My Cat's Meowing Is Getting Me Into Trouble!

[Kw17]

Hi there,
Right now I am having a serious problem with my cat's excessive early morning meowing. Every morning starting between about 3-6am she wakes up and will start howling for attention. Constantly,Non stop. For HOURS. Her food is still full, and if I put her on the bed for snuggles she just jumps down. It seems like all she really wants is for me to wake up and get out of bed. I have tried every tip on the internet (having vigorous play sessions before bed, lots of playtime throughout day,making sure food is full, giving large meal before sleep time, we leave the door open so she can come and go as she pleases, she has access to all her toys) nothing seems to help. The biggest training tip I seem to read is that if it is attention seeking, you should ignore the meowing. I have tried that, the neighbours have now started banging on our walls and I'm so scared we will get a noise complaint. If we do the condo board has the right to force us to remove the pet from the property. If anybody has any tips at all it would be so appreciated. I'm at my wits end

 

[Jem]

How long and with how much consistency did you try the "ignoring"?
It can unfortunately take a long time to break the cycle of "attention meowing". And the ignoring needs to be TOTAL, you can't, not even once, while you do this for sometimes weeks, tell them "shush!" or even look at them.
Being in a condo/apartment can make this even worse, as you have already mentioned, the neighbors can get cranky.
Could you go to the neighbors and tell them you know of, and understand their frustration. Explain to them that you have been working with your cat. And you are now trying a new cat training technique that unfortunately can take time to work, but you hear them, you are not ignoring their concerns. Bring them an "in good faith", "relaxing care package", that include ear plugs or something. This might bide you at least some time, and hopefully they will not file a complaint.

This is a bit more on the extreme side, but do you have a room that is central to your home (no neighbor walls) that you could put him in when he first starts with the meowing? If after a few minutes, he does not stop, get up, but don't even LOOK at him. Walk over, pick him up, (no eye contact, no talking, no petting, scratching....NOTHING) and put him in the room, close the door and walk away. Then don't let him out till it's your time to get up. In this central room, the more soft surfaces in there, (rugs, pillows, blankets...) the more the sound will me muffled and absorbed.
You could even start with putting him in this room at your bed time, and not letting him out till morning, then if you notice he does not meow as much or at all, start keeping him out and only putting him in there (as I described above), if he cries for your attention, until hopefully, eventually, he'll get the point.

It took a while for me to get my cat to stop with the ongoing (not just at night) attention meowing. Now he only meows for a minute or two, then gives up. But to this day, if I give in and even look at him, when I know I can't, or do not wish to give him attention, it takes longer then a minute, or he'll come back several times before giving up for good.
It takes patience and STRICT CONSISTENCY, but I do hope you get it to stop.

 

[KarenKat]

Is your cat spayed? That's my only suggestion after Jem 's excellent advice.

Our kitty Olive howls for attention in the mornings, too. We ignore her, but she occasionally still does it. Hope you find something that works!

 

[aliceneko]

Fudge is very vocal and we've also had a neighbour complaint about his meowing (which I thought was very unnecessary considering that the neighbour who complained has two quite vocal cats of her own).
I'd also like to chip in and add a more amusing piece of advice - sometimes, I imitate Fudge's meow when he's been meowing for a long time, and he'll stop because he doesn't like it when the humans meow!