Singing all night!

[devorah]

Hi! Excuse my typing as my kitty is meowing all night and I haven't slept well! Which is the thrust of my question. Here is the background...

I lost my precious boy cats of 14 to 15 years a year ago. About 3 or 4 months ago, two feral kittens showed up on my porch. After a few weeks of leaving out food and sweet talk, they allowed me to pet them. I took them to the vet a month ago. Poor things had worms, ticks, ear mites. It cost a good deal of money to get them fixed up but now they have a clean bill of health. I assume they are sisters since they are the same age and weight, though one is a Siamise-ish and the other a Tortie (? not sure if this usage is correct due to a language barrier and that until someone in this forum told me she was I called her "an everything but the kitchen sink" cat). They are Cinnamon Toast (Cinny) and Pepper respectively. Anywho, Cinny is very vocal as I gather Siamese cats often are. However, she spends all night serenading me. Calling loudly at the top of her lungs in the living room until I come out of bed and get her. She will still not allow me to pick her up but purrs when I pet her and she sees me. Then I go back to bed. An hour or so later she calls me again. If I pick her up and bring her into my bed she squirms away. It is as if she wants to sleep with me but, not in my bed - in her favorite nap place, the couch.

It is cute and endearing, at first. But she is keeping my 3 year old up as well and my husband would like to "fire her out of a cannon." What can I do? Last night, God forgive me, I threw a pillow at her. Of course this made no progress with her behavior...

 

[eburgess]

If you can spend as much time with her and play with her until she gets sleepy. Limerick does something simular, but it involves walking all over me and crying in my ear. Get her good and tried then she should settle down at night.

 

[kathryn41]

Hehehehe, been there too!

Bear and Lion both serenade me when they think it is time for me to come and play with them. Of course, it is very flattering that they want to play with me, but like you, I would rather sleep at 3 and 4 and 5 am.

My older cats also prefer to sleep and now sleep the night through without a problem. Before bedtime involve the two in really active and vigorous play. Let them run and romp and jump and be very strenuous for at least 15 minutes - preverably longer until they want to take a break:-). They are active kittens and because they are healthy and happy they have all of this excess energy. Because they are cats, they are nocturnal and so night time and especially dawn are times of higher activity for them. I have a cat tree that is located right by the back windows overlooking the bird feeders. I leave a back yard light on and now they tend to spend the first half of the night watching out the back windows. Around 4 am they become active, though, and there are still times where I have to get up and 'play' or cuddle with them for a few minutes and get them playing with each other then go back to bed or else they will continue to call for me. I will often give them their breakfast around 5 am and then go back to bed until it is time to get up. They eat and then settle down to watch the birds.

I don't have much other advice except perhaps to issue ear plugs to the family:-), as this stage will take some time in passing. Trying to wear them out before bedtime then providing them with interesting alternatives to explore overnight that don't involve waking you up would be the route to try. Good luck.

Kathryn

 

[cjandbilly]

Are they spayed? Billy did that all the time until he was fixed. Turned out, it was a territorial problem. He was calling for his territory. I tried playing with him at night, and keeping him up all day so he'd be tired, and nothing worked. He would wake us up 3-6 times a night, at 1,2,3,4,5,6 in the morning, and I thought it was "cute" as first, but, soon, I was cranky all the time due to lack of sleep. He was also spraying, and being aggressive, but, that was his territorial call... letting other cats know that that is HIS house. Maybe your kitty is doing the same. Since she was stray, it could be an added reason to be territorial too. All her life, she's had to fend for herself, and keep her territory, else be killed, and she's still trying to do it. I would suggest spaying her if she isn't. And the other kitty, too, because she could develop the same problem.

 

[dawnofsierra]

I bet Cinny serenades so beautifully~unless you're desparate to sleep, that is! I would guess we've all been in your posistion at some time or another, and know how tough it can be when our babies decide 3 am is the perfect time for a wake up call!

You may want to try having a big play time just before bed with Cinny's favorite interactive toys, and get her really tired out so she'll sleep better! After this, served her a meal of her favorite wet food. This will help keep her tummy full longer throughout the night!

Just a couple of thoughts. Please keep us updated how it's going! Sure hope you get some sleep!

 

[devorah]

Thank you all for your suggestions! I tried last night to play with them in a really focused way about a half an hour before my bed time. Pepper seemed put off by all my extra effort but Cinny was loving it. And guess what? She didn't start her siren's call until about 7 that morning. I also left a bowl of hard kitty food out for the night. She ate all of it by morning. Maybe the poor girl was hungry? I hope not. She eats one can of Iams kitten food a day (half in the morning and half at night) plus I leave a bowl of hard food out all day. I pick it up at night otherwise we get ants. It seems like a lot given their size, what do you all think?

 

[cjandbilly]

Are they spayed?