Meoooooowwwww! @ 2:00am

So Morty has taken to wandering the apartment, which is two rooms small at 2:00AM crying and whining and howling. He knows where I am and he can get there. He has food too. Why is he doing this any ideas? Is he lost? (typed sarcastically)

I am serious though. any suggestions as to why he does this or how to make him stop? I have heard that you should just ignore it, but he sounds scared, or hurt, and besides I don't want the neighbors to complain as I live in an apartment buiding.

I'm not really sure I can help since I have Carly who sounds like she's singing (oddly pitch meows) to her toys at 3:38 am. We have ignored her for over a year and she still doing it. Have you tried wearing him out before bed with lots of play?

How old is Morty? Older (senior) cats have a tendency to start doing this on a regular basis. It can be the onset of senility, or his eyesight might be going and the darkness now scares him a little. It could just be loneliness during a period of his day when he is apt to be most active. Maybe there's a cat outside that is getting his attention. It can also be an indication of pain but it sounds like he only does this at night, so that's probably not it.

What is your response when he begins whining/howling? If he's vocalizing because he's looking for attention, and you give it to him, you are rewarding his behavior. Though I can certainly understand that, due to your living situation, you would not want him to carry on for too long.

Is he neutered? Sexually mature entire tomcats often exhibit this behaviour.

If not, it's way past time to get him fixed... if he is, then any change in behaviour could be a sign of ill health so a vet check is a good idea.

He is neutered and he is youngish only 5yrs old. I know what you mean about senility as my cat growing up has this a little and she just chats and tlaks all day to herself and anyone who will listen. So cute she is about 18 years old though. I think he just wants attention once his family goes to bed. He is an "8-Bit ?sp?" (if you know this notorious cat) type cat and I think he is just doing it to drive me nuts. He is not in pain as he is very healthy and spends alot of his spare time knocking things over, getting on tables he shouldn't and making sure his sister cat in in constant fear for her life. He's an all around nice guy type of cat, (haha). So I am sure he is just doing this to torture me. I have tried ignoring him, but then he gets on the dresser and side tables and knocks things off to the floor one by one. Anyone recommend a sedative for the guy? (you know I mean this as a joke.)

My Dharma is about 4 1/2 and she also does the 2:00 in the morning meow. I admit, I started it by having to go to the bathroom early in the morning, so she thinks meowmy is always active at that time. I do find that if I play a lot with her before bedtime, she may actually be quiet to our usual 4:30 wake up (that's me, to go to work).

Her trick, if I ignore her meowing, is to start the soft little crying sound - gts me every single time. Usually she either just wants to show me what's creeping around outside (once it was a racoon), or she wants to be petted.

Hows his hearing? my Spider used to do that, she was a lot older but the vet told me it's common in cats that are going deaf. Sorry, cant help you on how to stop it, we used to take it in turns to get up and shut her in the kitchen when she started up, it trained her a little bit, sometimes she'd go for as long as 5 nights without yowling

The only solution I've found is to not let Moses sleep as much during the day. (Which I can't do when I'm not home.) If he doesn't nap a ton durring the day, he'll sleep through the night.