My cat will not let me sleep at night - help

Caroline_ie

Hi,

My 4.5 yo neutered female cat is driving me crazy. She scratches at any hour of the night and wakes me up. I live in a 1 bedroom flat with a small balcony.

At night she comes in the bedroom and scratches anything she can put her paws on, play with noisy plastic stuff to trigger my getting up. Lately, I have left her in the living room/kitchen with the door closed, plus I have also close my bedroom door.

Now, she scratches the door.

I bought a Feliway Feromone wall mounted difuser on thursday. It seems to calm her down a bit. But she still scratches the door.

I get up with a headcache, I fall asleep at meetings in work I'm so tired. It's particularly annoying as when I have guests, they're in for a bad night sleep and everyone including me gets up wrecked ...

I need to make her stop. Train her. I do play with her when I'm home with the fishing poles and the lazer. Sometimes we even play chase.

I'm going to buy the Feliway spray later on to spray on that door. Hopefully, it will make her stop scratching...

Dtp1979

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Hi,

My 4.5 yo neutered female cat is driving me crazy. She scratches at any hour of the night and wakes me up. I live in a 1 bedroom flat with a small balcony.

At night she comes in the bedroom and scratches anything she can put her paws on, play with noisy plastic stuff to trigger my getting up. Lately, I have left her in the living room/kitchen with the door closed, plus I have also close my bedroom door.

Now, she scratches the door.

I bought a Feliway Feromone wall mounted difuser on thursday. It seems to calm her down a bit. But she still scratches the door.

I get up with a headcache, I fall asleep at meetings in work I'm so tired. It's particularly annoying as when I have guests, they're in for a bad night sleep and everyone including me gets up wrecked ...

I need to make her stop. Train her. I do play with her when I'm home with the fishing poles and the lazer. Sometimes we even play chase.

I'm going to buy the Feliway spray later on to spray on that door. Hopefully, it will make her stop scratching...

Cats are creatures of the night. She wants to be out hunting and running around at night, not locked up in a 1 bed apartment

Caroline_ie

I was in a house when I got her, but I couldn't stay there. I had to downgrade to a flat. It's a big one bedroom apartment. Bigger than other 2 bedrooms I have seen. She has a large cat tree, massive window edges, lots of toys and I work from home a couple of times a week so she's not always alone.

Dtp1979

Caroline_ie wrote: »

I was in a house when I got her, but I couldn't stay there. I had to downgrade to a flat. It's a big one bedroom apartment. Bigger than other 2 bedrooms I have seen. She has a large cat tree, massive window edges, lots of toys and I work from home a couple of times a week so she's not always alone.

I understand that and I'm not calling you a bad pet owner. But your cat is a hunter by nature. Unless your apartment has live mice and rabbits she's not gonna be satisfied

mymo

Don't listen to the above, cats will live happily indoors. They do tend to need more attention or playtime, but are fine. I have a friend in London that currently has a young cat in an apartment, she walks him on a harness most days with her kids, he loves it. This may not be an option for you, it takes training, which is better from a young age.

I have 4 cats, one of mine is almost entirely indoor as he doesn't like going outside, one is indoor at the moment until she is neutered, hasn't been outside since July when we caught her as a tiny feral kitten. two others go in and out as they choose, one more so than the other, 2 of the cats never hunt, but love to play.
All of mine are indoors at night, its safer. (for them and the if they hunt, their prey)

Do you feed her before bed? I find that makes them sleepy and the curl up for a snooze.

Also do you play right up until bedtime? I find if one of mine is hyped up before bed she won't settle, so playtime stops at least 30 mins before bed.

NIMAN

Get rid.

Your sleep is more important than having a cat imho.

And I'm a cat lover, just to let you know.

Dtp1979

mymo wrote: »

Don't listen to the above, cats will live happily indoors. They do tend to need more attention or playtime, but are fine. I have a friend in London that currently has a young cat in an apartment, she walks him on a harness most days with her kids, he loves it. This may not be an option for you, it takes training, which is better from a young age.

