You may have been relaxing at home one evening, to find yourself serenaded by a meowing cat, staring at your ceiling. In fact, your cat is actually meowing at the ceiling, but nothing is there.
Naturally, you are asking yourself, “Why is my cat meowing at the ceiling?”
After a quick check for ghosts and ghouls, you conclude that there must be a scientific reason.
Read on to explore the reasons why your cat is randomly meowing at your ceiling!
The main reason that your cat is meowing at the ceiling is typically because its sharp senses have been alerted to the presence of something we can’t see, smell, or hear. This is generally something in your ceiling or walls, such as mice or rats, or it’s some small insect in your ceiling scuttering about or crawling across the ceiling. Other reasons for meowing at the ceiling can include your cat spotting flickering light beams, dust bunnies, or flickering shadows. In some cases, your cat may have a health condition and need to see the vet.
It may seem like your cat is meowing at thin air, but many people report the opposite. After investigating, they find out that their feline friend was meowing at mice or rats in the walls or ceiling!
I know that is probably not the answer that you want to hear, but in actuality, it’s a very common reason as to why your cat is meowing often at walls and/or ceiling.
Many Reddit users report mice and rats in the walls and ceilings. Their cats are very alert to their presence and a common reaction is constant meowing.
I’ve personally experienced this with our cat. I used to wonder why he would meow at the walls for no reason. He was even known to jump up on two legs and pawed at them!
It turns out we had a problem with mice. My cat was like a metal detector. He could hear them and smell them, and wherever he meowed or pawed, the next morning we would find a mouse.
There are many studies that show how sharp a cat’s hearing is. Cats hear different frequencies than we do, and their hearing is actually better than a dog’s.
Just because you can’t see or hear anything, doesn’t mean that your cat can’t!
Sometimes your cat is hearing (or seeing) a scuttling cockroach or beetle, spiders, or moths, among many other tiny bugs, insects, and critters.
One Quora member, Diana Pucci, relayed how she used to get a fly swatter or paper towel ready when her cats started meowing at her apartment walls. Soon after, a roach or some other critter would appear- and they were never wrong!
Moreover, your cat could be hearing something on the other side of the wall, in another room, or outside. There could be a new cat outside on the premises!
And remember, bugs can be really, really small. It could simply be one of the tiniest bugs you’ve ever seen. Or, a ladybug that’s so small you can’t see it from where your standing.
Bugs are a very common reason, as reported by many people on the Catsite. Check out all those testimonies about cats and bugs!
My cat will become fascinated at times with something on the walls and ceiling. He appears to follow this ‘thing’ around, moving this way and that, almost stalking its movements.
When this happens, I usually eventually catch a look at what he sees if I pay close attention to him for a few minutes. Suddenly something shoots out of my peripheral vision, too! My cat instantly tilts his head and is alert, ready to take on the intruder.
I look around and – yikes! It was just my own shadow.
Cats can also be fascinated by light as it flickers off of the ceiling or walls. This is something that we are so accustomed to seeing ourselves, that we don’t notice it anymore.
But, if you look closely, your cat may be catching some sun rays flickering through the window and bouncing around the ceiling.
One Quora user, Karin Cozzolino, reports this happening to an almost imperceptible light coming from an iPad and reaching the ceiling in the far corner of the room! Lance the cat was after that light!
Sometimes dust bunnies can look like insects crawling across the walls or ceiling.
Your cat’s sharp senses will pick on the movement and think the dust is alive.
No, I’m not saying your house is dusty. Just that your cat has super sharp senses.
Of course, your cat’s meowing could stem from a health issue. If you truly find yourself at a loss to know what your cat is meowing at or for, it’s a good idea to take a trip to the vet.
You may be surprised to find that, even if there is no health issue, your vet may help you solve the mystery or the random meows.
It is especially important to take your cat to the vet if they are meowing constantly and they have other accompanying symptoms, such as lethargy, confusion, poor appetite, or anything else out of the ordinary for them.
Cats are masters at hiding illness, so there may be something wrong that isn’t so obvious.
Faqcats notes that when your cat is acting strangely, it could be simple or complex. Your cat could be anxiously responding to a change in the house.
But if your cat leans its head against the wall or meows with an unusual pitch, tone, or inflection, it is definitely time to see the vet, as there could be something wrong with your cat’s brain.
This could be a medical condition known as hyperesthesia.
It is certainly a strange experience to see your cat meowing for no apparent reason at the ceiling!
The truth is, there is an explanation.
Your kitty is perceiving something more difficult for a human to pick up on, like the sound of a bug scuttling around inside the ceiling, or a tiny ray of light bouncing around.
Or worse, mice or rats in the ceiling!
These things drive their cat instincts wild, and they will meow to show it.
Now you have a better understanding of why your cat is meowing at the ceiling!
Is your cat also exhibiting this strange behavior- a fear of your ceiling fan? Get the details here!
For more on your cat’s psychology, specifically, what they hate, see this article.
For further reading on what your kitty’s brain loves, see this article.
https://thecatsite.com/threads/meowing-at-the-ceiling.79701/#:~:text=Yeah, I agree that it’s,keeps my house moth-free!
https://www.quora.com/What-causes-my-cat-to-stare-at-the-ceiling-What-is-he-looking-at
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