Meowing Cat and Travel

Question
Norman

I have the most lovable cat named Kozmo but he meows all the time.  We recently moved to a very small one bedroom condo and he sits by the door and meows from morning and all night long.  He loves to go out in the hall but our neighbors don't appreciate it.  I am afraid that we are going to be reported for all the meowing he does.  I have a squirt gun and that works for about 10 minutes and then he is back at it.  He starts about 3 am and goes all day.  I love him dearly but I can't get kicked out of my home.  Do you have any suggestions.

My other problem is that when we take him in the car he does not stop meowing the entire time we are in the car.  We are going to be going from Wisconsin to Florida in two weeks and we have no one to take care of him so we are going to take him with but we can't listen to him meowing for 24 hours.  I hate the thought of tranquilizing him but I don't know what else to do.  We also have a large black cat that we are taking with us but he is going to be terrified to travel.  He is scared of everything.  I wish we could leave them home but we have no one to take care of them.  If you could give some suggestions, I would really appreciate it.

Karen

Answer
Karen,

I am afraid the best thing to do is to try to ignore Kozmo.  I know the neighbors may not like it, but some cats are just vociferous.  Do you know that the neighbors can hear Kozmo if he is in your condo?

You can keep him out of the hall, and. if the neighbors cannot hear him, just ignore it.  Cats are nothing if not persistent, ands if he feels he can manipulate your behavior by meowing, he will do it.  In time, he will stop if you do not react!!!!!

Cats are not very receptive to negative reinforcement.  There is a positive reinforcement behavior modification technique know as clicker training (See Karen Pryor's web site at www.clickertraining.com).  You may want to investigate this.

As far as the travel is concerned, lots of cats meow during travel.  What I like to do for long trips is have carriers which are big enough for litter pans in the back.  You might also look into getting a soft sided dog crate and let the two of them travel together in comfort with a litter pan.

One thing you do not want to do is to use a tranquilizer on your cats for travel.  If the cat suspects something is messing with its head it may fight the tranquilizer and end up with the opposite effect.

Best regards... Norm.