Too Needy, Non-stop Meowing Especially In The Morning

[Animagus]

Today doesn't have any change. I pushed out his dinner time to later at night at 10. We played with him for an hour, also took him out to the front door (but he wanted to go back inside). He was with us for at least 4 hours in total before bed time. He still started the meowing and door attacking at 5am.

I gave him good amount of wet food at night, and put down enough dry food for him that he never finishes all before morning meal time.

He was excessively sticky to me to a point that he followed me everywhere. I had to eventually ignore him. We gave him a lot of pettings and treats and play time for hours but he wasn't satisfied. I thought he was hungry for wet food, but he kept following me after finishing the wet food (same amount everyday, sometimes he wouldn't finish it all). He jumped to the chair back to watch me the chair i sat and watched me dining. He meowed and waited outside when I was bathing! That's not fun or cute... that's over the top already.

I had a feral/Maine coon mix a few years back and he would follow me and 'talk' to me all the time. I'd just talk back normal stuff and he was satisfied. When he wanted to be petted, I'd pet him but he'd very quickly get over stimulated and bite. So I just figured out how long it took him to get over stimulated and would stop just before then. He also was a very stubborn cat and hated being locked up. I once locked him in the upstairs bedroom while painting the living room walls downstairs and heard him run and throw himself at the door repeatedly when scratching and meddling with the door handle didn't work! I was astonished but loved him nonetheless and eventually gave in and let him out before he broke his bones or got himself a concussion!! Needless to say, he sported a yellow tail for a few days He was a black cat!! But we were all happy

He also thought that the bathroom and showers were dangerous and would shut outside the bathroom door and howl and cry took I came out. He'd use his front paws like hands and could open most doors if they had a handle instead of a knob. A friend pet sat for me and he obligingly opened her door and let out all her pets!! They had a closed foyer, so they were safe much to our relief.
He used to sleep by himself but when he was about a year and a half or two, decided he wanted to sleep with us and would relentlessly howl and scratch the door and jiggle the door knob till we started letting him sleep with us. He'd insist on sleeping on my legs but will attack my feet if they moved. I woke up stiff from not moving many a morning till I started using a well padded comforter year round.
He was also a very loyal and sweet cat who played with his rabbit brother and even shared his food with the rabbit (till I found out why he kept asking for more food). If he threw up, he'd be most apologetic and lead us right to the spot where he made a mess, constantly talking and apologizing. He'd sometimes wait by it till I finished cleaning it and then come in for a petting to make sure we're alright.
What I'm saying is, there are some quirks that can be worked out. It is worth giving your cat time to settle in and see things from his perspective. He may welcome a friend kitty, my cat was alpha but got along with other animals after the initial bullying to show who's boss. My rabbit was also alpha and I got him first before the kitty, so the alpha rabbit was boss of the alpha cat.
Also, the dog like behavior of following you around and talking to you may be from a marine coon trait, can I see a picture of your kitty boy?
Hope my experience helped somewhat. Pepper was a wonderful cat despite his quirks and I enjoyed him thoroughly though he went rogue now and then.

 

[gkaster]

Hi, I am in a similar position. I rescued my male cat ( 2 ), in April. They prepared me for a week of crying and hiding. Within an hour he was running my house. He was very needy for affection for the first month. The first weekend he was constantly in my lap and if he wasn't he was beside me and letting me know it was lap time. Snuggles has pretty much moved away from that stage. He does like to be in the same room with me. Doesn't matter where I go he is following. I am also having an issue with aggressive biting but I will try amping up his play time. Another issue I am dealing with is him being vocal in the morning. You're lucky, mine starts at 4am. Usually I can get him to go back to sleep but this morning that was not the case. All I can tell you is to just wait it out. I read scenarios from other cat owners and I don't have any of the issues that some people complain about. So I can try to work with the ones I have. Hopefully he will settle down soon. Good luck.

That does seem similar to my cat. He needed to come on to our laps the first week. He doesn't need that now. Instead he follows me everywhere - my husband often shuts the door to nap and that directs the cat to me all the time.

