Why does a cat yell and what to do about it?

Consultation via Skype or WhatsApp is available.

A panic attack is a sudden, uncontrollable attack of severe, “peak” anxiety that has no real and justified cause. This condition is accompanied by severe fear and bodily symptoms - rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, heaviness and pain in the chest, excessive sweating, trembling in the body.

Such attacks can occur not only during the day, but also at night. There is no control of consciousness in sleep - anxiety can manifest itself in threatening, frightening dreams, or it can manifest itself as a panic attack. During the day, a person keeps all emotions to himself, but at night, control weakens, and an attack occurs. Panic attacks in a dream have a certain danger to human health; one should not neglect or underestimate the possible adverse consequences. Quality sleep is a necessary condition for complete restoration of physical and mental strength. During an attack, there is a sharp awakening with a painful feeling of anxiety and fear, accompanied by the same bodily symptoms: rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, heaviness and pain in the chest, excessive sweating, trembling in the body. Several such nights - and this will lead to a deterioration in general well-being, irritability, decreased performance, i.e. quality of life will be lost.

Panic attacks during sleep provoke the development of insomnia. It seems to a person that if he does not sleep, this will help avoid an attack. Going to bed is delayed for various reasons. The very thought that you need to go to bed soon causes anxiety and fear.

Such attacks can occur in children, adolescents, and adults; People who have a more sensitive emotional system are most susceptible to them. It is not always possible to immediately recognize that this condition is a panic attack in sleep, but the fact that the quality of night sleep suffers is a serious argument for consulting a psychiatrist or psychotherapist.

This condition is closely related to both biological and psychological causes; it is a disorder that requires professional help from a psychiatrist or psychotherapist.

Causes

Biological reasons may be due to the fact that the endocrine glands begin to release large amounts of adrenaline into the blood. This hormone is normally produced in extreme situations that threaten human health or life. It is this that influences the acceleration of all physiological reactions, that is, the heartbeat quickens, the sweat glands and lungs begin to work harder. This is how the body prepares to defend or escape from a mortal threat.

But why does this hormone begin to be released during sleep, when a person is safe and not in danger? The answer to this question is not yet completely clear. Most likely, there are individual psychological reasons here - for example, increased personal anxiety as a character trait: most often, attacks occur in suspicious, emotionally vulnerable and anxious people. It is they who are most prone to self-flagellation and long experiences of life events; and/or negative experience of relationships in the past, in which a person acquired such qualities as distrust, suspicion, lack of internal, psychological permission to relax (“you can’t lose control for a minute, you can’t relax - otherwise something irreparable will happen”).

Provoking factors for panic attacks at night during sleep are:

1. Chronic drinking or drinking too much alcohol before bed.
2. Severe stress.
3. Childhood psychological trauma.
4. Hormonal disorders.
5. Exhaustion of the nervous system due to constant worries and stress.
6. Hereditary predisposition to anxiety disorders.
7. Traumatic brain injuries.
8. Work activity that involves constant emotional stress or risk to life.

According to statistics, about 50% of people diagnosed with neurosis or vegetative-vascular dystonia suffered from nighttime panic attacks.

Why does a cat yell, list of reasons

Before looking for ways to solve the problem, you need to find out the reason for this cat’s behavior, and there are many of them.

© shutterstock

Hormonal "storms"

One of the most common reasons why a cat yells day and night is hormones. Absolutely all uncastrated males “sin” this during the period of sexual arousal. It is very difficult to tolerate wild howls. How, in fact, to calm a cat if he is yelling for this reason.

It should be remembered that the pet itself is also hard. Unsatisfied sexual desire brings him real torment, both psychological and physical. Therefore, you should not be offended by the cat. It's not his fault - it's just nature. The reproductive instinct is one of the strongest in animals. Females, by the way, are less problematic in this regard. However, they also often scream during estrus.

Health problems

Sometimes a cat yells because of health problems, experiencing pain or other physical discomfort. Older animals may vocalize due to :

• Alzheimer's disease;
• serious nervous system disorder.

Seals also scream when they are injured during a fight or an unsuccessful jump. Other causes include worms that cause acute pain in the intestinal area, urolithiasis, etc.

