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- Sep 20, 2015
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A little background first: I have a cat named Libby and I've had her since August 2014. I don't know how old she is. I'd say she's anywhere from 5-8 years old. My brother and I were walking out of our front door one day right as she was crossing our front yard. She stopped dead in her tracks and began meowing. We happened to have some cat food so we fed her and she's been ours ever since.
That was August 2014. My brother and I moved out of that house and back in with our parents two months ago. The living arrangements are different, needless to say, and our parents' house is significantly bigger. I don't think that's the source of the problem though. Sure, it took her a few days to learn about her new environment but now she walks around the whole house with no problems.
Here's the problem: She awakens my brother and I every night, usually multiple times a night. She did this several times, almost every night, when my brother and I were still living in our house, before the move. So it's not a new thing. Whenever she would start meowing in the middle of the night, either my brother or I would have to get up and sit with her while she ate. We would also have to do this during the day. We may have spoiled her. But if we didn't sit by her when she wanted to eat, she would just keep meowing and not eat. I'm sure she would've eaten eventually, after she got hungry enough.
So now, not only are my bro and I living with our parents again, we're also having to share a room. So every night, Libby will fall asleep on the sofa before we go to bed. After both of us have been in bed for an hour or so, Libby will come into our room and wake us up with her incessant meowing. We try to ignore her and tell her to be quiet, but she just won't stop meowing and she will not eat. She sometimes starts meowing before she climbs the stairs to our room. When she does that she has to meow twice as loud for us to hear it, which increases the chances that my mom or dad might hear her.
It may not sound like a real problem because I don't know if I've done a good job of explaining the situation. I think Libby may be depressed. She's definitely overweight. All she does is eat and sleep. I realize cats do a lot of sleeping, but I've never known a cat to sleep so much. My brother or I take her outside once or twice a day and that's just about the only time she's active. However, when we're outside with her we have to watch her closely because if we don't, she'll make her way around to the front of the house and possibly end up in the street. I've already had one cat die from being hit by a car. I don't wanna let that happen again. We also keep an eye on her because the neighbors on both sides have cats and there's also a feral stray cat that comes around a lot. When my brother and I were living in the other house, we didn't have a litter box. We were comfortable letting Libby out unsupervised for an indefinite period of time and she would use the bathroom while she was out. We didn't have a litter box because when we decided to keep Libby as a pet, part of us were still mourning the loss of Billy, the cat who was hit by a car. So we told ourselves that we would just take things slow. We have one now though, but we keep it clean so I don't think that's the problem.
I feel like I've been all over the place while writing this post, but I wanted to provide all of the pertinent information regarding Libby's behavior. Basically, I'm hoping to find a remedy to this problem of being awakened at least once a night by my cat. My brother and I love Libby, but we're almost to the point of finding another home for her. We really don't want to do that but we can't keep on like this.
Thanks.
That was August 2014. My brother and I moved out of that house and back in with our parents two months ago. The living arrangements are different, needless to say, and our parents' house is significantly bigger. I don't think that's the source of the problem though. Sure, it took her a few days to learn about her new environment but now she walks around the whole house with no problems.
Here's the problem: She awakens my brother and I every night, usually multiple times a night. She did this several times, almost every night, when my brother and I were still living in our house, before the move. So it's not a new thing. Whenever she would start meowing in the middle of the night, either my brother or I would have to get up and sit with her while she ate. We would also have to do this during the day. We may have spoiled her. But if we didn't sit by her when she wanted to eat, she would just keep meowing and not eat. I'm sure she would've eaten eventually, after she got hungry enough.
So now, not only are my bro and I living with our parents again, we're also having to share a room. So every night, Libby will fall asleep on the sofa before we go to bed. After both of us have been in bed for an hour or so, Libby will come into our room and wake us up with her incessant meowing. We try to ignore her and tell her to be quiet, but she just won't stop meowing and she will not eat. She sometimes starts meowing before she climbs the stairs to our room. When she does that she has to meow twice as loud for us to hear it, which increases the chances that my mom or dad might hear her.
It may not sound like a real problem because I don't know if I've done a good job of explaining the situation. I think Libby may be depressed. She's definitely overweight. All she does is eat and sleep. I realize cats do a lot of sleeping, but I've never known a cat to sleep so much. My brother or I take her outside once or twice a day and that's just about the only time she's active. However, when we're outside with her we have to watch her closely because if we don't, she'll make her way around to the front of the house and possibly end up in the street. I've already had one cat die from being hit by a car. I don't wanna let that happen again. We also keep an eye on her because the neighbors on both sides have cats and there's also a feral stray cat that comes around a lot. When my brother and I were living in the other house, we didn't have a litter box. We were comfortable letting Libby out unsupervised for an indefinite period of time and she would use the bathroom while she was out. We didn't have a litter box because when we decided to keep Libby as a pet, part of us were still mourning the loss of Billy, the cat who was hit by a car. So we told ourselves that we would just take things slow. We have one now though, but we keep it clean so I don't think that's the problem.
I feel like I've been all over the place while writing this post, but I wanted to provide all of the pertinent information regarding Libby's behavior. Basically, I'm hoping to find a remedy to this problem of being awakened at least once a night by my cat. My brother and I love Libby, but we're almost to the point of finding another home for her. We really don't want to do that but we can't keep on like this.
Thanks.
