear drops in case the "itch" has something to do with an itchy ear.  So far, none of the vet's attempts have helped, so I've turned to the CS in hopes for getting him well and saving his leg (vet thinks that it could go so far as to loose the leg, but I have serious doubts about that).  Tonight was the first night with a new plan - take a cotton ball, soak it in CS, and put "vet wrap" around it so he can't get the cotton ball out.  It's hilarious how he takes his foot and waves high in the air like he's signaling a plane for landing or something.  Then of course since that didn't work for getting rid of the offending object, then we do the normal cat thing of walking backwards to get away from it.  Cats are so adorable, even when they need special care...

The other cat is a real head scratcher as well.  Molly is my 14 year old LOUD mouthed Tonkinese (my avatar) who has the same effect on me that the other writer was describing - down to the pain it causes me to hear it!  She started it when she was about 7 when we kicked her out of our bed forever, and made her sleep in another room.  From that day on, it's constant - if she's awake, she's probably screaming bloody murder like someone stuck a firecracker up her but and lit it!  I've tried bio sound therapy, prozak (sp?), water guns, loud sounds to scare her when she screams, back flower remedies, and any thing else I could conjure up.  Nothing works.  Hubby says "give her away" but who would take a 14 year old cat that screams?  They'd end up abusing her if she continued down the road she's been on for 7 years, so I just tough it out even though she's likely going to kill me from the stress she gives me.  From one of the above posts, I do have to question whether the drugs have made the arthritis pain go away, or whether the cat is just dopey from the drugs and not yowling, I can drug Molly and she'll stop yowling, but it didn't CURE the PROBLEM!  If anyone has any thoughts that the vets can't seem to come up with, I'm all ears as Ross Perot used to say!  Happy New Year to you all!

Your description of Harley's behavior gave me quite a chuckle, thanks! :)

But on a more serious note, that sounds like a bad problem. Has he had x-rays? Skin cultures?

Also, since it does sound suspiciously like a nerve problem, I'm wondering if acupuncture or chiropractic would help. If there's no one near you, you could try massage (I like Michael Fox's book on the subject), Tellington TTouch, or acupressure (the book "Acu-Cat" by Amy Snow and Nancy Zidonis was a lifesaver for one of mine who developed a bizarre life-threatening illness for which there is no known treatment). A little farther toward the woo-woo side, an animal communicator might be able to help to understand what he's feeling, which may guide you to appropriate treatments.

Colloidal silver is, basically, just another antibiotic, and in holistic terms has the same suppressive effects as other antibiotics. If he has not responded to antibiotics thus far, I'm not sure this is going to be much better, but with cats, you never know! CS is not *completely* safe, though the main side effect (turning the skin gray) is not an embarrassing social problem for a cat like it is for people!

About Molly, you answered your own question when you said she was a Tonkinese...it's not so suprising that she's hyper-vocal. However, I totally get your annoyance about it, having once had an extremely whiney-voiced cat who drove me nutty--but only for 16 years!

With one of my cats (she looked Burmese) who was similarly verbal, it sounds crazy but here's what I ended up doing...when I got home from work, I would sit down with her and say, "Now Spirit, how was your day? What's going on? How are you feeling? Any mountain lions prowling around the back door? Tell me all about it!" When I gave her those few minutes of 100% attention, it would settle her down for the rest of the night. Anyway, while yowling can be a sign of physical problems (most notably hyperthyroidism or pain, such as arthritis), since Molly's been doing it for 7 years, physical ailments seem less likely (though it wouldn't hurt to have her checked). Behavioral yowling *is* a cry for attention--literally--so maybe some concentrated mom-time, and even play therapy (regular sessions of interactive play) might really help. And the aforementioned animal communicator...maybe could tell her (nicely) to cease and desist!

Now that you mention it, Ross Perot really *was* all ears, wasn't he?!! ;-)

Keep us posted on your progress...you've got a couple of interesting kitties on your hands!

Thanks for your reply Jean - I'm ordering the book "Acu-Cat" as both of them love to be "massaged" so hopefully that can have some beneficial effects for both my terribly spoiled furry children!  My normal kitties have passed on this year - my 10 year old gray tabby male last Feb, and my beautiful 17 year old long hair female (that looked a lot like a Himmy but wasn't) left me in July.  Hard year to say the least.

I'll try your suggestions for Molly (special time), but can't do all those other things.  We are in a very small rural town and don't have all those "fancy" types of practitioners, so a book is the best I can do.  Hopefully it will help!  Thanks again and have a Happy New Year! 

Hello,

I have 2 cats, both 10,5 years old, neuthered males. One of them is crunching his teeth. I asked 3 different vets about that, but nobody had an answer. It seems he is doing that most of the time before meal time, but not only then. What can be the reason? Also, he is pulling with his teeth his nals, if they're not short. Hope somebody will have the answer, thank you!

Teeth grinding can be a sign of pain, particularly abdominal (tummy) pain. It could also be a sign of stress. Make sure your vet has given him a thorough examination!

The other behavior you're describing is normal grooming behavior. He is "filing his nails" with his teeth, grasping and pulling off the dead outer layers of the claws. Some cats make a bigger deal out of this than others; yours may just be especially enthusiastic about it!

Hello D-r Jean, thank you very much for your replay. I'll make sure my cat will have a full exam, I do not want him to be in pain, if it's the case. Thank you again,

Sincerely:Roza

Hi Dr. Jean - I did get the book Acu-Cat for my two "nut jobs" that I discussed earlier, but it's WAY over my head as to figuring out which meridians I'm supposed to be working with, etc...  BUT I did find a local vet who does acuPUNCTURE on cats, as well as chiropractic work - I couldn't believe our tiny burb had a specialist such as her!  She's almost got my big boy Harley back to normal after only 4 treatments (with some sporadic continued treatments till he no longer wants to chew his foot/leg anymore).  Ends up that she thinks he got a nerve pinched when he had his dental procedure, that inflamed the OLD injury from several years back.  She's been working towards alleviating the pinched nerve.  Even used moxa with needles on him and he was a champ and just laid there!  I haven't taken my loud mouthed Tonkinese to her yet, but probably will.

Any other ideas about what to do with/for the screaming Tonkinese between now and the time I save up enough extra cash to take loudmouth to this doc to see if there's anything she can do about the screaming?  She seems to be healthy as a horse, and she's 14 but acts like a very young cat - running like a maniac when being crazy (running from brother and just being silly)...  I do give her "special mom time", but that doesn't do it unfortunately!

Thanks for any thoughts!

It's a great book but it is overwhelming at first. Here's my "cheat sheet": The simplest meridian is the Bladder meridian, and it contains alarm points for all the organs. Just run your fingers along the spine, with fair pressure, about 1/2 to 1 inch from the bone, and see where she's tender. I'll bet you find something. Then just gently massage the reactive point(s) until it settles down. Occasionally run the meridian to keep a general eye on things. As you re-read you'll start to see other things you can do. But start there.

Thanks Dr. Jean - I'll try that with both of them.  Can't hurt anyway.  For the "real" treatments, I'll still take them to our local gal.  Sure appreciate your help!