The cat needs attention or food

Many cats, especially those that are pampered by their owners, yell when they ask for attention. This is a kind of blackmail - take me in your arms, caress me, otherwise I won’t give you life. If from early childhood a kitten is indulged and agrees to its conditions, it will use this technique all its life. It will not be easy to wean him off.

Some cats, who feel the urge to eat in the middle of the night, also scream heart-rendingly, as if they are being slaughtered. They will walk around the owner's bed until he wakes up and wanders to the refrigerator. Such antics should be nipped in the bud. Who knows what this blackmailer wants? It’s better to endure the yelling a couple of times than to listen to it for many years and not sleep properly.

© shutterstock

Anxiety or sadness

If a cat has been neutered, no diseases have been identified, and everything seems to be fine, but he yells and becomes somehow agitated, you should think about it. Perhaps the animal has a presentiment of something. For example, some natural disasters or other troubles. Cats tend to “anticipate” this, and often they save entire families.

This reason, of course, is out of the ordinary. Hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. Fortunately, they happen extremely rarely, but cat melancholy is a more common occurrence. A pet may be sad for an owner who has left somewhere or died.

A mother cat’s longing for her weaned babies is often manifested in a heart-rending scream, especially if at the time of weaning they were still very tiny. Animals, like people, can experience mental anguish. Their crying is not a reason for anger, but for sympathy.

Reaction to owner behavior

Sometimes cats yell if they are unhappy with their owner's behavior. For example, the owner shows cruelty or complete indifference to his pet. So the animal rebels. Some people are better off not having animals so as not to torture each other.

Symptoms

Panic attacks occur during the deep sleep phase - between 2 and 4 am. In rare cases, this condition occurs immediately after falling asleep.

Symptoms of panic attacks during sleep include the following:

• sudden sudden awakening from a feeling of anxiety and intense fear;
• lack of air;
• difficult intermittent breathing;
• increased sweating;
• tachycardia;
• increased blood pressure;
• feeling of paralysis or stiffness of the body;
• dizziness;
• chest pain;
• chills, numbness of extremities.

In time, a night attack lasts from 10-20 minutes. Due to paralyzing horror, a person is unable to call for help. Sometimes awakening occurs from one's own scream. The darkness in which a person finds himself only aggravates his condition. Therefore, panic attacks at night during sleep have more severe symptoms than during daytime attacks.

In the first 5-10 minutes after a sudden awakening, confusion and disorientation in space occurs. Then comes awareness of the situation. The person is trying to calm down his pulse and calm down. Feelings of anxiety and fear may persist for several days, intensifying in the evening. This is due to the fear of falling asleep and again falling into an overwhelming nightmare.

A panic attack during sleep also has intrusive thoughts (so-called obsessions). There is a fear of serious illness, death, heart attack in a dream. Without appropriate treatment, attacks may become more frequent and occur every night.

Lifehack of the day: what to do if a cat yells in the spring

The instincts of procreation that awaken in the spring can drive not only the animal, but also its owners crazy; There are several ways to calm your pet's heightened senses.

Cats can give birth at any time of the year, but in the spring their instincts become especially acute. The awakening of nature contributes to the emergence of certain processes in the body. At the same time, unlike most people, cats in this case do not care about decency or the time of day. They will achieve their goal - finding a male or female - using the methods that have proven effective in nature: loud screams, excessive intrusiveness and affection, leaving marks.

If the cat's owners do not plan for the animal to have offspring, they should take care of this in advance.

The first and most reliable way in this case is to sterilize it. During surgery, cats' ovaries and uterus are removed to prevent tumors from developing in it. At the same time, you cannot do sterilization during estrus; you need to wait until it ends. But after sterilization, the cat will not ask for a cat for the rest of her life.

Cats can also be rid of instinct through castration. Such operations are usually recommended for cats and female cats between the ages of seven months and one year.

It’s true that sometimes even castrated and sterilized cats scream at night in the spring and destroy furniture. Most often, the reasons for such restless behavior can be the animal’s stress, lack of attention and increased daylight hours. In order for the pet to calm down, in this case it is enough to pet it more and actively play with it.

