Pet history: MeiLi is a himalayan cat, 5 years old. I don't know anything about the first 2 years of MeiLi's life. What I do know is that she was purchased at the age of two for my partner's mother as a gift (who already had two siamese cats). She lived at her house for 2.5 years, the first year or so being good. Then mom got a Basset Hound. MeiLi refused to stay in the same room as it, even on the same floor of the house. So she began to live in the damp basement and outside, turning into a matted ball of fur and mud and burrs. She got no attention and just did her own thing for about 2 years. About 5 months ago, Lance and I were in a position to take her to our apartment.
And we did. She had a full check up and shots when we got her 5 months ago, and other than a slight cold, she was fine. We noticed early on that she had issues with us leaving the apartment (we have to keep her indoors because of the area in which we live and the landlord's dog). She would cry at night sometimes when she didn't know where we were. Once we called out to her, she would be fine and jumped up on the bed.
This past week, however, she has been something else and I'm about at wit's end. Every night, every half hour or so, she starts crying. Loud. And she won't stop until one of us gets up and brings her in the room. Or gives her food. Or anything to shut her up. I can't figure out why it just started all of the sudden. The only thing that has changed in our house this week is that the windows have been open because it is nice outside now. Perhaps she wants to go out, but we can't let her out because of aforementioned reasons. We thought it may be because she thought we were gone and she was lonely. But we started keeping a small light on so that she could see at night and now she should be able to see us.
My guess is that she knows she gets attention when she cries, and therefore she can get one of us to do something if she starts crying. But I don't really know.
What should I do? We really can't keep losing hours of sleep because MeiLI refuses to stop crying (I think I got less than 3 hours last night!). And the landlords complained to me, apparently they can hear her upstairs too.
I really have no idea what to do. Thanks for your help.
And we did. She had a full check up and shots when we got her 5 months ago, and other than a slight cold, she was fine. We noticed early on that she had issues with us leaving the apartment (we have to keep her indoors because of the area in which we live and the landlord's dog). She would cry at night sometimes when she didn't know where we were. Once we called out to her, she would be fine and jumped up on the bed.
This past week, however, she has been something else and I'm about at wit's end. Every night, every half hour or so, she starts crying. Loud. And she won't stop until one of us gets up and brings her in the room. Or gives her food. Or anything to shut her up. I can't figure out why it just started all of the sudden. The only thing that has changed in our house this week is that the windows have been open because it is nice outside now. Perhaps she wants to go out, but we can't let her out because of aforementioned reasons. We thought it may be because she thought we were gone and she was lonely. But we started keeping a small light on so that she could see at night and now she should be able to see us.
My guess is that she knows she gets attention when she cries, and therefore she can get one of us to do something if she starts crying. But I don't really know.
What should I do? We really can't keep losing hours of sleep because MeiLI refuses to stop crying (I think I got less than 3 hours last night!). And the landlords complained to me, apparently they can hear her upstairs too.
I really have no idea what to do. Thanks for your help.
