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Hi everyone! So I have a 7-year-old cat (Sophie) and before getting married about a month ago, she would sleep with me every night. The problem is my now husband already had a 3-year-old German shepherd (Ryley), so we have to keep the door closed at night to not give her an opportunity to get into trouble while we sleep. Usually, Sophie comes out of her napping spot around 10 or so and meows at the door to come in. She tends to last a little while this first time but has been getting into a cycle of meowing to come in and then asking to leave again over and over, with maybe 5-10 minute gaps in between each bout of meows. I don't mind getting up to let her in and out to some degree, but when it is going on until 3 or later in the morning, it's hard to handle. I've tried ignoring it going both directions, but she lasted 20-30 minutes of pretty constant meowing before I would just give in. By this point, my husband that works early mornings was woken up and I've lost sleep. Her litter, food, etc aren't in our room, but this is still odd behavior for her because she used to stay with me the whole night until it was time for breakfast in the morning before I got married. Also, she and the pup have been getting along pretty well, Ryley mostly leaves her alone or tries to play a little, and Sophie tolerates or ignores her. It's not great, but Ryley has zero aggression towards her, so I don't think that's why she has been doing this. Does anyone know what could cause this behavior and what we could do to correct it, or at least lengthen the time between meowing bouts? I understand she is just meowing to communicate, but it is tough when it is in the middle of the night.
Somewhat different but Sophie has also learned his morning schedule and has since been meowing for breakfast at first right before his alarm would go off, but now she has gotten to 40 minutes or even an hour before either of us needs to be up in the morning. Like the other meowing behavior, she won't stop if we ignore it, yelling or being stern has no effect, blowing on her face is just a temporary distraction, and even spraying with water has little impact. How can we adjust what she thinks of as breakfast time?
Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions!!
Somewhat different but Sophie has also learned his morning schedule and has since been meowing for breakfast at first right before his alarm would go off, but now she has gotten to 40 minutes or even an hour before either of us needs to be up in the morning. Like the other meowing behavior, she won't stop if we ignore it, yelling or being stern has no effect, blowing on her face is just a temporary distraction, and even spraying with water has little impact. How can we adjust what she thinks of as breakfast time?
Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions!!