I have 4 cats, one of mine is almost entirely indoor as he doesn't like going outside, one is indoor at the moment until she is neutered, hasn't been outside since July when we caught her as a tiny feral kitten. two others go in and out as they choose, one more so than the other, 2 of the cats never hunt, but love to play.
All of mine are indoors at night, its safer. (for them and the if they hunt, their prey)

Do you feed her before bed? I find that makes them sleepy and the curl up for a snooze.

Also do you play right up until bedtime? I find if one of mine is hyped up before bed she won't settle, so playtime stops at least 30 mins before bed.

Well obviously most cats are different but most will hunt and want to be out. Op is your cat ever outside at all?

Caroline_ie

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Well obviously most cats are different but most will hunt and want to be out. Op is your cat ever outside at all?

She goes on the balcony and watches the birdies. Not so much in the winter time. Not because I don't open the window, but because she's not interrested.

I feed her around 6 PM when I get back from work. Then I give her a bit of kibble before I head to bed.

I read that if you set the pet feeder at night with a few treats in it, it helps.

I've set it up and will try that tonight.

I also read that I must stop rewarding her when she asks for it and ignore her. That way she'll learn that sollociting doesn't work. This morning when she ask for play, I ignored her. Then, when she was minding her own business, I called her to play.

I don't want to get rid of my cat. I took her a few years ago because I felt lonely. I would much prefer she settled down and let me sleep ONE night.

maggiepip

Try supplementing with Taurine, Im recommending this to everyone now since I started supplementing my cats with it! One of my cats was very restless could get quite agitated, he was also always looking for food. The Taurine has calmed him right down and hes a much more relaxed chilled cat now. When I researched it I discovered that these days, while most cats will get the minimal requirements from their food, foods differ greatly in the amount of Taurine they contain, and many cats aren't getting enough. Its very safe, virtually impossible to overdose on as any excess will be excreted. You can get it in capsules and just open the capsule and sprinkle in their food, it appears to be tasteless. Id give about 300 mg to an average cat in a meal before bed. Give it about a week to judge whether or not its helping.

NIMAN

Cats need to get out of the house, end of. Its not in their nature to sit inside 24hrs.

Nody

NIMAN wrote: »

Cats need to get out of the house, end of. Its not in their nature to sit inside 24hrs.

Total and 100% BS which there are plenty of cats to demonstrate as well. Cats indoor do just fine, live a LOT longer (average lifespan of an outdoor cats is 1 to 5years and indoor 12 to 20 years due to the risks) and as long as you see to their needs there are no issues for 99% of them. That does mean they need to be able to exercise properly, stretch and climb etc.

Shiraz 4.99

Cats need to outside hunting at night, anything else is repressing their natural instincts.

A lot of poor advice knocking around in this thread.

Pumpkinseeds

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

Cats need to outside hunting at night, anything else is repressing their natural instincts.

A lot of poor advice knocking around in this thread.

Cats do not need to be outside hunting, day or night for that matter and having an indoor cat does not repress it's natural instincts, providing that the owner provides toys and plays with the cat to stimulate it. I don't recall seeing you post here before yet you feel that you can show up and insult other posters opinions.

Outkast_IRE

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

Cats need to outside hunting at night, anything else is repressing their natural instincts.

A lot of poor advice knocking around in this thread.

Your the one giving out poor advice here, what your suggesting is contrary to almost all modern reccomendations

Shiraz 4.99

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Cats do not need to be outside hunting, day or night for that matter and having an indoor cat does not repress it's natural instincts

Read that back to yourself & try not to cringe.
This logic is perpetuated by city dwellers trying to salve their own conscience on this matter.
Cats are one of the few animals who can revert to a feral state after a period of domestication, it's instincts are always there no matter how much humans try to repress them.

One summer I worked on a golf course where bunkers were being destroyed by rabbits.
We got 8 cats from a nearby pound that were scheduled to be destroyed then dropped them off strategically about the golf course.
These former family pets completely eradicated the rabbit problem in weeks & I'm told 5 of the 8 still roam the grounds.

