Cat Behaviour Problems: Your cat's behaviour

Being left alone, Separation anxiety:

Question: My cat, Kira, is nearly 12 weeks old and we have had her at home for about two weeks. She has settled in extremely well apart from her constant meowing. She follows me everywhere and if she is not on my lap or shoulder, she meows non-stop.

Even outside while playing she still meows. I have tried ignoring her and firmly saying 'no' every time she makes a noise, but it doesn't seem to be working. She had a check-up at the vet last week and everything was fine. She is a very loving cat, but the constant noise is driving me mad - can you help?

Answer: She would probably have bonded to you very intensely at this young age as you replaced the mother that she had been taken away from.

I think you will now need to help her to learn to be more independent and to begin to learn to cope without you. To do this, begin by giving her short periods (e.g. 10 minutes) of undivided attention, fuss, and play and then giving her slightly longer periods (e.g. 30 minutes) when she gets nothing from you at all. During these times, be in the same room as her but do not respond to anything she does to try to get your attention.

Don’t look at her, touch her or speak to her. Don’t even say ‘No’ as, sometimes, negative attention is better than none at all. Don’t let her jump on you, and, if she does so, stand up or brush her off gently without speaking to her. In this way, your attention will come in ‘dollops’ rather as a steady stream and she should quite rapidly learn how to deal with times when you have shut off from her and do not feel like interacting.

Be prepared for her attention-seeking behaviour gets worse for a while, but keep going and you should find it gets suddenly and dramatically better.

Back to Cat Behaviour Problems