I am home office today; he bugs me in the morning but stops at 10am. he naps for most of the day then on our bed or on the sofa, so I don't think i need to stay with him during day time. I don't think we "make" him lonely just because we go to work.

Anyway, the cage is here. I will use a cage (it's multi levels cage; not the dog crate or the ones at vet or pets hotel) in the night time and see what will happen next.

 

[gkaster]

Please don't mind the harness on him. We try to take him to a walk but unlike the rescue center told us (he was out of the house all the time), he doesn't want to be outside.

It's a tabby; other than that i have no knowledge on cat breeds except a few pure breeds.

 

[kitty queen]

So from a training perspective, he's looking for attention. Any attention you give him is a positive reimreinforcefor his behavior. I have a demanding diva that learned if she yelled, licked my ears and bit my hair at 5am, I'd wake up, which is exactly what she wanted.
In simple language, if it worked to get attention (good or bad) then it worked in the cat's world.
My solution for my little brat: she learned to LOVE her crate. At 5am, I toss a couple treats in, close the door and alarm goes off at 7. Even if she made noise, I pretended to be asleep until the alarm went off at 7. She is now very quiet and perfectly happy in her crate. I'll often find her in there mid day with the door wide open.
I just conditioned the crate to be this awesome place with quiet chew treats in it and between 5-7, there is no opening of the door.
It's a daily routine now because she is awake every morning at 5. And I'm not.
But I play with her while I get ready for work, I keep her MENTALLY stimulated with clicker training and lots of running across the house in the evening.

Side note: she does get over stimulated and I'm constantly redirecting her claws into a toy.

All of this makes her a high maintenance cat, but it works for us.

Maybe what you are looking for is a cat that is more aloof and not so velco to humans.
I have a Velcro cat, but maybe that's not for you.

When getting any pet, the lifestyles have to match, and no cat is like another.

 

[catalinacat]

I don’t know if any of this is going to be helpful since my cat is definitely different from yours, and I’m no expert but:

My cat, albeit a younger female, use to bite my toes and ankles and pull and mess with my hair when she was younger, at night before going to sleep and in the morning. Usually it wouldnt last too long. If she stops after a bit of her playing and was good she’d get to stay. However if she was bad and was a bit too unruly about it, I would sometimes throw a toy out the door, get her to chase it, and shut her out of my room, but let her roam the other parts of the house. She use to meow incessantly when I did shut her out, but it’s almost like she got bored of it all and gradually stopped all those behavior as she got older. She now doesn’t mess with my hair or toes or ankles so I leave my door open a crack to where she can come and go and stay as she pleases. Now that you mention it I’m reminiscing about how much she’s grown!

I wonder if your cat just needs that time period to kind of get that out of his system, too, and to learn and grow on his own about what behaviors work. And yes, that might require some patience.

I also have a cozy spot in my room next to the window set up just for her. I think that having their own space but within the same room is calming for some cats, maybe.

I also don’t think cats like control and containment. Even when i set boundaries I make sure that my cat still has the freedom to roam, because that’s what cats do. This does require some effort in cat proofing.

Also with the bathroom thing I usually just let my cat in with me. Kind of weird but she’ll just sit and stare and not mess with anything. She’ll sometimes get bored and ask to be let out and I would. I wonder if your cat would behave being allowed that kind of freedom to come and go, too?

Idk. Sorry if I sound assumptive, but just throwing out suggestions. I do hope you do find something that works! Maybe it’ll just be a matter of time and patience until he learns that he has to compromise with his humans’ routine. A month sounds a bit short in terms of adjustment period.

 

[gkaster]

Thanks for every single comment here.

My cat is not a special one, at least I never think like that! He just the kind that is needy and needs affection.

My two-level cage has arrived; we have decides to lock him up at 5 if he starts the annoying behavior. We got this idea from one of the reply. Of course he may not like the cage at all, but at least we put the cage far from our room and we can hope for some better sleep. We did find out that if we put him to his room later, and be with him longer during the day, his morning meowing will start later, like 6:45 or even 7, and less likely to attack the door.

We still love him and we never doubt it. I just hope he will grow up soon and settle down more.

For the second cat option, we will need to discuss it out and also talk to the rescue center. It is not the best option for us for now.