Expert: Karen Craft - 4/7/2008

Question
I have a spayed 7 year old cat that has decided to become an annoying cat since I became pregnant, and is increasingly becoming worse as we get closer to the due date.

She doesn't get along with other animals at all - she'll try and pick a fight through the window with a raccoon. So she does not go outside. I also got her in college (almost hit her with my car, so I kept her) and moved every year. Ever since I've become pregnant, she tries to bolt for the door when we open it (in a large house) and cries in the morning as if she wants to be let out - something I have never done!

She also panics about food. I feed her every morning at the same time, same food, never much variance - and now she feels the need to let me know the minute it's empty and yowls at 4:30 in the morning - I am assuming to be fed! She's overweight too, and no matter what I try (two feedings instead of one) she scarfs her food. She'll yell for the food and I'll tell her that I don't feed whiners, and until she stops crying, I don't feed her. Sometimes it can be two hours after I normally feed her, but she's not yelling at me when I walk into the room to be fed. Other times I wait until she's quiet for just a few minutes and then feed her (depends on if I'm heading out the door for work or not).

Then there's the constant crying. Not a nice meow, but almost yelling at me and darn near growling at my husband. We've tried ignoring it, we've tried snapping at her when she does it (she knows she's doing something wrong when we snap at her), and we've tried water (which trained her off of the higher horizontal surfaces). Nothing gets her to shut up and it's so loud and gets my hackles up because it feels like she's yelling at me.

She and I, and my husband, have always gotten along. She's always been independent, not too cuddly (but has her moments - especially when we sleep in on the weekends), playful, healthy and quiet. Now she's got me so mad at her all the time that I feel like I'm always trying to get her to stop doing something when I'm home! I'm also at my wits end, especially with being pregnant. My biggest concern is how bad she'll get (if she could get worse) when the baby comes.

Do I need to find her another home? I hate to throw her out for the baby, and I'm trying to make sure that I haven't changed anything too much. She's still allowed to sleep at the foot of the bed, and I don't plan to change that. I still try to play with her when I get home, but she's not too interested anymore (or she just flops over after 5 minutes) and I let her climb in my lap when I'm sitting on the couch (as much as I really don't need her on my lap too). I would let her outside if that would make her happy, but I know darn well that I'll be dealing with vet bills, since she's declawed in the front, and thinks that everything moving is a threat.

My husband and I are almost at wits end, and are worried about when the baby comes. He'll turn her over to the humane society if she has any aggression toward the baby and I don't blame him for feeling that way. Got any suggestions?

Answer
Hi Veronica,

The first thing I would do is get her to the vet to be checked over. It sounds like there is a health issue with your cat more than a behavior issue. A major change in behavior coupled with the meowing points to me that she has something going on with her. I don't believe it has anything to do with you being pregnant. I think that that is just a coincidence. It could be a thyroid problem, it could be something else. Have her checked out. I think you might be surprised. Write back and let me know what the vet says. Good luck.

Ciao, Karen