Meowing Relentlessly at Night - Please help for a friend!

[thesighrye]

Hi all!

I'm posting this on behalf of a friend (yes, really lol, this isn't about my cat)

I have a best friend, we're 25 now and known each other since we were 6. That entire time we have been avid kitty lovers so I feel the need to help her out, but it's out of my realm of experience so this is definitely the best place to get some input.

Here's the scoop....She has a 3 year old bicolor cat named Otis. They also have a kitten, Mishu, appx 5 months old. Before I begin, Mishu's introduction to the household has NOT influenced Otis' behavior that I will describe. Hasn't increased, nor decreased it. It occurs the same.

Basically what happens is these cats are fed twice daily with wet food, and are also free fed dry food and do not abuse it (ie-they're not eating it constantly, which is good). In the middle of the night, usually 2am or around 4am, Otis will cry, cry cry....until one of them (bestie or husband) gets up to feed him. 

Here is what she texted me to include in this: "He wakes up at random times, sometimes 2 sometimes 4 and we feed him to shut him up. What's worse is we each give him a small scoop so he doesn't eat as much and throw up. But after I feed them once, I shut our door and they (I think she primarily means Otis) don't bother us which is nice. We just don't want to shut the door all night because they like sleeping with us and vise versa."

It's been a really frustrating experience for her and her husband, and this has been going on for months. I can understand what she means--kitty cuddles are one of the best things in the world, so shutting the door all night is unappealing. Also, if you're woken from a deep sleep in the middle of the night and you KNOW feeding the cat will be the quickest/only way to quiet him....that's what you're gonna do. So that's what's been happening. Obviously, though, she wants it to stop. Any and all input would be GREATLY appreciated, and I will be forwarding these answers to her once they start rolling in. Any other questions about the kitties I will try and answer myself or get an answer from her as often as possible to better help you guys help us!

Thank you in advance! 

 

[mnm]

raises hand...that was TOTALLY me with Minnie. (she just passed a month ago) I have read it takes about 10 to 15 days to "break" them of the habit..as they are such creatures of habit and when they get rewarded as your friend does to her...and as I did to my Min... yep it's impossible to break them of it unless you want to go through a little bit of stress to get to the point that it breaks her habit. Sometimes Minnie would still have wet food in her DISH and STILL would wake me. I too... did not want to lose out on the cuddles with her during the night..so simply got up to feed her..then she'd let me alone for the whole night after that! Since we have another cat, Mikki, Mikki got in the habit as well but never initiated the feeding. So now that Min is gone...Mikki will get up in the night as well, and hollar...but we only comforted her at first (since Minnie died) but now we let her hollar and she quits shortly when we don't respond and toddles back to bed.

I read somewhere online of a high pitched whistle or something...that someone eventually tried as they couldn't break their kitty of the nighttime howling... don't know if that's a good idea or not?

 

[thesighrye]

@MnM  hmmm I haven't heard much about a whistle....has anyone else heard about something like that? Not too sure if something like that would be ideal in the middle of the night if one of them wakes up hearing the meow and not the other, lol. Whistle might end up being worse!

Also, I've thought of just ignoring the cats. I know it may suck for her cause like me, her cats are her babies and wants nothing more than to do everything she can for them. It will suck at first letting them meow but in a sense, it's almost like a baby....if there's nothing wrong, not hungry, diaper doesn't need to be changed, just let it cry at night. My mom said she did that to me lol and I got over it! Same concept, I imagine....

 

[randomhero1747]

Your friends just going to have to suffer through a good week or two of ignoring her kitty and it should stop when she notices she not getting anything. Tough love  But I'd rather suffer for a week than for the rest of her life deal with getting up every nite. 

 

[thesighrye]

@randomhero1747  that's exactly what I was thinking. I know I would have a hard time too!

 

[bigperm20]

Is it wet that's fed at night, or more dry? If it's dry an automatic feeder may solve the problem. They have wet auto feeders as well where little compartments open up. It can be set to open at 2am and maybe that will help.

Another thought:
When is the last meal fed? I would tell her to feed it as late as possible even of it meant giving a snack in between.

I feed 3 times, but the middle meal is really small. That way they get a big breakfast, and a big dinner to last through the night.

I also agree on not getting up until the habit is broken. Tell her to buy some ear plugs until he learns.

 

[thesighrye]

It's more wet food that's fed at night. As I said in my original post, they free feed dry food, so yes it is already in an automatic dispenser.

I'll see when she feeds them last and let her know about the automatic wet feeder...

 

[bigperm20]

It's more wet food that's fed at night. As I said in my original post, they free feed dry food, so yes it is already in an automatic dispenser.



I'll see when she feeds them last and let her know about the automatic wet feeder...

I think the ear plugs may help in breaking the habit more than you'd think. Even of given wet via auto feeder, the cat may still cry out of habit.

Cats are creatures of habit so it may take a few weeks to stop this.

 

[thesighrye]

@bigperm20  you're definitely right. At this point little Otie is being rewarded for meowing at night....so I'll go ahead and forward these answers so far to her! She/I are very appreciative of the answers!  

 

[mnm]

well we are experiencing it too...we consoled her for awhile (since she just lost her littermate 5 weeks ago) but now we are just letting her sing and fingers crossed she will give it up soon!! Last night was only a teeny yelp and she quit.

 

[thesighrye]

well we are experiencing it too...we consoled her for awhile (since she just lost her littermate 5 weeks ago) but now we are just letting her sing and fingers crossed she will give it up soon!! Last night was only a teeny yelp and she quit.

Oh, no kidding?? I'm curious, how long has the meowing gone on, and how long now have you decided to start ignoring it?

If it's just gone to a little mew, I'd say that's progress indeed! 

 

[mnm]

We have ignored her for probably 4 or 5 nights... we'll see what happens tonight... the other night she was laying right next to hubby and HOWLED. It shocked him so...that he bopped her (gently) across the mouth out of reaction.. and she quit and snuggled up and went to sleep. I don't suggest that haha