Fluther cat whisperers can you help me extinguish this behavior?
On Sunday we adopted a beautiful pure black cat from our local humane society. She was an owner surrender because apparently she tormented the family dog but so far she is a great cat. She is very social and loves the commotion of the house and playing with the boys, plus she got right on board with using the litter box every time. We are only have one problem. In the middle of the night she comes looking for us with those loud, I mean really loud meows. She moans for a couple of minutes until she makes her way to someone’s bed and plops down to sleep. The meowing doesn’t last long – just enough to wake us all up. I was thinking maybe she is bored but I really have no idea. Any ideas to help stop this behavior? I’m looking at you Milo.
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Bring her to someone’s room when you go to sleep… Eliminate the whole “Looking” aspect of it and if she knows where you are, she wont have to mew for you…
@GabrielsLamb beat me to it. Likewise, you could put a small bowl of food in a bedroom that she might be able to sniff out and follow, rather than meowing.
MIlo here; Mousie, you really expect me to give away any secrets? I dominate the house and Gail and have droit de seigneur do to exactly what I want and when I feel like it. On my initial arrival, I became dehydrated, ran a high fever and had to spend several days in hospital. That gave Gail the time to recover from her nervous breakdown.
@SuperMouse; I have learned to read Milo’s body language, which often indicates that he is feeling aggressive at 3:00 in the morning. But his behavior consists of pouncing and nipping rather than vocalization. I freeze and pull the quilt over my head and make sure never to make eye contact.
He always lets our a few meows before jumping up on the bed. I cannot think of any way to control that. I am used to waking up or being awakened (bladder needs or Milo needs) several times a night and don’t mind.
Of course, i do not have to go to work.
It occurs to me it is early days and (what’s her name?) may need at least a few months to calm down and lose the anxiety of having been relocated. I see far less of Milo now than I used to even last year. We are on year four.
I don’t believe that you can bully any cat into staying in a bedroom of your choice at night. Milo spends his down time at night on my bed, but when my daughter is visiting, he trots back and forth, two-timing Lothario that he continues to be.
@Milo, a rodent can try. I’ll tell you what dear feline, this family is thoroughly enjoying cat ownership!
Sammy always starts the night in my kids’ room then wanders later on – that’s when the noise begins. We are kind of hoping she will be a bit of a mouser so we don’t want to seal her into any bedroom.
Spray her with water when she does it. I swear that works for everything.
She feels insecure when you are not awake and able to interact. Maybe some sort of separation anxiety, but, it is awful soon, only 4 days, and she is still barely adjusting to her new space and people.
My daughter and her bf have a kitty she found as a stray in early August and after her being shuffled around from the streets, to the shelter, to me adopting her, to them taking her after she was not blending with my cat, and now…she has been back with them for the last 5 weeks. The kitty does NOT like being on the other side of any shut doors where she cannot be near them, and while she has mellowed a lot and feels secure, it is all about time and attention.
I’d say she’ll be settling in within a few weeks, but….she will also continue to blossom in many ways as she becomes more secure within your household.
Go easy on the corrections and heavy on the love.
@deni My kids are literally itching to do that to the cat… And for that simple reason alone. No one will EVER spray the cat with water.
It’s just wrong, it’s a bad form of cause and effect that has absolutely nothing to do with the behavior itself in perspective.
If everytime you cursed let’s say, someone came along and blasted you with a hose, how many times would you have to make that mistake before you actually put two and two together when there are always 50 things going on at once surrounding the event.
Is it cruel and unusual punishment, or correction from the cat’s perspective?
Schadenfruede isn’t for cats… they don’t get it.
I have a cat that howls in the night, too. She’s done it for years. It doesn’t have anything to do with her being lost, lonely, bored, or insecure, it’s just something she does.
Sometimes if I disrupt her natural schedule, she doesn’t do it. So I bought a laser light toy that turns itself off after 15 minutes, and I click it on at bedtime.
Sometimes if I just call her to bed, she’ll come running in, jump in the bed, and go to sleep. But she’s a cat, so she’s not consistent.
If she persists, I will get up and use spray bottle to startle her – it disrupts her routine and she moves on (and no, it doesn’t particularly traumatize her).
Your best bet is going to be figuring out how to redirect her attention, whether that’s with a toy, feeding time, being placed in another room, or a deterrent.
@SuperMouse: She may be the world’s best mouser, but she will catch them on her schedule and not yours. I watched a brisk chase around my family room last night, the mouse succumbed to an aneurysm at about 9:30 PM.
And I personally would never try to discipline or punish a cat with water spray, but if @syz is comfortable with that, I am willing to change my mind.
(Schadenfreude)
The cats looking for company & to bed down with someone, don’t forget domestic cats are related to pack lions of the savannahs, they huddle together to keep warm.. Plus they need the security too…. Do not squirt water at her, how will she come to trust you if you do that :-/
Both my cats sleep on my bed, always have done.
@GabrielsLamb My cat has learned very quickly from being sprayed, LIGHTLY, not with a hose, every time he does something wrong. It really doesn’t seem to bother him that much, just enough that he gets it. It usually only takes a day or two to correct bad behavior, and a couple squirts. He is not particularly intelligent either. I don’t see a problem with using it.
Playtime right before bed and ignore, ignore, ignore. She might stop once she is more comfortable in her environment, but she will never stop if you pay attention to her meowing.
I like to save the water bottle for when I have tried other things, especially since she is a rescue. You never know what she has been through.
I always recommend the book “Starting From Scratch”. It’s a life saver when dealing with older cats.
@syz :-/ so you agree then!
fluther cat whisperers is my favorite bowie album
I think time should solve it. Most of my cats were brought in after they’d been living outside for awhile, and a few of them have acted similarly. Your cat is probably just a little distressed at night because everyone is sleeping and quiet and she’s still up in a kind of strange place, or maybe she’s just feeling feisty and doesn’t understand why her new friends aren’t giving her any attention.
After a few days (or a few weeks, depending on the cat) it will probably sort itself out.
She’s meowing hoping that stupid dog wakes up so she can torment him in the dark. It will take awhile for the kitty to realize the dog doesn’t live here.
My cats used to play lost-kitty every night. Usually they would get it over with before I had finished reading and turned out the light. But sometimes they would come find me, hop on the bed, snuggle down and purr, be ready for a nice snooze, and then—“Whoops, forgot something!” go off to another part of the house and cry like a lost kitty.
I just figured it was something they either loved to do or had to do, and in all their 12 and 15 years (respectively) I never tried to change it.
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