Meowing to go out only at night....?

Hello everyone,

I am a cat owner again for the first time in 10 years, and adopted a 2 year old kitty from a shelter a few months ago. She's a very indoor oriented cat, and occassionally goes out in the backyard (and mainly when I go out there too - she prefers to be supervised, go figure), but every night she meows for several hours at the front and back doors of the house to go outside. I never relent, as I don't want her outside at night, but she continues to do it every night. She never meows to go out during the day - usually she just follows me out there, or wanders out when she wants if the door is left open when I'm home.

My last cats were mainly outdoors cats, so this is the first time I have had a cat who doesn't really like the outdoors, and I'm not complaining. But I am puzzled about why she only demands to go out at night. I first thought it might be a hunting instinct, but after watching her outside several times during the day, I'm convinced she hasn't got one, as birds and various creatures sit right near her, or fly past, and she couldn't care less!!!

Any ideas?

Kirsten

My guess would be that she has never learnt not to be nocturnal and is just following her instincts. Do you keep her awake as much as possible during hte day and use up her energy? Then you can feed her a little snack at your bedtime and try to train her that way to sleep at night. But at 2 years old, I am not sure how much is possible?