Cats are disturbing neighbors at night

ozziegt

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So I just got a letter from the neighbor who's unit is below ours. Apparently our cats running around at night is causing a thumping in her ceiling and is disturbing her at night and in the morning. We don't know what to do!!! Would this problem have been any less if we had only one cat? I imagine the two are chasing each other around at night.
 

kumbulu

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Can you confine them to one room at night, so they can't get up any decent speed to galump along?

Maybe just offer to buy her some ear plugs.
 

rosiemac

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If she could hear my two chasing after each other she'd know about it. Their like two toddlers running around upstairs at times
I wouldn't be thinking of getting rid of one if that's what your thinking of doing


Tanias gave a good suggestion about keeping them in one room.
 
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ozziegt

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I guess if we keep them in one room at night we would need to put a litter box in that room? ugh. Actually we have a little hallway between the guest room and the bathroom, with one open doorway leading out. Maybe we could block that door at night...but I don't know what we would block it with.

I really dislike the idea of confining them to one room all night since that seems to be when they are the most active. But we might not have a choice...

Will confining them to one room really fix the situation?
 

meistersar

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you want to get rid of the first cat to begin with because it was shy? If you really want only one cat, then find a suitable home for the other. It almost seems to me you're looking for excuses to get rid of one. Most people who own pets would hardly suggest right off hand 'well if I get rid of one...' that's the last solution for them, especially for a problem fixed fairly easily.

As for solutions; someone suggested confining them to one room or smaller area of the house. If you decide to do this, they may not like it the first few nights but they will get used to it. Try Feliway spray or defuser to help calm them down during the transition period.

Try having a good hard play time with them before bed so they are tired out and less likely to run about.

You could just seperate the cats using an indoor pet fence at night or something similiar.

Again, if you're only looking for an excuse to get rid of one cat and you really don't want it, which was fairly obvious from your last thread, take it to a no kill shelter or cat rescue, or find a suitable owner who truly wants the animal. It's not fair for the animal if the owner is just looking for reasons to get rid of it. Believe it or not, animals CAN feel subtle tension like that coming from you and it does stress them out, not to mention if you really don't want two cats, then it's no fun for the owner either. But also realize if you get rid of one cat, be prepared to spend more time with the remaining cat, as two cats that get along (I assume they do if they're playing at night) will definately be looking to fill that gap, and it will come to you for that attention. That's our responsibility as pet owners when we take in these animals to care for them.
 
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ozziegt

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He's starting to get comfortable and I would really feel bad about giving him back now. I would like to avoid it if possible. It was just a question, which you still didn't answer despite all the attention you gave it. Will separating them cut down on the running? I don't like that idea either though, because basically we are "punishing" one of them by confining it to one room while the other gets the whole condo.

What would we need the spray for?
 

littleraven7726

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as someone who lives in an apartment...i just have to ask...what would she do if it was kids? expect you to lock them in their room and not play or move around?

i've been living in apartments long enough to know that if you don't want to hear anything, you live on the top floor.
and even then you still hear some stuff. we lived on the first floor in our last building, which was by no means well sound proofed...and we could hear the neighbors walking around and their cat getting the "kitty crazies." you can't expect your neighbors to be super quiet all the time when you live in apartments.

has she gone to management/the landlord?

i don't really have any advice. if it was me, i'd be moving when the lease was up.
 
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ozziegt

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It's a condo. We bought it in October. About 60% of the unit is above hers and the rest is above the garages for the units. I guess she could go to the HOA, but you are right I don't know what she would expect once we have children. I think the real issue is that the running and noise is at night. If it were during the day / evening when humans are 'normally' up, I doubt she would say anything.
 

meistersar

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Your reply wasn't up when I began to post mine, so you must have posted it while I was typing.

Will it cut down on the running? Yes. Cats usually don't run around too much by themselves, especially older cats.

You may try to make the area of the house you put one in a sort of 'safe room' for him or her. Put toys in, liter box, water/food (food if needed, not sure your feeding routine) some kind of bedding, etc. Again, Feliway is suggested, it may take a few days for them to settle into the new night routine, but cats are creatures of pattern. Once the pattern is established, they will usually calm down fairly quickly.

