My cat keeps yowling in the middle of the night?

[reinventedme]

So about 30 minutes after we've all gone to bed, my cat patrols the halls and screams at the top of her lungs. I can hear her from the opposite end of my house. She's been fed, has access to water and a clean litterbox, etc. The only thing I can imagine is that she's lonely and doesn't want us to go to bed, but that doesn't really seem likely.

 

[hebi]

It is entirely possible that loneliness is the issue. If my kitty is vocal, it means she wants food, her litter box cleaned, or attention. Would it be possible for your cat to have a place to sleep in your bedroom?
Also, is she spayed? If not, she may be signaling that she is fertile.

 

[tammyp]

How old is your cat?  Is this a new behaviour?  And yes, it is likely to be an expression of loneliness!  

Without a lot of info, I can think of a couple things...

http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/dear-pammy-why-do-cats-wail-at-night/12962

http://www.wayofcats.com/blog/as-good-as-they-can-be/17039

 

[reinventedme]

We're not sure about her age, but when we got her a month ago, she was relatively small for an adult cat. We think she's about 11 months at this point. She does have access to both my room and my various family members' rooms, but she prefers to yowl in the hall. She's spayed. She's done this for about 2 weeks now.

 

[matts mom]

Matt did this when we got him. He didn't like being left 'alone' He also had full access to us and our rooms, but wasn't being paid attention to after bedtime. Yowling after we went to bed was an effective way to force us to get up and pay attention to him. After about 10 months of trying to train him out of it, we finally tried the out-of-sight-out-of-mind method.  when he yowls, I get up, pet him a little, open a small can of food and put him in the basement with it. I leave the light on on my way up, and say "goodnight Matt" as I close the door behind me. Now this is the nightly routine-every night, 1/2 hour after I go to bed lol! I just lay and wait for him before I go to sleep

 He cried for the first week or two, but there's plenty to do down there, and he purrs all the way down the stairs now

 

[betsygee]

That's a good story about Matt. I love how he purrs going to the basement now.  Funny how we think we're solving a problem, but really they're training us to get something they want.  

Jake, one of the cats we inherited, does this, too.  We have a big house but he yowls so loudly we can hear him from every room.  He, too, has plenty of comforts available to him, including the three other cats he bunks with!  But that yowl means "I WANT ATTENTION FROM A HUMAN.  NOW!!"  He's done it less and less as time goes on and he feels more secure in his new home, fortunately. Sometimes I cave in to his demands and go pet/play with him awhile; other times I can just stick my head in the door to reassure him that Mommy is close by 

 and he'll stop.

 

[mservant]

Hi reinventedme. Introducing a routine like Matts mom has done sounds like a good idea.  Do you know what your young cat's previous home was like? It may be that being on her own / or how she was left at night was not a good experience for her.  Either way, I think cats, like children, respond well and feel safer with a familiar pattern of behaviours that give them cues to what's happening next. Having a routine of play and then supper then bed has always been my lead in to going to bed. Of course the little furballs usually try to extend the play by bouncing on the bed but they know what's happening and it usually goes fine.

I did have a long phase of night yeowling with my previous cats once they got older. I wondered if they were starting to get dementia but then found out they'd gradually gone blind: they could navigate around the apartment as long as I didn't move things too much but they would catawail like there was no tomorrow if they got left in a room on their own and didn't know where I was!  One time I went to put my bins out and could hear one out on the pavement - I'm in a 1st floor apartment and all the windows were shut! 

 

[jonesy]

My cat Mikey does this too.. When i go to bed, he starts walking around the downstairs meowing.. Normally i just call to him, and he will jump up in bed and lay down and go to sleep.. 

I keep a office chair next to my bed with a large pillow on it.. He uses that as his bed, pull it right up next to my bed right by my head, makes him feel safe to sleep right next to me i think.

 

[tammyp]

Aha!  Young cat - still a kitten, and pretty new to your home.  Loneliness/insecurity it would be.

The nightly routines people have suggested sound like they will be the trick.  I'd suggest that the first part of the bedtime routine is to do 20mins (or whatever length of time it takes) of crazy crazy play to wear her out, then some food - then go do your getting ready - and when you are ready to step into bed, some sort of 'goodnight' ritual.  When we didn't have  cats in our bedroom, our ritual was putting them into their bed and giving them some loves.  Now we have cats in bed, they are usually waiting for us on the bed telling us to hurry up!  Sometimes they 'test' our love and are not on the bed or getting on the bed when we go to bed...to pass the test, we have to go and get them and bring them to bed (they purr all the way!)

 

[paws4life]

You could try keeping her in the bedroom with you during the night and cuddling her in bed.. Could be all she wants