Sleepless nights - help

okay, I'm now VERY sleep deprived and starting to become desperate.

I can handle a scared cat, and i honestly thought she would do the hiding thing, but I wasn't prepared for this nocturnal yeowlling.

My husband is not happy about this, basically this crying has got to stop or he says I must take her back. This isn't a small kitten cry, it's a loud yeowlling that just goes on and on. She woke up at 2am yesterday and has gone non stop. I exposed her to the rest of the house this morning, she explored and sat at the front door crying. I then opened a crack in the bedroom door for the cats to see each other for the first time. Munchie ran away and Max growled and hid under the bed.(They have been scent swopping areas since I brought her home)

I spent the whole night with her, but she still carried on and when I took her down from the washing machine for the third time, she hissed and bit me.Two minutes later she will sit on my lap cuddling and purring.I wouldn't care if she explores, our two will have rough play at night, but it's the screaming thats driving me batty.

Any ideas?? Should I put her in the cat carrier when she wakes up at night and cover it?? I'm worried that this will stress her out even more. She is sleeping during the day, and as I'm at work I can't keep her awake. Should I try that this weekend???

Munchie

Hi Munch welcome to the world of owning a feral! Unlike domesticated cats, you have now a kitty inside of a house for the first time in her life. She is exposed to new sounds, new smells and it is quite overwhelming to her. She misses her littermates, and her mom and you just don't quite seem like mom yet. You are her first good contact with a human and she does not yet trust you fully. The night is her friend and she will keep you awake for quite awhile as she calls out to her friends who are no longer there.

I deal in ferals, period, and this is what I do with new ones that come in. I seclude them in a room by themselves. I have a catroom upstairs that I use, and in it is an empty closet. I put the cat in the room and leave on classical music cd, Bach is usually good. I leave it on repeat very very low. I give the kitty food, water and then shut the door and leave it be. Also, instead of the bright overhead lights, I only leave a night light on. I also pile pound puppies (stuffed animals) in various places in the room where I hope kitty might sleep. I just let kitty get used to one thing at a time and it takes a long time for kitty to adjust and to trust anyone. I have 9 ferals that would love to be company to the new kitty, but they are also shut off from the new arrival until about a week later and then I do other things first before putting them all together.

Thank you for taking in a feral kitty. It is not an easy thing to do, they love to bite and scratch and hiss. Feel free to email me with any questions, but right now I need to get some sleep. I have even had a few here that we had to sleep with earplugs because the mrows were so loud we couldn't sleep much. good luckk! One of the best things you can give this kitty is a cardboad box turned over and weighted down with a hole in it that she can get in and out of. put some old rags in it and she will find her way into the dark cave and feel very safe there.

Dear hissy

Thanks for your reply. I'm going to do the cardboard box and the classical music now. I can stick earplugs in and sleep through this, until she stops but my husband can't, and I'm worried how long it's going to take for her to adjust. I understand were she comes from and am more patient with her because I bonded with her, but my husband hasn't and the two resident cats are his babies.

Please let me know what you do before they meet. I put Max and Munch in her room today and they sniffed everything growling. As I put them on the floor they hissed as if waiting for her to come round a corner. My e-mail is
[email protected]

She is lovable to every human she meets (other people also took care of her in the colony) and when she saw my cats she was quite willing to come and have a look, but they were not. I could really use help with this.
Munchie

Munch, check your email........

I just adopted a new kitten as a companion to the cat I adopted 3 weeks ago, and I'm having some sleepless nights as well. I let both into my bedroom at the beginning of this week, and I think I made a mistake. I feel bad shutting them out, but the older cat wakes me up at the crack of dawn wanting to talk (or wanting in the closet or on top of the armoire or to look out the blinds behind the bed...), and the kitten wants to put his face right up to my face and attack my hands and feet. I put them outside the bedroom and both cry and scratch on the door. The kitten hates being shut away from where he preceives the action is. When I first got him, I tried to confine him to one room at night for his own safety, but he was very, very vocal about his dissatisfaction with this arrangement. He doesn't cry at all when he's not shut out.

I read on some other page to put the vacuum by the bedroom door and turn it on when the cats start meowing (my two just have to see the vacuum and they run for cover). Are there any other suggestions? I just want to sleep.

Kris

kris, since cats are nocturnal animals, keeping them busy during the day is one way to tire them out. If your cat gets you up in the middle of the night by yowling and so you feed it, this will just set it in the cat's mind, "oh cool, I scream and I get fed." Do your major feeding during the day, and only leave a little bit of dry down before you go to bed.

You can try to startle the cat by making noise. Pennies in a can shaken at the cat, a long sheet of tin foil flapping at kitty will usually startle the cat out of the behavior. But the best way to have a long play session with the cat during the day to tucker it out. That and spaying and neutering will also help if the cat is old enough and hasn't been fixed.