I still suggest, even if you do seperate them, a good half hour or so of play time before you seperate them for the night, and spend a few moments with the cat in the seperated room as well. That way they associate that time of night with play rather than confinement, and it will also help tire them down, hence less fuss.
 
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ozziegt

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Originally Posted by meistersar

You may try to make the area of the house you put one in a sort of 'safe room' for him or her. Put toys in, liter box, water/food (food if needed, not sure your feeding routine) some kind of bedding, etc. Again, Feliway is suggested, it may take a few days for them to settle into the new night routine, but cats are creatures of pattern. Once the pattern is established, they will usually calm down fairly quickly.
So it's a 2 br / 2 bath condo with a large living area. The only way we can split it up is to confine one to the guest bedroom & bathroom area. I think if we can swing it and manage to give him access to the guest bathroom, we can put a litter box in there. The older one is a digger and so we can't put the litter box in the bedroom since it is carpeted...

The neighbors bedroom is below the guest bedroom...so maybe if we just keep them out of there, it would be ok...
 

littleraven7726

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Originally Posted by ozziegt

It's a condo. We bought it in October. About 60% of the unit is above hers and the rest is above the garages for the units. I guess she could go to the HOA, but you are right I don't know what she would expect once we have children. I think the real issue is that the running and noise is at night. If it were during the day / evening when humans are 'normally' up, I doubt she would say anything.
ok, i didn't know it was a condo.
separating them probably would cut down on the running. but if you keep them out of the room over her bedroom that might stop enough noise for her.


in reference to the carpeting and litter boxes, i do keep our boxes in carpeted areas. (no choice with our apartment layout). i just vacuum 2-3 times a week. it seems to keep up on it. plus i keep those dog house training pads underneath the boxes "just in case".
 

kumbulu

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When I suggested maybe confining them to one room, I meant together. They can still have each other for company but can't do any running or chasing.
 
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ozziegt

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I think we will try to keep them out of the bedroom and see if that fixes the problem. In the meantime, any other suggestions would be appreciated.
 

bonnie1965

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Sheesh, sounds like this woman needs something. I always use a fan at night for the white noise. I live in a building with people all around me. No way I expect them all to be stone silent while I sleep. The fan's noise muffles all that.

Sounds like keeping them out of the guest room may be the way to go. If she still complains, then you know she's full of baloney.
 

mybabyphx

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I used to have problems with people complaining about my cats. One of my cats would sit up in the window sill and then jump down to the floor when he's done. But he was a bigger cat so that jump was more of a PLOP. Everyone got sooo mad that he was loud. And he would also run back and forth back and forth..... So.. I moved! Problem solved. Now I live in a condo, noone above me and noone beneath me.
 

deljo

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I work in an apt. bldg. A resident always complained about a cat above her making noise at night. We in the office thought she was crazy until I got 2 cats. I live in a two story townhouse with neighbors on both sides. When my cats jump down off something upstairs they make a loud thud. When they chase each other up and down the stairs I really expect my neighbor to complain, but she is a sweetheart. I don't complain about her little granddaughter running up and down the stairs. When you live next to people you need to make allowances.
 

lnbandcats

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Thank goodness you own the condo. What are the regulations for allowing pets? I can only agree with everyone else, cats are like kids, they do make noise. In this instance, though, you are dealing with an overnight noise situation and she would have the right to complain.
Did I miss the section of your post that explains what rooms are over the garage area?
Can you have a louvered door installed in the hallway that you mentioned that would keep the cats from running all over your condo?
 
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ozziegt

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I don't remember reading about any regulations about pets. I am going to go through the HOA docs again and make sure I didn't miss anything.

The only room over the garage area which we could successfully close in is our bedroom. So that's not gonna work.

I am thinking about putting up something on that doorway that separates the guest bedroom / bath from the rest of the condo...maybe make a lightweight gate or something that we can just put up at night and take down during the day...but I think the easier solution to try for now is to close the guest bedroom door and see if that keeps the noise from disturbing her.
 
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ozziegt

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Well she rang the doorbell today. She was really nice...not confrontational at all. I told her they run around at night and we are going to try to keep them from disturbing her, and she seemed pretty understanding about it. She said she wanted to let us know about it because we are so quiet she wanted to make sure nothing was wrong (I am sure it was disturbing her too).
 
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