We love our cat… we really really do. But he’s driving us nuts and I need some advice on how to handle this. Our cat is about 1 year old and we’ve had him since he was 3 months (found him on the street). This is the problem - he spends the day sleeping, then we play with him in the evening when he starts to wake up, and at night all hell breaks loose. He feels the need to annouce that he is bored and wantes to play, and he does this by meowing loudly. We live in a small apartment, so there is no place to put him for the night in which we won’t hear him. He wakes us up time and again, and I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in weeks. I went online to research this and the only method that has worked a bit is spraying him with some water. He hates that and will stop meowing for a few hours, but then it’s back to normal.
This is really a case of him just being bored. He has been fixed, so he’s not looking for females. He eats well and is generally a very happy cat.
I really love my cat (did I mention that already), but I need to find a way to shut him up.
We have two, found like yours, and they play really well together. They do yowl at night but once they realise we have gone to bed they shut up and sleep on the balcony. Maybe a companion will help? Sadly this means twice the poo and wee and food bills etc, and possibly twice the noise
We can lend you a cat to see if it helps having a companion, then, if it works out, you can adopt! All our cats are vaccinated, dewormed, deflead, desexed, healthy and lovable, and they all get on with other cats.
Otherwise, go to our Web site and click on the ‘cat behaviour’ link.
[quote=“Stray Dog”]We can lend you a cat to see if it helps having a companion, then, if it works out, you can adopt! All our cats are vaccinated, dewormed, deflead, desexed, healthy and lovable, and they all get on with other cats.
Otherwise, go to our Web site and click on the ‘cat behaviour’ link.
Let me know if we can help.
Sean[/quote]
I would love to have another cat (I have thought of this possibility), but we are leaving Taiwan in 2 months and have already found a new home for our cat. It would be too difficult to find another home for the second cat. I tried to get on the cat behaviour link in your website, but it doesn’t seem to be working right now. I loved your website by the way and you are doing a great job.
Yes of course, and if he kept himself busy by playing all night then that would be fine (I make sure all his toys are out). It’s the meowing until he makes sure that we are both awake so we can play with him. Then we fall back asleep and he meows until he’s blue in the face.
Maybe it’s a kitten thing… he’s only a year old after all. I hope this is something he will grow out of.
Also, if you get up and play with him, feed him, or give him any kind of response, you are reinforcing the behavior. All he wants is some attention of any kind, negative or positive.
Do you keep your bedroom door open so he can come in if he wants to visit? Some cats don’t like to feel alone or not be able to see their owners.
Since you are leaving Taiwan and a second cat is not an option, you might just have to live with it. sorry!
I have two cats and they also kept me awake all night. Now they sleep when I do, however. Sometimes when I came home I just wanted to get on the net or read, and felt too lazy to play with them, figuring that they could just play with each other and I could do the cuddling part.
That didn’t work though. They still wanted me.
Now I make an effort to play them into a frenzy as soon as I get home (my cats get tired after about half an hour). Then they snooze and I get my own time. Then I play with them a lot again for about half an hour before bed, until they actually start panting they’re so excited and tired. Then they crash. However, they would wake me at about 6 again, so now I have set up a birdfeeding thing outside a window in the other room. They spent the entire early morning glued to the window watching the birds cavorting and leave me alone.
Took me about 6 months of 3 hours a night until the point of hallucination and near-madness to figure all of this out though. The hamster also keeps them busy.
We have two strays, Maya and Ginger. Maya is a fully grown black female, who, having been spayed, is no longer quite so rambunctious. Ginger is the 3/4-grown ginger kitty who’s still very playful, and overly active at night. I have to toss her out of my bedroom and close the door or she’ll knead and nip me all night long, depriving me of sleep. She used to mew and miaow and scratch outside the door, but because I intentionally ignore it 100% of the time, she does that much less now. Yangdemei is absolutely right; if you EVER open that door and acknowledge the behavior, it’s reinforced. In fact, doing so occasionally results in behavior that’s more difficult to extinguish than if you were to do so all the time (and then stop). Basic operant conditioning, of course (Psych 101). Twonavels’ approach is also a good one; when we spend more time in the evening letting her run and leap after a sock on a wire, until she’s exhausted (and our stomachs are sore from laughing at her antics), she sleeps like a log. She gets neutered next month, and that should help a lot too.
I couldn’t stand closing the door at night. I want my kitties snoozling next to me, so the playing technique is better for me. In fact I’m going to be waking the little buggers and doing that right now.
Cheers!
Edit: Whaha, Stray Dog. Actually I wouldn’t mind being neutered. Would solve a lot of life’s little problems.
[quote=“yangdemei”]Also, if you get up and play with him, feed him, or give him any kind of response, you are reinforcing the behavior. All he wants is some attention of any kind, negative or positive.
Do you keep your bedroom door open so he can come in if he wants to visit? Some cats don’t like to feel alone or not be able to see their owners.
[/quote]
I do keep the bedroom door open so he can come in as he pleases, but this also means that he gets on the bed and meows into my face to wake me up! I find that if I don’t respond with some water spraying, he will meow for hours on end. We play with him when we get home, but we don’t always get a chance to do so…
maybe you guys are right, we should spend more time playing with him and making him tired. Getting birds and other small creatures to keep him busy is simply impossible for us now. I am also hoping this is something he will grow out of and won’t make his next owner miserable!
Tally, if you want some info on how to take your cat home with you, let me know. It’s quite simple, and would mean that you wouldn’t have to lose the cat that you love so much, and your cat wouldn’t feel abandoned.
[quote=“Stray Dog”]Tally, if you want some info on how to take your cat home with you, let me know. It’s quite simple, and would mean that you wouldn’t have to lose the cat that you love so much, and your cat wouldn’t feel abandoned.
