Yelling cat now holding a grudge...

Good afternoon.

As some of you know, I have a 16 year old cat named Athena. Her entire life, Athena has been a very, VERY quiet cat. She barely made a peep beyond small little 'murrs' now and again until she was about fourteen. Then suddenly she seemed to discover her voice and start holding conversations. 

She also sleeps with us at night, and has slept with me at night ever since I got her. Every once in a blue moon- perhaps once a year, she'd not come in and join us at night, but that's it.

Lately, the last six months or so, she's gotten VERY chatty with us at night. She'll come in to sleep with us at varying times throughout the night and whenever she does...even at three in the morning when we're both completely out...she'll 'announce' her presence the moment she jumps on the bed. She's not in pain and it's not a distressed sound, just a very happy eager 'here I am! I'm here! I'm here! did you notice I'm here? I'm here for cuddles! Cuddles! I'm here!'

Needless to say this wakes us up and disturbs our sleep. We used to be able to get her to quiet and lay down and that'd be it, but now it's harder and harder to do. My wife is especially bothered with it (she's a fairly light sleeper whereas I sleep like the dead in Hades). I've told her the moment Athena gets on the bed and starts yelling to put her off the bed again. When this happens, most often, Athena will sit for a moment, then VERY QUIETLY 'sneak' back onto the bed and settle down with us. Most often, but not always...sometimes she'll just leap right back on and start announcing again.

Well, about a week ago my wife- for varying reasons- got little to no sleep over several nights, and she was exhausted. I made the choice to lock Athena out of the bedroom so that my wife could get a night's sleep without being woken up every couple of hours. There's a cat door that goes in and out of the room so I just locked it. Athena of course tested the door a couple of times but that was it. 

The next night, given that my wife had been able to catch up on her sleep, I unlocked the door again to allow Athena to sleep with us as usual. 

That was Sunday. Athena has not, nor has she even attempted, to enter the bedroom at all while we're sleeping since the night we locked her out.

Which is fantastic as far as our sleep goes, but kind of depressing. We like snuggling with her at night and having her all cuddled and purring next to us (or on top of us!) it's just the obnoxious yelling when she joins us or whenever we move and wake her that we could really do without.

Dunno if anyone can really 'help' but if you have any thoughts I'd love to hear them. I have no doubt we can get Athena to sleep with us again (likely just bring her in the bedroom when we hit the sheets one night would do it) but we haven't made that effort- much as we miss her- because we need our sleep. If we could stop her insisting on chatting with us so obnoxiously when we're sleeping that'd be fantastic.

Thoughts?

Hi @ravynwriter and sorry there's been no response.. probably because it's hard to know what to do here.

When you unlocked the cat door, did you leave the actual door a little open?  It may be that Athena learned that pushing on the cat door just didn't work and she's not prepared to try again?

She has learned the door will not open all the time and has given up. She is 16 years old, and like many elderly is most likely experiencing the beginnings of dementia, it can bring on a change of behavior and excessive meowing, especially at night. I would suggest trying to tire her out more in the evening with much playing with a wand, or get a toy which can be kept during the day in a bag of catnip for her to play with in the evenings. Feed her her largest meal at night, it may let her sleep longer. Get her a heated cat bed, which I highly recommend for the elderly anyway, place it in a favorite spot and I can guarantee she won't even miss your bed. Of course there are exceptions, I had to place a heated pad in the middle at the foot of the bed for one of my cats, but they gravitate too it like the moon to the earth and settle in quickly. Has she been to a vet lately, I know how distressing it can be, my elderly cat even has a heart condition so it can be scary, but it could be possible she has a thyroid problem which is very common, kidney issues which can build up toxins in the  blood and cause behavioral issues, or even diabetes. These can all be diagnosed with a blood test and can be treated if caught in the early stages, letting her live a long healthy life. I'll pray it is nothing serious, I have a feeling it is just her age, but I wish you all well, and hope you find a solution!    

 When you unlocked the cat door, did you leave the actual door a little open?  It may be that Athena learned that pushing on the cat door just didn't work and she's not prepared to try again?

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We didn't. I'm not sure that was the case, however, as she would use the cat door to go into the bedroom during the day, she was just 'boycotting' us at night while we were sleeping. It's been getting warmer lately though so perhaps it's just a coincidence and she feels too hot sleeping up there with us?

I'm far more concerned about the night time yelling when she DOES join us.

 I would suggest trying to tire her out more in the evening with much playing with a wand, or get a toy which can be kept during the day in a bag of catnip for her to play with in the evenings.

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The catnip toy is a good idea, we hadn't tried that yet. She's not big on wand toys. We have a very active one year old kitty named Ripley who is HUGE on toys and tends to get the zoomies at night. There is a lot of wand toy play with her in the evening before we go to bed to help wear her out, and Athena is never inclined to join in even when we try and entice her: it's just never been her 'thing'. She will 'occasionally' go after the laser pointer but its only for a few moments and mostly is half-hearted. We will give  the catnip toy a try (she does love her catnip).

 Feed her her largest meal at night, it may let her sleep longer.

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Already doing so. That was the first thing we thought when she started this: she was just looking for food. She's had an enormous appetite lately and it kind of coincided with this behavior. However, even with a big bowl of wet food before bed and free-feed dry food available all night she hasn't stopped her 'announcements' at night.

 Has she been to a vet lately, I know how distressing it can be, my elderly cat even has a heart condition so it can be scary, but it could be possible she has a thyroid problem which is very common, kidney issues which can build up toxins in the  blood and cause behavioral issues, or even diabetes. These can all be diagnosed with a blood test and can be treated if caught in the early stages, letting her live a long healthy life.

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Yes, this all started with her suddenly eating like a horse but dropping weight alarmingly. She went right into the vet and we had all sorts of tests done. They thought it was her thyroid at first too but a couple months of medication only took her from the high side of normal to the low side of normal and did nothing for her weight loss or anything else. The vets determined it wasn't her thyroid and couldn't pinpoint what it might be. They *think* she has some sort of lymphoma but can't be sure without an expensive ultrasound. However, it's been a few months now and while skinny, her weight has stabilized and she has no other symptoms of...anything. She's bright, as energetic as she ever was, no vomiting, no diarrhea, etc. etc. Other than the meowing right now she's as normal and fit as she was at six years old (if slightly scrawny and a bit grayer). 

 I have a feeling it is just her age, but I wish you all well, and hope you find a solution!    

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Thank you, I appreciate it We'll try the catnip mouse. As for the heated bed, it's been really warm here and going to get warmer, so we might hold off on that for a little bit- I don't think she'd use it right now, to be honest.