My civvie cat is driving me nuts!

[ohiogal]

Hi all,

I've started having a strange problem with my civvie cat, Kennedy.

Ever since I switched the dry cat food to Evo, and left some wet food out at night, he's started this routine of waking me up every 2 hours at night.

I'll be asleep, and all of sudden he'll start pawing my face, or sitting right next to my head and meowing very loudly. I wear earplugs, and I can hear him clearly!

I don't know what he wants. If I get up and put out a little wet food for him, that settles him down - for about two hours. Then he does it again.

I can't shut my bedroom door because the litter box is in the spare bathroom, right off my bedroom.

I can't shut him up in another room because he'll yowl and claw at the carpeting, and I live in an apartment complex - people in other apartments will hear him yowling. Not to mention, it'll wreck the carpet.

I tried using a squirt gun, but he just jumps off the bed and starts yowling from across the room. Again, I'm concerned about my neighbors hearing the loud noise at 2 a.m. and complaining.

I've tried ignoring him, but of course he just keeps up the routine - and I have a full-time job, I can't get by on two hours of sleep a night!

Any ideas? This is really getting annoying!

 

[BJM]

You might try some play therapy: 15-20 minute sessions before each main meal, plus before bedtime, to tire him out, and possibly elicit the hunt, catch, kill, eat, eliminate, groom, sleep cycle.

A Feliway diffuser in the room he commonly frequents, or a collar of same may help calm him too.

 

[sophie]

Hi! That's rough! Could he simply be hungry? Have you tried leaving him lots of food just to see if that helps? Perhaps, he simply needs more food while his body=stomach is adjusting during this transitional period. Mine certainly did need more wet food until their tummies shrunk? or whatever? it is that happens to their stomachs during the immediate period after going to wet from dry. Eventually, they settled down to eating less. Best wishes, Sophie