If you think playing with a mouse on a stick for half an hour in the evening satisfies these urges then I'm sorry for you.
It's a story you & many like you tell yourself to make you feel better.

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I don't recall seeing you post here before yet you feel that you can show up and insult other posters opinions.

I never insulted anyone, I pointed out errors.
Do you not appreciate new posters or do you prefer to belong to a collective clique where you can share misinformation.
I'll leave you to it so, there's no need to respond.

Heroditas

If you leave dogs outside together, they'll congregate in packs and hunt but, hey, it's instinct, right?
Maybe we should allow dogs do that as well

Dtp1979

Heroditas wrote: »

If you leave dogs outside together, they'll congregate in packs and hunt but, hey, it's instinct, right?
Maybe we should allow dogs do that as well

A dog will do a hell of alot more damage than a cat

Tranceypoo

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

This logic is perpetuated by city dwellers trying to salve their own conscience on this matter.
Cats are one of the few animals who can revert to a feral state after a period of domestication, it's instincts are always there no matter how much humans try to repress them.



.

I live on a farm. We have a cat. You could not persuade our cat to go outside, day or night, if you offered her a live bird on a stick. In the summer she will sit outside the door in the sun, as long as the door is open so she can go back inside. She was formerly a semi feral. She has no desire at all to go hunting. So you can't generalise.

Dtp1979

Tranceypoo wrote: »

I live on a farm. We have a cat. You could not persuade our cat to go outside, day or night, if you offered her a live bird on a stick. In the summer she will sit outside the door in the sun, as long as the door is open so she can go back inside. She was formerly a semi feral. She has no desire at all to go hunting. So you can't generalise.

To be fair, you'll get creatures in all walks of life who are just lazy

nala2012

maggiepip wrote: »

Try supplementing with Taurine, Im recommending this to everyone now since I started supplementing my cats with it! One of my cats was very restless could get quite agitated, he was also always looking for food. The Taurine has calmed him right down and hes a much more relaxed chilled cat now. When I researched it I discovered that these days, while most cats will get the minimal requirements from their food, foods differ greatly in the amount of Taurine they contain, and many cats aren't getting enough. Its very safe, virtually impossible to overdose on as any excess will be excreted. You can get it in capsules and just open the capsule and sprinkle in their food, it appears to be tasteless. Id give about 300 mg to an average cat in a meal before bed. Give it about a week to judge whether or not its helping.

Very interested in this. My cats been driving me crazy lately. She smashed two plates, knocked over a pot of water and is always hungry. I changed her food to a higher quality one than what she had been eating but maybe she's lacking taurine. Where did you buy it?
also she's indoor cat and gets very distressed if you even suggest she goes outside except for during a heatwave and even then she wont go out without a harness and only goes out to sunbathe.

Hollister11

Our cats go in and out as they please between 7 in the morning untl about 8 at night. As it gets brighter they stay out until 11/12 at night. They get food and sleep on clothes beds ect grand. Once your cat is out enough they should be fine.

Pumpkinseeds

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

Read that back to yourself & try not to cringe.
This logic is perpetuated by city dwellers trying to salve their own conscience on this matter.
Cats are one of the few animals who can revert to a feral state after a period of domestication, it's instincts are always there no matter how much humans try to repress them.

One summer I worked on a golf course where bunkers were being destroyed by rabbits.
We got 8 cats from a nearby pound that were scheduled to be destroyed then dropped them off strategically about the golf course.
These former family pets completely eradicated the rabbit problem in weeks & I'm told 5 of the 8 still roam the grounds.

If you think playing with a mouse on a stick for half an hour in the evening satisfies these urges then I'm sorry for you.
It's a story you & many like you tell yourself to make you feel better.



I never insulted anyone, I pointed out errors.
Do you not appreciate new posters or do you prefer to belong to a collective clique where you can share misinformation.
I'll leave you to it so, there's no need to respond.

