just brought my outdoor cat indoors - has anyone dealt with cat crying at night?

[em19220]

hi folks! so, i recently moved and brought my indoor/outdoor cat permanently indoors. i've been slowly trying to transfer her indoors the past few months and now that she's fully inside, she gets really restless at night... especially since she discovered where the windows are in the house (we used to live in an old farmhouse where she'd climb the lattice onto the lower part of the roof to go in and out of my window sometimes).

i think i made the right choice moving her inside... i just don't want her to continue being miserable all night. we have thin walls now too so i dont want to piss off the neighbors either.

i'm home most of the day monday thru thursday so i try to keep her active throughout the day. and i've been playing with her before bed and giving her an extra little meal after to get her thru til morning. right now she doesnt have any cat towers or anything (it'll be a few weeks before i can get her one to climb, but she does have a jumbo sized scratching post right now that she really enjoys) and she wont play unless someone plays with her (so she completely ignores stuffed mice and things like that). yesterday, playing then feeding seemed to work but tonight it isn't, even with more playtime. we're on the third day of her crying at night (its almost 1am now) so if you've had any experience with this kind of thing and have some thoughts/stories to share i'd love to hear them. thank you!

 

[Jcatbird]

Yes. I sympathize. Can you cover the windows for now? I used plain old poster board from the dollar store and it really helped!! Things are active at night that cats like to chase and also, things that make them nervous. I found that if they can’t look out, they adjust better. Soft music too. I used a radio but there is music online specific yo cats. Keep it low and it should not bother neighbors. Have you tried Felliway diffusers? They work for some. I also find that some toys hold no interest for some cats while others do. For the cats that don’t care about mice toys I found a tower that has balls that spin around when the cat taps at them. I have one that is one level and others that have three levels. Kicker toys are more interesting to some. Catnip seems to work well for some of my rescues. They play wildly in it and then crash and sleep. I have bought catnip from many places but the best loved comes from the Dollar General store. The stuff I got at Petsmart was not appealing to them so try several brands before giving up on that. Cardboard boxes! Those always seem to work to get kitties to go wherever the box is located, hide, play and sleep. Cat videos. There are some online that some of my cats like. Birds and fish seem to be interesting. Kitty should settle down in time. All of my kitties were outside only as ferals. There was an adjustment period but none cry now. It’s all worth it to keep our kitties safe.

 

[em19220]

Yes. I sympathize. Can you cover the windows for now? I used plain old poster board from the dollar store and it really helped!! Things are active at night that cats like to chase and also, things that make them nervous. I found that if they can’t look out, they adjust better. Soft music too. I used a radio but there is music online specific yo cats. Keep it low and it should not bother neighbors. Have you tried Felliway diffusers? They work for some. I also find that some toys hold no interest for some cats while others do. For the cats that don’t care about mice toys I found a tower that has balls that spin around when the cat taps at them. I have one that is one level and others that have three levels. Kicker toys are more interesting to some. Catnip seems to work well for some of my rescues. They play wildly in it and then crash and sleep. I have bought catnip from many places but the best loved comes from the Dollar General store. The stuff I got at Petsmart was not appealing to them so try several brands before giving up on that. Cardboard boxes! Those always seem to work to get kitties to go wherever the box is located, hide, play and sleep. Cat videos. There are some online that some of my cats like. Birds and fish seem to be interesting. Kitty should settle down in time. All of my kitties were outside only as ferals. There was an adjustment period but none cry now. It’s all worth it to keep our kitties safe.

wow, this was incredibly helpful, thank you.

i actually brought two cats from separate homes in at the same time so im simulataneously trying to help them acclimate to the environment and eachother, which is probably extra stressful. for that reason, i've been wanting to try the feliway diffusers but i was nervous to drop money on them and have them not work. ive heard lots of folks recommend them though so maybe i'll give it a shot. thank you.

covering the windows and soft music/videos is a great idea. interactive toys sound great too, i'll see about finding some tomorrow!! its impressive you could help out those ferals, it gives me the courage to push through this adjustment period haha!! thanks again.

 

[Jcatbird]

Felliway does not work for all cats but does well for others. Since you are blending cats together, it might be worth trying. Of course you could try the other things first. Getting kitties to adjust to new things is a process. Every cat adjusts at their own pace but there are things that make the transition easier and , in many cases, quicker. I do hope something here helps. Please keep us updated. Oh, BTW, we love kitty pictures here. Welcome to the site too! Bravo to you for helping two kitties to have a great life.

 

[ArtNJ]

I only have one experience doing this, but from that and reading a lot of posts here, the whining almost always stops on its own within at worst a couple of weeks provided you don't reinforce it. I've only seen one or two posts (of many on conversion) from poor folks whose cats simply did not stop -- its apparently possible, but very unlikely. My own experience did not involve a lot of long lasting whining, but I can certainly tell you that if you let your converted cat escape at the door too many times, it can become a long lasting problem with a life of its own. Best to take the issue very seriously from the get go. That said, if you do have an escape, don't panic. Just go outside, act like nothing happened, chill with the cat, pet the cat, and after a couple of minutes pick him up and take him inside. Trying to catch the cat is the wrong approach -- it may work that first time, but thereafter, the cat will just break your ankles and will become hard to get back inside. If the chill approach doesn't work, shake the treat bag. You don't have to worry about reinforcing the behavior, because you are going to (hopefully) learn from it and prevent additional escapes. Besides, just getting out is massive reinforcement -- getting a treat hardly makes that worse.