Older cat-need advice

[Tsiya]

My 16 year old half siamese american shorthair has been howling, for lack of a better term, at the top of her little lungs off and on for almost a year now. She used to only do it when she couldn't find me, but now it seems pretty random. I'll hear her yelling and go find her standing in the middle of the living room table, speak to her and she'll stop, then as soon as I am out of sight again she'll start back up.

She's in decent health, starting to need daily brushings and she's a bit thinner than she was when she young. Otherwise she's in good health, still eats like a horse and drinks more water than my Cane Corso. Her potty habits are slipping a bit, but that's been a problem for about 4 years now. Sometimes she acts like she wants to go outside, she's an indoor cat who only goes out accompanied by me for 5-10 minutes. She is on a good quality cat food, and the water is bottled because the well water is horrible here. I've noticed her getting a bit clumsy but she can mostly still get around like normal.

Any ideas? That patented siamese howl is driving the household buggy lol.

[Miraga]

The only thing I can suggest is seeing a vet. Whenever our pets do anything out of the ordinary for a long time, off to the vet they go! Is she drinking a lot more water? Excessive drinking is a sign of many things but it's also one of the things pets do as they age so it's difficult to tell. Anyway, I would just take her to a vet for a check up. and a cane corso?!? Holy crap!! That's like 30 of my dogs. X)

EDIT: something else I would reccommend is a senior blood panel/some sort of bloodwork. At our clinic we reccommend it for older pets because it will detect things that a regular exam can't. Our eldest dog was slowing down a lot at 13 so I brought her in for an exam and discovered she has a heart murmur. We then ran some bloodwork and discovered her liver enzymes are very high. She's feeling much better now that she is on meds for her heart murmur and she will soon get an ultrasound to check out her liver. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that bloodwork may also be,an option for your aging kitty It can be a little pricey but I bet your vet would be willing to give you an estimate! Keep us updated on your kitty!

[Dewclaw]

I second the vet thing. Rule out potential medical problems first, and then look at the behavioral side of things.

[Worba]

Agreed, vet. She should be getting yearly checkups anyway.

It may just be that your cat is getting spacey in her elder years, but better safe than sorry!

[cowmuflage]

Oh don't worry mate my cats 20 and he does that all the time! That loud howl is what a mum cat does to find her babys and some house cats can do that in old age. When I mean house cats i mean pet ones as my cat spends most of his days outside.

[serebii]

Get a vets advice just in case but I have had many cats and almost all of them when they get old they start to howl often. for my cats this has mostly been for wanting more attention but not wanting to have to walk to me to get it. so they howl for me to go to them and carry them where ever i am.

[clarise]

Your kitty's howling might be a behavioral thing, and it may also be an indication that there's something wrong with her health. And the best thing that you can do is bring her to the vet.

[Rikaku]

I also to say go to the vet for a check up. It never hurts to be on the safe side. I too second Miraga's bloodwork suggestion; it could help pinpoint little minute things that may go unnoticed otherwise.

However, as others said, sometimes cats just... yowl. It's a weird thing, and certainly not limited to just Siamese (though, if I'm not mistaken Siamese are known for yowling?) or older cats. However, if it's a pained yowl, you will know a difference, and to me it sounds like your cat may just be a little spacey (but definitely still go to the vet!) or doing it because she knows you'll come over because the only cat I ever owned who yowled in pain, didn't stop when I entered the room/spoke to her. So to me it sounds more akin to what 3 of my cats do at times.

Personally, I have 3 cats who yowl sometimes, though seemingly for different reasons. Usually its either to get my attention, or the other cats attention. One of them does it whenever she's playing with her favorite toy, and sometimes they're just... well crazy. I've come in and the cats been meowing at the walls at nothing. If I leave the area, they'll continue the behavior for a bit.

TL;DR
Definitely check a vet's opinion, but I think you can see from the various stories that the behavior isn't all that uncommon amongst all cats of different breeds and ages =) It just may be something your cat likes to do XD

[cowmuflage]

Yeah Siamese are knowen to be noisy cats.

[Tahlian]

If your vet says your cat is otherwise healthy...it's a pretty common thing for older cats to do that "yowling from the other room" thing every now and again. They're just checking up that you're still nearby and everything is as it should be, from what I've read. Excessive howling may be a sign of senility or some other medical problem, so do get those ruled out first.