Do any of you have cats who ‘cry’ for attention at night and if so, how do you deal with it?
All input gratefully received after another sleepless night.....
Diana, that’s interesting. My cat is 15 and he only started doing it a year ago. We just thought he was going a bit senile. He seems happy enough otherwise. I think I’ll get the vet to check him out.
Will do - she is a lovely cat, really affectionate, fine with dogs, kids etc - just doesn’t like other cats! She is cuddled up next to me as I am typing now.
Why not post a photo up here Catherine, you never know someone may be interested?
I am sure Emily is gorgeous - as all cats are!
Sorry that wasn’t clear - Lem cries or rather cried - Emily is the one that dislikes the other two. There’s no fighting - the occasional hiss but just lots of avoidance so once she returned, the other two stopped being relaxed happy cats. They are much more wary when she is about and spend far less time indoors, which is a shame.
There still may be many reasons and solutions to your problem cats. Maybe you could do a little research to see if there is a cat behaviouist in your area? and as Diana says, just have a chat with your vet, take Emily along for a thorough check over just in case.
Thanks for that Diana - she’s actually two.
The crying solved itself when we lost cat number three (not the crying cat!) for a fortnight…The other two were so much happier and relaxed, that we are now seriously considering trying to re-home Emily. She has never been friendly with the other two (who are best friends) but the situation is getting steadily worse and I think she would be a lot happier as a sole cat. We are not in any hurry but if a nice person comes along, I think it might be best for all concerned.
If the cat is elderly, is it worth having a thyroid blood reading done, as cats age their thyroid gland can become hyperactive and this is a symptom…
I’d just like to add that there could be many reasons why this kind of behaviour starts. Cats are sensitive creatures and it may have started due to a bereavement, if the cat has lost it’s playmate etc but this behaviour then becomes a habit which isn’t healthy for the cat nor the owner.
You can try giving the cat it’s favourite treat at nighttime before tucking it in for the night, this way it isn’t seen as a punishment either!
Best of luck
Thank you - will try that!
It’s true that if you give the cat attention, it will continue to wake you up.
We had a cat that did just this. I sleep like a log but my husband used to wake up, go and see to the cat and then complain the next morning that he hadn’t slept.
If you can, put the cat in a seperate room, with litter, food and water and ignore it. It will have to learn that you are not at it’s beck and call at all times of the day and night! The crying will stop eventually, as like with children, it’s having no effect!!
Yep, shut them in somewhere you can’t hear it!! Had this problem with one of my rescues, it’s bad enough getting woken up by my youngest daughter, I draw the line at the cat doing it! So I shut her in the laundry room at night for a few days, she’s fine now.