Let me know.
Sean[/quote]
Thanks Sean… I really am heartbroken at leaving our cat here . We are going on a 6 months trip to South America and simply cannot take him with us (I would have taken him with me otherwise). But, you’ll be happy to know that his new mom is a good friend of ours and he knows her well. He also stays with her every so often for a few days. I decided to do this so he could get used to her place before we actually leave him there for good. Now it’s like a special weekend for him - he gets to go there and be spoiled rotten by his aunti, and then come home to us.
I do love my kitty… But I feel good knowing he will have a loving home to go to.
Hey guys, a bump to this old thread, since I didn’t find anything remotely close to a general cat problem thread.
Long story short, my gf and I are concerned about her roommate’s cat, Moon Moon. Here’s the back story:
Moon’s owner (gf’s roommate) does not really take care of her cat so my gf and I feel responsible for the cat since we’re at the apt most often.
Moon sometimes doesn’t get her cat litter box cleaned for almost a week after it has been dirty. Last time Moon did his business right outside the litter box and my gf told her roommate. Roommate cleaned it up and paid zero attention to the litter box. WTF?
We recently noticed that his cat food dispenser was almost empty, resulting in when the auto feed was suppose to dispense food, the incorrect amount was coming out.
There’s also a third roommate that does not like Moon and I’ve heard that she used to yell and hit him when he was naughty.
So, the main issue is, recently when my gf has been coming home, Moon has been walking out into the stairwell, which he’s NEVER done…ever. He’s a house cat and is very afraid of leaving the house (even scared when on the front and back balcony). If we’re holding him and take a step out onto the balcony he starts meowing like there’s no tomorrow. So, we are not sure whether he’s trying to get away bc he thinks he’s getting mistreated or if there’s something else we are missing?
I know some of you guys may say that I should report gf’s roommate for mistreating Moon, personally, I would, but I’m just a third party in this and it’s up to my gf if she wants to take action. All I really care about is what I can do for Moon. Any feedback would be awesome.
One reason we do not like to give cats to college students is because when they start working or move around, they tend to abandon their pets. In general, and yes, there are exceptions, they do not show much maturity and attachment and it shows when at the end of the school year there are so many mature cats abandoned/lost/etc. The excuse is that their parents will not take them.
I am afraid that Moon is probably not even spayed/neutered, so maybe he/she is looking for a mate? Otherwise, basically, cats will look for a clean place to empty their bowels, and it has to be private. If they feel threatened when doing number 1 or number 2, there will be very serious problems derived thereof.
Aside from cleaning the box yourself -which is not your duty- keeping an eye for Moon’s safety is key. I really appreciate that you say you do not like cats but are still moved by the plight of this innocent. Please check her if you can for signs of physical stress and injuries. And keep an ear out for her issues: it is also customary here to pass pets around like a piece of stale, unwanted fruitcake from last Christmas. If she needs a new home, try to help to prevent him/her ending up in a public shelter/a mountain top/the closest alley. TaiwanSPCA may help also.
Yes, I told my gf that we should draw the line at taking care of his litter box and food dispenser. The most we can do is tell Moon’s mom when she’s home. Otherwise, we know that stuff won’t be done.
Unfortunately, can’t blame the roommate as a university student that doesn’t want to take responsibility or parents unwilling to allow a cat in the house. She’s in the next phase of her life, occupied with getting married to a wealthy boyfriend (I hear they’re engaged already) and having everything done for her. Gf and I have lost count of how many days the full garbage bags have been sitting out on the front balcony.
FYI Moon has been spayed and neutered.
My gf added that when she came in the door, Moon would walk out, but not wander too far, but would look down the (3 flights of) stairs to look for something or someone. However, we were just concerned he might make a run for it, so any kind of movement out the apt was considered a run in our minds.
Alas, I think we may have found out what’s wrong with Moon. My gf was home yesterday and Moon’s mom came in the door and Moon did not run out the door. I think he was missing mom?
It is sad to say, but pets do form attachments to people. That is why it hurts to see them being passed around without consideration to their feelings.
However, in this case, I think you or your GF should offer to take over Moon’s care… then find her a new home through Taiwan SPCA. I really fear not that Moon will be neglected, but rather just “lost” between the cracks of a new life. One walk out there for a cat that has never before stepped out… will be deadly.
I would address the walking out the door part. Usually a cat sneaking out the door has nothing to do with how she is treated in the house. Cats are territorial and exploring usually means they have observed the space long enough for them to feel they could stake it as their own. The excitement of you and your gf returning might also embolden Moon to explore a bit. The problem is the more Moon does this, the more she would feel like this is the way things goes, and venture even farther. So if you do not wish Moon to go into that space, try to use your legs, bags, purses to form a barrier and gently shuffle Moon away from the door.
Another possibility is that Moon has been seeing other cats or animals outside, and she feels like her territory is being trespassed. So she might want to get out there and reclaim the area. Usually this is less likely to happen for spayed or neutered cats, but some cats really care about their territory. If that’s the case then there are two ways to approach this. A. Prevent those animals from getting inside of her territory, which is super hard to do in a urban environment. B. walk Moon on a leash around those areas, so she feel secure about it, which isn’t possible at your present situation. It’s the more unlikely scenario anyway.
If the room mate really doesn’t have time to clean after Moon, maybe her rich boyfriend could afford to buy a self-cleaning sandbox. If he is really rich, tell her to get the catgenie. It needs to be connected to a tap water supply and a sewage drain.
It’s not ideal… but it’s better than Moon’s sandbox being dirty for a whole week. By the way, the ideal number of sandboxes for a single cat household is 2.
All our cats are vaccinated, dewormed, deflead, desexed, healthy and lovable, and they all get on with other cats.
sorry!