If it's a matter of increasing daylight hours, then just don't forget to put food in the cat's bowl before going to bed. Some pets, having gotten used to the fact that it is dark in the morning in winter, begin to worry in the spring - it is already light in the room, but for some reason the owner does not get out of bed and does not feed him.

The second way to calm an anxious pet in the spring is to give your cat special “anti-sex” pills during the period of heightened instincts. You can find them in almost every veterinary pharmacy. The drugs are divided into two groups: herbal drugs and hormonal tablets. The latter are usually more effective: the suppression of sexual arousal occurs due to the hormones they contain. However, such drugs can cause serious harm to your pet's health.

There are also folk remedies.

Herbal decoctions . Herbal decoctions will help relieve anxiety and calm down. Brew lemon balm, chamomile, cumin or motherwort. If you manage to give the animal a miracle remedy, you will rest for several hours in silence, perhaps even get one night's sleep. You can also give your cat catnip or valerian.

Cold shower. Harsh, but, as some owners claim, an effective folk remedy. The pet is placed under a stream of cold water. The procedure helps to forget about instincts for a couple of hours, until the cat licks itself and dries.

Isolate your pet at night. For example, a cat or cat can be locked in another room, where you can move his favorite bed. This will not stop the pet from making heartbreaking screams, but at least for the owner they will not be so loud.

However, screaming is just the tip of the iceberg. The situation is often aggravated by the fact that the animal refuses to eat, loses weight and becomes weaker.

In addition, in search of a partner, cats begin to actively mark their territory, and “marks” are usually left in places where they spend a lot of time, for example, on the sofa. It will not be easy to wean your pet from this habit even after castration or sterilization, so it is better to take care and resolve this issue in advance.

Help with panic attacks

A person suffering from panic attacks at night cannot correctly assess his condition. Often waking up with a feeling of fear and anxiety is perceived as an ordinary nightmare, so they are in no hurry to seek help. But such episodes are becoming more frequent, and my health is getting worse. If panic attacks occur during sleep, treatment should only be prescribed by a psychiatrist or psychotherapist. At the initial consultation, the doctor collects an anamnesis. Only sincere answers and a confidential conversation with a doctor will help you make a correct diagnosis and choose the optimal therapy. The main goal of conversations with a doctor is to learn to quickly recognize your panic attack and, over time, learn to cope with it, learn to help yourself, gain personal experience of successfully overcoming, coping, and thereby minimize the risk of its reoccurrence.

For a sleep panic attack, symptoms and treatment vary. With a high level of anxiety, as well as with severe or frequent attacks, a course of anti-anxiety (anxiolytic) drugs has a good effect. Medicines are selected individually, and only with the consent of the patient.

If a panic attack occurs in a dream, how to deal with it without pills?

At the onset of the disease, relaxation and muscle relaxation techniques help to quickly calm down and normalize the nervous system. This is taught in psychotherapy sessions. Breathing techniques, therapeutic hypnosis, and cognitive behavioral psychotherapy are also effectively used.

Individual and then group psychotherapy is an important stage in the treatment of panic attacks. A person needs to figure it out and understand what makes up his individual causes of anxiety attacks during the daytime. Learn to respond adequately to various stressful situations. Find your own individual regimen that makes up a healthy lifestyle, strictly follow the recommendations of your doctor. Only in this case will the prognosis be favorable.

Why do kittens cry?

Babies may act restless and meow loudly in the following situations:

1. The animal gets used to the new environment. Kittens often cry loudly in the first few days after being adopted by a new family. The whole environment, people, smells and pets frighten children. To make adaptation to a new place faster, you need to take something from the old house that smells like a mother cat. As soon as the kitten starts crying, you need to give him this item, and the baby will calm down sooner.
2. Need for food. Small animals grow quickly, so over time they need more and more food to meet the body's needs for nutrients and beneficial microelements.
3. Sharp fear. If a curious pet in a new home starts checking the contents of the pantry or balcony, then there is a high probability that he will fall somewhere or drop something on himself. Such incidents are always accompanied by a loud squeak.
4. Boredom and need for communication. Kittens are affectionate creatures and need human contact. When they don't get enough of it, it can lead to yelling.
5. Diseases. If the screaming is constant, and the kitten refuses food and water, has loose stools, matted fur and visible lethargy, this is an alarming signal - the animal is sick.