I could argue this with you all night but it would achieve nothing since you clearly have no idea what you're talking about but are fully commited to sticking by your assertions. Arguing with you is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock over all the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around the table looking victorious. So I'll just leave it at that.

Alun

maggiepip wrote: »

Try supplementing with Taurine, Im recommending this to everyone now since I started supplementing my cats with it! One of my cats was very restless could get quite agitated, he was also always looking for food. The Taurine has calmed him right down and hes a much more relaxed chilled cat now. When I researched it I discovered that these days, while most cats will get the minimal requirements from their food, foods differ greatly in the amount of Taurine they contain, and many cats aren't getting enough. Its very safe, virtually impossible to overdose on as any excess will be excreted. You can get it in capsules and just open the capsule and sprinkle in their food, it appears to be tasteless. Id give about 300 mg to an average cat in a meal before bed. Give it about a week to judge whether or not its helping.

Where do you get it from? I've looked on various sites like vetuk.com, but can't find it anywhere.

Pumpkinseeds

Alun wrote: »

Where do you get it from? I've looked on various sites like vetuk.com, but can't find it anywhere.

You can get it from Zooplus, it's under the supplement section but be careful you get the one for adding to food, there's one that's intended to be used only for raw feeding as well.:)

DBB

I never insulted anyone, I pointed out errors.

Is that right? Having read your posts, I think you're being quite insulting actually, and not a small bit rude too (parts bolded by me):

Shiraz 4.99 wrote: »

Read that back to yourself & try not to cringe.

If you think playing with a mouse on a stick for half an hour in the evening satisfies these urges then I'm sorry for you.

It's a story you & many like you tell yourself to make you feel better.

Do you not appreciate new posters or do you prefer to belong to a collective clique where you can share misinformation.

This directed to people on this forum who have a serious, serious amount of experience with cats, cat behaviour, and cat welfare.
Next time you come new to a forum, try hanging around for a while to get a feel for the workings of that forum before you come wading in with your rude, bombastic posts.

I'll leave you to it so, there's no need to respond.

Finally, you do not get to tell people whether to respond to you or not. This is a discussion form, for discussion.
For the rudeness, and because you're back-seat moderating, you've earned a yellow card.
If you decide to return to this forum, please amend your posting style. Disrespect to other posters will not be tolerated. I will be keeping an eye out.
Do not reply to this post on-thread.
Thanks,
DBB

maggiepip

nala2012 wrote: »

Very interested in this. My cats been driving me crazy lately. She smashed two plates, knocked over a pot of water and is always hungry. I changed her food to a higher quality one than what she had been eating but maybe she's lacking taurine. Where did you buy it?
also she's indoor cat and gets very distressed if you even suggest she goes outside except for during a heatwave and even then she wont go out without a harness and only goes out to sunbathe.

I get mine from iherb online, I use the human one called New Foods Double Strength Taurine 1000 mg capsules, and I give about a third of a capsule per day. Works out at about 10 euro for 100 capsules, but health shops like Holland & Barrett will stock it too. The human one is fine to use. I think iherb might stock a cat one, but its Taurine at the end of the day and the same difference. Zooplus does a cat version too.

Dord

I was in the same situation recently. My kitten wouldn't settle down at night.

What I did was to change his feeding times. He gets fed half the food first thing in the morning, then around 6pm he's looking for some food so I give him a very small amount. He's happy with that, plays a bit and has a nap. Before I go to bed, I feed the rest of the second half.

Aside from the feeding times, playtime is important. You should play with the cat before bed (and the later feeding time).

sparkle_23

I live in apartment with 2 cats. It is a 2 bed. We lived in a one bed for almost a year with one cat. I played with little toy mice throwing them for her before bedtime. She was also on a high quality indoor cat food. We have a water fountain for her too and she loves it. She can be a little monkey sometimes she scratches the furniture at 6am cause her food bowl is empty. She is a lot better since we got the other cat.

Hopefully you get sorted soon its very frustrating not being able to sleep!