My cat is driving me nuts. I can’t get anything done. She meows and meows and meows. Every 20-30 minutes she meows for food. I have to stop what I am doing, break my concentration, get up, and get her some food. She eats it and goes back to bed. Then she wakes up and meows for food again.
Sometimes I have to open 3-4 cans before she will deign to eat anything
I can’t get any work done. It takes concentration and these constant interruptions stress me out.
She had a great checkup at the vet last month. She has food available all the time.
I love her. But I just wish I could do like mothers used to do and send her outside to play and burn up some energy.
I have been trying gabapentin to calm her down but she hates it and runs from me when she thinks I want to pick her up and dose her.
I feel like an evil cat caregiver.
In order to provide a well thought out response, I need to see a picture of the cat.
the answer is of course, you need another cat! /s
I have one that does something similar. I either hold him in my lap until he falls fast asleep and then put him in a cat cave made by a soft blanket or give him a couple cat treats. There seems to be a fine line with regard to “fast asleep” though, move him too early and he pops back up and starts again. I’ve seriously considered getting one of those baby wrap things that moms use to hold their babies (sorry, I can’t think of what they are called). Anyone used one? In meantime, typing one handed while holding cat on lap skills are improving.
Edit to add: I plugged in a heated pad meant for barn cats today to test it and meowy cat has been sleeping on it ever since, haven’t heard a peep or a meow all day. It might not make it to barn.
Once upon a time, a week or so after I had moved my then-horse to a new board barn, the mom of the BO/M who kept a close eye on every horse came to me with great concern to ask if my horse needed anything more, was he getting him everything he should have.
I said that I thought so, but asked what was making her concerned about his welfare.
BO Mom: “Because every time I walk check in his stall, he looks at me like he needs something. Like he’s hungry or something.”
Me: “OK, what do you do when he does that?”
BO Mom: “Well of course I get him something. Some hay or a treat or something.”
Me: “If his head is up with ears forward and very alert, he probably wants horse cookies or a peppermint. If his head is down and he’s more looking up at you, he’s thinking more like an apple or some handfuls of hay.”
BO Mom looked at my horse and her expression changed to one of someone who is realizing that they’ve been snookered. She said “OK, I understand. Maybe he can live without all the extra treats and handouts.”
Later I had to apologize to my horse for messing up the sweet deal he had going with BO Mom.
I would spend ten minutes with her, best before mealtime, and play with a feather wand. Really play and get her into it. Then she’ll eat and sleep deep. I would not free feed.
I agree with @BrownDerby. Spend some time playing with her with an interactive toy, like one of those feather on a string wands. Make her play hard! Then give her a couple of treats. She’ll probably be happy to curl up and sleep.
She’s got you very well trained.
When she was at the vet, did they check her thyroid? Hyperthyroidism can cause loud, always hungry cats.
Pepcid is worth a try. If she’s hungry but nauseous, that can cause begging like this, along with refusing food or not eating to satiation.
But in the end, the key to solving this behavior is feeding her at meal times and ignoring the begging. The more you give in, the further you’re reinforcing it.
I wonder if her food is filling enough for her to feel satiated?
I have ordered a cat bag that should be here by Wednesday. I found it at Amazon. There are various kinds; this one looks the most comfortable for me to wear and for kitteh to relax in (Ihopeihopeihope). There are also some good YouTube videos on how to make your own carrier from a scarf or a blanket.
This is like the one I ordered:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087CTWBTK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2J3FTMM0CTG32&th=1
I have one that is forever bugging me for food. She has a very tight clock in her brain. She is part Siamese to boot so she is very vocal. She is 8 yo.
She has always completed her meals…plate licked clean. I have been worried about her being hyperthyroid except that she has gained weight (about half a pound) so I am not thinking that is the issue. I have had 2 hyperthyroid cats so I know what they do/look like.
She gets breakfast at 7am. By mid morning she is jonesing for a snack so I give her 4-5 Greenie treats in a food toy. She eventually gets them all but sometimes she just looks at me with the stink eye as to why she has to work for them. Dinner is at 6pm sharp. Between 6:30 and 7pm she wants dessert. I give her a tablespoonful of kibble. Yes…a tablespoon. We do a play session before bed and I load an automatic feeder with another light tablespoonful of kibble to open around 6am. I was not getting much sleep between some of my physical issues and with her rousing me at 5am to start complaining that she was hungry. The auto feeder has really helped that. Sometimes, when I get up to go to the bathroom, she is sitting in front of the feeder, waiting for it to open. If it is close to 6am, I will pop the feeder open so I can go back to sleep for an hour. One night it was too early to pop it so I just went back to bed and I heard her jumping on it, trying to get it open 
.
