Excessive Meowing And Sleeping Through The Night

[Savvylabell]

I want to preface this with I train horses professionally. I’ve trained my dog to a fairly high level.

In this situation I’ve even trained my one cat enough for us to coexist.

The issue is my cats have to live in my bedroom. I live with roommates in someone else’s house. They have an open top bunny cage and a dog that may chase. Also, I am gone for 12+ hours most days for my two jobs. I acquired my cats when there were 2 of us and I had a house. I was left with everyone plus a dog, and the cat didn’t even live with me for 9months... 3 months they spent in kennels at a friend’s house.


Things I already do:
When I’m home, they are allowed to go out in the house and play.
I don’t feel them dinner until 9:40pm.
I play with them right before bed.
Toys are left out all night for them to play with.

My boy cat has gotten better, but girl cat meows sometimes in the middle of the night but definitely before my alarm. I desperately need sleep. ALSO, they need to not wake up my roommates. I have met all of my cats needs that are possible.

Squirt bottle works for boy cat but girl cat now stands under the bed and meows.

I can’t really use the ignore techniques because that leaves them to wake up other people.

It’s been 5weeks and hasn’t really gotten better. Feeding them late has made the meowing wait until 4:30-5 instead of 2-3. But they really need to chill out. This is our only living option at the moment. At my old house we just locked them out of the bedroom at night.

 

[Savvylabell]

Oh, and, it’s not medical or stress. She’s hungry. She’s ALWAYS hungry. She can’t eat until she’s full, she’s overweight.

 

[MikeAW2010]

I would remove the matress from the rails or the bedset and keep the bed on the floor so she cant go under there anymore and continue squirting her in the face.

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. Sorry you and your cats are mostly living in one room. After living in a house, I'm sure that's a tough adjustment for all of you.

Since your cats are mostly in one room, here's an article on How To Make Your Home Bigger (at Least For Your Cats) that might be helpful.

Also one on How To Stop My Cat From Waking Me Up At Night?

And lastly, please don't squirt water at your cat. I know that's a common suggestion, but cats really don't usually respond to discipline, and it could make her behaviour worse.

Here's a couple articles with more info:
5 Reasons To Never Spray Water On Your Cat
Cats And Discipline Don't Mix
How To Set Healthy Boundaries For Your Cat

Hope you all get back into a larger living space soon.

 

[auntie]

You can give her baby food to fill up on, the kind with just ground chicken or turkey and water. That won't be fattening and will make her feel full

 

[lollie]

And lastly, please don't squirt water at your cat. I know that's a common suggestion, but cats really don't usually respond to discipline, and it could make her behaviour worse.

Right. The only thing this will do is make your cats afraid of you.

Sorry to say, the only thing proven for stopping the meowing is what you said you don't want to do because of roommates - ignoring it. A cat that meows for attention or food, does it because it gets results. Even if you're yelling at her, she had gotten your attention.

Maybe talk to the roommates and ask if you could try this at a time that was best for everyone, like a weekend or when someone is out of town. It only usually takes a couple of days to see real results.

How many times a day are you feeding? Perhaps you could try a lower calorie food, to help her feel full.

 

[danteshuman]

Open bunny cage & cats? I think you need your room mates & you to all be responsible. What if the cats get out or a bunny escapes? News flash, dogs eat bunnies to! Also if they are grown regular sized bunnies the bunnies may injure your cats.

The dogs require training & the entire house catification (cat shelves & trees all over the house.) Or hey, lock up the dogs all day. What that is cruel? Yet it is somehow fair to the cats?!?!?!?!?!?

So now that I have covered my "are you kidding me questions?!?" I will add this. All pet training starts with understanding the animal. Horses speak/react differently then dogs. Cats behave differently then dogs. All pet training works with ignoring the bad & TONS of positive re-enforcement. Plus consistency.

I would have your vet check your girl for causes for her hunger. Plus make sure she has more than one place to eat (just in case there is bullying.) I'm not a vet but my guess is she is stressed & may be over eating/meowing because of it. She has been moved (lost her territory/security), confined in a jail cell with her cat buddy (that you share with her part of the day) and there are weird animals outside she does not understand.

Until the dogs are trained to stay/look/go to bed ....then I would let the cats have the house every day for half of the day (or a third if the bunnies require house time away from the dogs.) Set up a schedule so it is divided equally & when their owner is home. You can also work on training the dogs to.

I get it roommates can be a pain. One of mine just got a dwarf hamster that is staying on the buffet counter/nook. All I'm thinking is "How do I cat proof this?" Also I'm not letting my hyper wants to hunt everything cat around the hamster cage without supervision. Nor am I letting that hamster run around the house.

 

[Savvylabell]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I’ve had cats, dogs, and bunnies my entire life. My dog does get crated when left home because of the bunnies. My dog is safe with the cats, as she has lived with them for years. Her dog has lived with them forever so they’re safe together. This isn’t just a roommate situation, this person owns the house. I’m not here to take over her existence and make it harder

Again, I’ve had cats my whole entire life and have never catified the entire house, that’s also unfair to house mates.

A schedule is hard with three people living here that all have 3 jobs and erratic schedules- other wise this would be much easier!

She doesn’t need the vet, she’s hungry because she’s fat, lol. As I stated before, this has already been investigated at the vet.

I feed them a raw/canned combination and they’re supervised the whole time they eat. She’s the only bully on the street. She will steal food from the dog. She’s been this way for 5 years and counting.

While my little male cat is still stressed, she isn’t. When she’s stressed she hides, doesn’t eat and won’t let me touch her, nor does she make noise. She very much shuts down.

She isn’t even afraid of the dog that chases her, she just gets angry at him lol.

I feed her 2x day, about 6am and 9pm. I give them a snack when I get home. She’s the most obnoxious/vocal at breakfast time, IE right now.

Thanks rubysmama I read all those articles before joining. My bedroom looks more like a cat paradise than where a human and dog also reside.

I do have to attempt to not get kicked out of the first place I found to live with my cats in 9months.