What is making my cat howl at night & run around like she's having a private party?

When I first read your thread I though maybe she was in heat? And then you wrote she was 15 years old. Hmm? As long as she is deemed healthy by your vet I would not worry too much. Good luck to you with your cat. I hope she calms down soon.

My older female cat does this, too. I think it's primal....they are stalking, howling, etc. My cat was talking around 10:00 last night, so I gave her a small toy mouse to play with. She batted it, howled, walked around with it in her mouth WHILE she howled, etc. I think your cat just feels really good, & the darkness brings out her primal nature.

Hi ical! Your question sounded familiar, because years ago my friend went through the same thing with her cat. This is basically what she was told at the time. There are lots of other articles out there too.

Here:

Why Do Cats Howl When They Get Older? | Care2 Healthy ...

On 9/15/2014 Matty6 said:

When I first read your thread I though maybe she was in heat? And then you wrote she was 15 years old. Hmm? As long as she is deemed healthy by your vet I would not worry too much. Good luck to you with your cat. I hope she calms down soon.

Thanks! Yes, she's well over 15, she's an elder cat with an attitude, lol!

On 9/15/2014 goldenretriever said:

My older female cat does this, too. I think it's primal....they are stalking, howling, etc. My cat was talking around 10:00 last night, so I gave her a small toy mouse to play with. She batted it, howled, walked around with it in her mouth WHILE she howled, etc. I think your cat just feels really good, & the darkness brings out her primal nature.

How cute! Our cat likes to take socks from the laundry and runs around dragging it! There are so many missing socks, and when you find the "missing match", it has teeth marks in it! And you're right, she does it mostly at night…like last night…

On 9/15/2014 Sabatini2 said:

Hi ical! Your question sounded familiar, because years ago my friend went through the same thing with her cat. This is basically what she was told at the time. There are lots of other articles out there too.

Here:

Why Do Cats Howl When They Get Older? | Care2 Healthy ...

Thank you!!!! I bookmarked this link to show my family!

Great article! Thank you so much, I really never knew senior cats will howl!

Thank you so much!

Sleep walking?

Eating spicy kibble before bedtime?

Animals are weird. Maybe she's having nightmares? My cat is 16 years old and does that but not every night. Probably 3 or 4 times a month; we took to the vet because my husband thought she had a dental problem but she checked out fine. She's very fit and active. Every now and then, she'll make a growly-howling sound and run around the house like she's chasing something that only she can see. She'll stop dead in her tracks and just stare at "it" whatever "it" is. And then start running around again. This goes on for 30 to 45 minutes and then she stops and goes back to her normal routine. She's usually very quiet and mild mannered. According to her vet it's "cat behavior". Which translates to "I don't know why she does it".

Is your house completely dark at night? Elderly cats can lose some of their sensory perception as they age; hearing, sense of smell, sight....

Try leaving a light on or add night lights to your home so that your cat can see where she is. This may calm her down as she may be slightly confused about where she is.

If your cats sight or hearing is starting to fade a bit, you might consider putting her in your bedroom or in another bedroom at night so that she doesn't have the run of the house -- as she may be getting confused. If you can put a small night light in the room, that may help.

Two of our older cats howl at the mirror in the hallway. I would imagine that they are concerned about that strange looking cat that they see peering back at them. We began to put these two cats in a bedroom at night to sleep so they aren't howling at the mirror all night long. That solved the howling problem immediately.

Most of the time there is a definite reason for a changed behavior in cats. Try and think like a cat. The answer to the problem will eventually come to you.

The other thing to consider is that your kitty may have an undiagnosed medical problem. There are several things (besides sensory loss) that can cause a cat to howl. Ask you vet to do a work-up on your cat to find out if your kitty has any medical problems.

Hope this helps.