If it was just me, I would put in ear plugs and ignore her. That is what Jackson Galaxy says to do. But, my 94 yo mother lives with me and is not a cat enthusiast so I have to try and limit the morning whining. Basically, I am her staff and chef and the food had better be there 
.
Susan
Assuming a clean bill of health your next step is to train her out of the behavior you’ve trained her into. You’ve taught her that meowing and annoying you gets her food. This will be rough and way worse in the short term, but better in the long term: ignore her. Or, ignore her plus squirt her with a water gun when she starts up.
Is she truly hungry?
My 19 year old who we had to say goodbye to back in July was a talker and chatterer. He was also a yowler at night. He was always like that.
I don’t doubt there was an undiagnosed health issue. But, apart from knee arthritis and a major sensitivity to otherwise benign medications, he always got a clean bill of health. 
Thanks for the link! I think I will try that, please post if it works or not for you. My cat has been quite attached to this heated bed since yesterday with no meowing fits since, so I think I will keep the bed for him too.
I don’t think my cat is hungry or looking for playtime for what it’s worth. He is pretty active in general, and he will very often ignore cat treats when he’s in his meowing state. He was a barn cat, part of a litter that I kept and socialized, and had a medical issue (vestibular plus a fall that burst an eardrum) that he never quite recovered fully from, so he became an indoor cat. The litter was pretty close and always slept in a big furry heap together. He’s still young. I could be wrong, but I think he was just looking for something warm to snuggle to when he couldn’t wind down. He’s not on snuggle sleep terms with the other indoor cats yet.
I am sorry about your boy. He sounds like he was quite a character though!
My girl is 19 and I think some of her meowing is old age and some degree of deafness. Maybe some confusion too. She isn’t diabetic, and her thyroid is fine; I think sometimes she gets like any of us – she just wants something to eat and she doesn’t know what, she just knows she doesn’t want any of the 3-4 foods in the cans I offer. Yesterday she wouldn’t even eat the canned people chicken which she usually loves. She did eat some canned people sardines, thank goodness.
I finally gave her some Gabapentin last night and that helped a lot. I’ve only been giving it in the morning but the vet said I could give it twice a day, so last night she got a dose, and another one this morning. She woke up from a nap an hour or so ago and asked for food but didn’t yell about it, thank goodness. She ate, and is now sleeping again.
I am going to ask my doctor about Gabapentin for myself next month – I would LOVE to be a Gabapentinzombie.
if you mean one like this:
I got one for my cat 
Luckily I was able to get it from a local buy nothing group from someone that surely thought I was a little unhinged (I mean, they wouldn’t be wrong). I haven’t tried it out for lap situations, but I definitely will because he always needs to lay on an arm when he’s in my lap. He does seem to enjoy being swaddled like the little baby he is. I got it because I want to start taking him places like the pet store. I figured that means he has a safe place to be that isn’t as cumbersome as a kennel.
I’m sorry I don’t have any advice on how to make your kitty stop meowing @Rackonteur. Mine starts begging for his 8pm meal at 6:30pm and it takes everything in my power to not give in!
You have trained her very well OR she has trained you.
I would put her in another room and close the door to wherever you are so she can’t bother you and eventually she will get the message? Not only is she probably getting food she obviously doesn’t need, canned cat food is expensive enough just feeding a single can once a day!
You have to read up on tough love.
Yes that was what I was thinking of! This guy likes to wrap around my arm when in my lap as well. Thanks.
@Rackonteur I’m sorry not only to derail your thread but also that you are going through this. I bet you are on to something about being older and some dementia or confusion and/or pain. That the gabapentin worked seems promising, it worked wonders for my dog when he reached a certain age.
I’m no help. With a younger cat, I would do some tough love to re-train them. She’s 19. I’d spoil her rotten, do the kitty carrier and enjoy every moment I have with her. I definitely wouldn’t close her in another room.
Again, it would be different advice for a younger cat.
I have noticed a pattern with my older cats. They get lost, and then they cry. They seem to just want to be with their people. I wonder if you could set up a kitty station where cat can sit and be with you, but seperate so you can work, like a short tower with a platform kitty can sit and see you at.
Or a cat bed with a heated blanket near your desk.
Both of my older cats suffered from dementia.
