Sleep Deprived...

[Hinglish]

Hello! Always such great advice and support from everyone on here so I thought I'd post another question. Our 7 month old (spayed) cat has started being very noisy at night. Last night we barely slept and it can't go on like this, it surely must be stressful for her too.

Previously we closed our bedroom door at lights out and she would be quiet until morning. But now she spends the whole night meowing outside the door or trying to jump up to open it. She's even succeeded in opening it in the last few days (which I guess is encouraging her to keep doing it). We've been trying to ignore it and stay quiet in the room in the hope she will lose interest but that doesn't seem to be working.

Any tips?! We've considered confining her to another large room in a different part of the house? Persevering with the closed door just locked so she can't open it and just suffering the noise until she gives up (but worried about the neighbours)?

We live in a hot climate most of the year that requires A/C and the bedroom door to be closed and not keen on encouraging her to sleep with us for fear of her disturbing our sleep. If we trial her sleeping with us we're concerned it will be impossible to break the habit if she's super active at night.

She usually does have access to our bedroom during the day when we are out and when we are home. Should we be restricting access to the room all the time?

Help!

 

[Pjg8r]

Just my personal experience-If a cat has access to a place at any time they want access all the time. I would start with limiting access during the day. I also have a “baby gate” across my bedroom door so mine can’t sneak in in the morning when I first open the door. If yours has learned to turn the door knob I have also used the type of door knob guard for toddlers to prevent that.

 

[ivyandnala]

I dealt with this with my first kitten. She had a lot of attachment issues when she was younger (which meant more cuddles, but less sleep on my part). She eventually outgrew it, but it took a while. I had to crate my girl quite a lot during this time because I lived in a small apartment and didn't have another room. We did also get a second cat recently and I've noticed my girl is now way more independent. I've read that this is pretty typical when a cat hierarchy is established in a home. So if you don't have a second cat, I would suggest getting one if it's possible.

As for what to do now... I would lock your cat in that second room away from yours. Start by putting her in there for 30min, then an hour, then 4 hours (or something like that) during the day so she gets used to it. She'll meow A LOT, but ignore it. Don't open the door to let her out if she's meowing, this will reinforce bad behaviour. Wait until she's quiet and then open the door. Hopefully this will make her comfortable being away from you while you're in the house and you can let her roam free eventually. I do think this generally gets better as they get older.

As for restricting access to your room all the time, my experience with this has been different than Pjg8r's. I've found when a room is off-limits, my cats REALLY want to go in there. You'll have to deal with them darting in every time you open the door. It'll be another battle, and I'm not sure it'll help in the long run since she wants access to YOU, not necessarily the room.