Pls. Help I'm losing sleep

My girlfriend recently moved into a new apt. with her cat. It took a lot to let her landlord even have a cat...

The first few days were fine, but the past few nights, she has been waking us up at 4 in the morning and crying/howling for at least an hour straight. She just walks around crying. If we call her name, she'll hop up into bed, and then after a few minutes, she leaves again and starts crying.

If we try to put her out of the bedroom she'll claw and howl at the door till we let her back in.

What is going on??!!! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...it's almost been a week of this.

Keep in mind she's fine during the day when we are there hanging out, this only happens in the middle of the night.

THANK YOU!

Welcome to the site
Is it possible to have a play session of about 10-15 minutes with the kitten before you go to bed? This will tire her out and maybe she will sleep through the night. I am sure others will post with more suggestions

Hi and welcome to TCS.

Usually, I would recommend a vet visit just to make sure she isn't sick but as it is only happening at night, it's most likely a behavioural issue Your cat is most likely upset by the move. It sounds like she gets a bit anxious or frightened at night and expresses this by howling. Also, is she spayed, as a female cat in heat will howl for a mate, especially at night. How old is the cat?

Something that may help her is a Comfort Zone Plug-In. It contains a substance that helps to calm and make a cat comfortable. You plug the diffuser into an electric outlet in the room most often used by the cat. You can find out more on this web site.

tlbtb..it may be worth it to invest in a pair of earplugs. Additionally a bit of wet food and some play time (a feather toy is a good one) may help to keep her asleep for a longer period of time.

Here are some articles I found:

http://www.drpetra.com/Cats/Excessiv...20Activity.htm


http://www.perfectpaws.com/noct.html

Good Luck,

Katie

Hi-she is spade, and she is approximately 2yrs old. Normally she's not the most social cat, but now she's completely out of control and really really really needy...

I know it was difficult to convince the landlord to allow your GF her one cat...but it sounds as if her cat is lonely and could really benefit from another cat while the two of you are away at work (just a suggestion since I have always had 2 cats and found that they do really well while I'm away entertaining each other).

How much time do you spend "playing" with her?? Is that time daily?? I would really suggest that if you haven't invested much time in playing with the cat..that you should begin to allocate some time to simply playing with her.

Also...since this is a change in her behavior...you may want to have her checked over by the vet to ensure that everything is "ok" (but I see another more experienced person on this board has already stated it is probably behavioral).

I know it can be annoying to be woken up....I have 2 cats (as I stated before) and my one cat still wakes me up at 6 AM every morning...


Katie

Believe it or not, leaving a nightlight on for her might do the trick.

In addition, try playing a very very active 10 minutes with her before bedtime. Have her run, jump, and chase a rope or other toys for a good 10 minutes and you will likely find that she is okay throughout the night.

Most importantly, do not respond to her yowling. If you pet her or give her any attention when she is yowling, she will quickly learn that yowling gets her what she wants which will make her do it all the more. (Earplugs will help you ignore the yowling until it stops.)

Good luck!