This meowing has to stop! Please offer suggestions!

snowshoes

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I feed my boys canned food in the morning and at night. Lately (maybe it's when I'm feeding them a brand they really like?) they sit by my bedroom door and meow...and meow... And meow. I know the worst thing to do is reinforce this behavior by giving them any sort of attention when they do this, so I don't. I don't go to the door, I don't make any noise in the room, and I certainly don't reward them by giving them their breakfast.

They have dry food in their bowl so I know they aren't starving. But the worst part is that I have a five month old baby and they sometimes wake her up with this meowing! It's driving me crazy! It's one thing to wake me up, but to wake up my baby daughter who does not nap during the day (*sarcastic smile)

I don't have a second barrier to keep them away from my bedroom door. Does anyone have any suggestions? I get so mad I would put them in the bathroom but it's right next to my door, or in a kennel but they are Maine Coons and their voices are quite loud, I can hear them all the way upstairs from the basement lol.

For a week or so I kept the vacuum near the door and on so I would just have to plug it in to scare them off but that's loud too and I don't enjoy scaring my cats or making them afraid of anything.
 

nora1

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Would it be possible to separate the 2 meals into 3 meals throughout the day? Breakfast, late lunch, then late dinner. I wonder if they have their 3rd and last meal late at night, then they wouldn't be "as hungry" in the early morning hours. Even though they have dry kibble down, it definitely sounds like they love their wet meals!

Have you considered a timed feeder for the wet? There are timed feeders out there that have little compartments with lids, but then open when the timer goes off. If you're ok with leaving wet out for a few hours, then this might be an idea?!

Hopefully some others can add their ideas :) 
 
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snowshoes

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Well, they get their second meal around 9:30pm. I'm considering not giving them canned in the am anymore because the meowing is getting so bad. If feed them strictly canned if I could afford it, and would love to get those canned feeders you mentioned if I could afford it. Feeding them costs me more than I spend on diapers lol. I try to feed them the higher end foods. Their kibble is Wellness Core and their canned is Blue Buffalo Freedom... And I have three cats. They split one can in the morning and one at night.

Thank you for your suggestion though! I certainly appreciate it :D
 

nikiwink

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Do they meow mostly in the morning then?? For breakky?

Our 2 are fed first thing and last thing but also confined to our laundry at night as their games were waking us up. They also have ad lib kibbles.
 
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snowshoes

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They sometimes meow during the day while I'm upstairs (they are not allowed upstairs as it's my parents house) but it's the morning meowing that disturbs my sleeping baby that is driving me bonkers.
 

our3girls

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You might just have very vocal cats,I know my our girl cinnamon is very vocal.She will pick up a toy and walk around with meowing.Its just in their nature and feel privileged that are vocal that way you can talk back and forth with each other.Also what breed are they bcause some are just more vocal than others
 

Kat0121

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I agree with @Our3girls. I think you have vocal cats. I have one, too. Lilith meows, chirps, trills and on and on. Her sister, Sophie makes one sound. ACK! This is her all purpose sound. I want my breakfast/dinner, put me down, pet me, you name it. Lilith sometime sounds like she is talking. From the sounds she makes one could think I have a 2 year old little girl in the house (I do not). Some of her noises sound just like a very small girl saying mommy, oh no, hello (she did this walking around in my daughter's room- she is away at college- it sounded just like hellooo? hellooo?) she makes all of these noises at any hour of the day and night. Her profile at the humane society said very vocal. They weren't kidding. I think it's part of her charm (except at 4 am
)
 

p3 and the king

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I have very vocal cats, as well... Phoebe, Morgan La Fay and Tyrion, especially.  What works for me is talking back to them.  Just like you would a person.  Mostly they "talk" to announce a victory over a toy or a moth, spider, bug they killed or because they want attention.  So I tell them how good and brave they are when it's a victory chant and when they want attention, I give it to them.  This probably doesn't help you right now, but eventually the baby will get used to it and not notice their meowing, as well. 
 

betsygee

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Can you just feed them at the time they start meowing?  Or is it too early?  I have a cat who is my alarm clock.  He just starts at about 6:15 a.m., every day, to let me know it's breakfast time.  That's the time I need to get up anyway so I just get up and feed them.  That's all he wants, and then he's quiet after that.
 

Kat0121

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Can you just feed them at the time they start meowing?  Or is it too early?  I have a cat who is my alarm clock.  He just starts at about 6:15 a.m., every day, to let me know it's breakfast time.  That's the time I need to get up anyway so I just get up and feed them.  That's all he wants, and then he's quiet after that.
This is a good point. With me, it's not my vocal cat who wakes me when it's breakfast time (4:45 -5 AM), it's her sister. Same thing every day. She jumps up on my chest and pats me on the cheek with her paw. As soon as I open my eyes, I get her (just about) only vocalization-  ACK!!  Her little face is always right in my face when she ACKs at me so I know she means business.


This must be something they decided together. Lilith has never woken me up for breakfast. She leaves that for the middle of the night with her variety of noises. It's a trade off, I guess.
 

our3girls

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My 3 girls all of them are vocal its a sign of intelligence and how smart the cat is I think anyways.The cats are coounicating with you telling you they want something.We need to invent a meow to human language translation device problem solved.
 
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