Hello. I need some advice! My cat always acts like she is dying of starvation. I feed her a can of iams wet food everyday at lunch time. Then I also keep a small bowl of purina one hard food down for her to eat whenever she wants. She has been fine with this, but lately shes been driving me nuts. every morning at like 5am she is scratching at the door and whining. (let me add i am renting the upstairs of my friends house while in school, so i live in huge room kinda like a studio size apt) but anyway the door is shut cuz they have a dog down stairs and she knows I get the food from outside the door, you know. so shes scratching like mad to get out the door at 5 am. waking me up. so i have found if I feed her at 5am she will let me sleep, but I do not like waking up at 5am, so I tried feeding her at around 10 o clock at night thinking maybe she would not wake me, but she still whines at 5am. then I tried feeding her at lunch time and then again at 10 at night thinking surely I will not be woke up, and sure enough she still wants food at 5am. And I am pretty sure it is food because when i open the door she runs out to the sitting room where the food is kept and waits for me. and anytime I eat anything she sits there like a dog and stares at me. but this waking me up has got to stop i cant take it. she has dry food down there why does she keep waking me up at 5am? Then I got a water gun to shoot when shes scratching at the door at 5am and for 2 weeks nows shes been getting shot, but she doesnt care she just lets out this desperation meow and does it again in like 5 mins. I am going on major lack of sleep with this cat scratching in the night. and even if i feed her before bed she still does it. I even put a blanket down in front of the door at night thinking she wouldnt scratch there, but she pulls it back and scratches to get out. then she sits and waits for food. what do i do?!?!?!?!?!
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My cat is driving me crazy help me!
- Thread starter michea
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- Feb 19, 2001
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Is this a new behavior scratching at the door? Her eating everything in sight is a pretty common reaction for a cat rescued from the outdoors, was she a rescue?
Have you thought about purchasing those automatic feeders, you fill up the container, set the timer and at certain hours of the day, the food will tumble down into the dish?
Has she been checked for worms recently? Do you de-flea her at all, and if you do, what do you use and how often?
You are creating a monster, and you need to ignore her when she cries.You can park your vacuum in front of the door, turned on but unplugged, and when she starts crying, reach over and plug it in for one second then turn it off. Repeat if necessary.
Have you thought about purchasing those automatic feeders, you fill up the container, set the timer and at certain hours of the day, the food will tumble down into the dish?
Has she been checked for worms recently? Do you de-flea her at all, and if you do, what do you use and how often?
You are creating a monster, and you need to ignore her when she cries.You can park your vacuum in front of the door, turned on but unplugged, and when she starts crying, reach over and plug it in for one second then turn it off. Repeat if necessary.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #4
She is 12 years old. I have had her since she was a baby. we moved into where we are living about 6 months ago, and i would say she has been acting this way for the last month... but the last two weeks have been the worst.
- Joined
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I would take her into the vet and ask them to run a senior panel on her just to be safe.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #7
She has just been to the vet 2 months ago for check up/shots and got a clean bill of health. I use advantage for fleas maybe every 3 months or so because she doesnt really get them at all. and hissy its hard to ignore her scratching at 5am. i get so angry because i have to get up for work at 6:30 and she always ruins my last hour of sleep.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #9
Has she been dewormed? Worms could also be an issue. I would go for a vet visit. There are a few things it could be. This is a new behavior, and there could be a medical reason for it. Its better to be safe than sorry.
Definitely have the vet run the senior panel. It will help determine if she has hyperthyroidism (common in older kitties and very treatable) which could be causing her to be hungry all the time. Even if all the values come back normal, at least you will have an idea of what her normal levels are. Has her weight changed at all?