It is important to remember that as your baby gets used to his new home and family, he will become increasingly calm. If the attack not only does not stop, but also intensifies, you should consult with the breeder and show the pet to a veterinarian.

Elderly cats

With the onset of old age, the hormonal background of pets begins to change; they become increasingly susceptible to age-related pathologies such as diabetes and arthritis. An aging animal is in greater need of the attention and care of its owners than a young animal.

Older pets may meow loudly for the following reasons:

1. Need for affection and attention. Older animals are more attached to their owners than young ones, and therefore require more and more time for communication.
2. Dissatisfaction or resistance to innovation. Old cats have their own orderly world, and if something new invades it, for example, small children, new family members or young pets, this can cause discontent and yelling.
3. Bad feeling. Old animals feel a loss of strength and are more susceptible to any type of pathology. Frequent and prolonged yelling may be an attempt to draw attention to your poor health.

Many owners note that old animals do not scream, but rather talk to their owners, often in a raised voice. There is no need to scold a sociable animal; instead, you should spend more time with it, play and pet it. If meowing is accompanied by a deterioration in appearance and well-being, show a doctor.

How to stop a cat from yelling?

If the owners cannot associate the appearance of a cry with specific events, behavior or situations, before starting the correction it is worth visiting a veterinarian and examining the cat as completely as possible. If everything is fine with your health, you need to start changing your communication tactics with your pet:

• devote more time to the cat, especially if it is sociable and affectionate;
• increase the level of physical activity, purchase a larger number of different toys;
• ignore obvious whims and demands;
• reward good behavior by giving a treat when the cat stops meowing;
• offer food at the same time to develop a normal diet.

The latter is especially important if the cat begins to wake up its owners in the morning. Quite often, early rises are associated with unbalanced nutrition and energy deficiency in the animal’s body. In this case, adjusting the regimen and volume of food eaten will be the best way out of the situation.

You should not follow your pet’s lead, although this is quite difficult, especially in cases of meowing kittens. You need to understand that if the habit of yelling takes hold, it will be very difficult to wean your cat off. Persistence, confidence and stability in training will help raise a calm, playful and independent pet.

How to solve a problem

It is important to remember that an animal never meows without a reason. Thus, the pet tries to attract attention to itself in order to get the affection or help it needs. What should owners do? Find out what is the root cause of the screaming and solve the problem:

1. A cat or kitten meows loudly out of fear or loneliness. You need to talk to your pet tenderly, calm him down and under no circumstances shout. You should pay more attention to the animal, play more often, and allow it to be near you.
2. Sexual hunting. In this case, you need to either look for a partner for mating, or take the animal to the veterinarian for castration or sterilization. The cat will stop tormenting itself, and the long-awaited silence will come in the house. What you should not do is give special soothing drops. They slightly dull the instincts, but have a destructive effect on the animal’s body, causing numerous side effects, one of them being diseases of the genital area.
3. Illness, poor health. In this case, the op is accompanied by a deterioration in the appearance of the animal. The cat becomes lethargic, looks unkempt, eats and drinks poorly, and may have an unpleasant odor. All these manifestations indicate that the pet is sick, and yelling is the only opportunity to attract attention. In this case, the only right decision is to show your pet to a veterinarian the sooner the better.
4. Wrong daily routine. You need to train your cat to sleep at night. To do this, you need to play with the animal, and main meals should also be taken during the daytime. All this will help tire out your pet. After intense play and a hearty dinner, the cat will sleep peacefully all night.

In any case, it is important to remain calm and not lash out at the cat. Or can greatly irritate household members, but you need to remember that by doing so the animal signals existing problems or unmet needs and asks for help.

Cat yelling is a common occurrence in families with animals of any age. It is important to learn to determine when loud meowing is caused by boredom and a thirst for communication, and when the pet is trying to communicate discomfort and asks for help.