Cats - nocturnal activities
Discussion
Good morning all,
In April we re-homed a male cat, aged 4. He's always been a house-cat I believe - he's very friendly, and loves attention and cuddles. From that respect, he's settled in fine, and seems to like us (which can often be a battle with cats).
However, he's driving us mad with his nocturnal activities, which are waking us up almost every night.
Basically, he seems to roam the house looking for doors. If he finds a door that's shut, he scratches at it and miaows. We tried leaving all the internal doors open in the house, and found that he will then go in to a room and find a cupboard door, and scratch at that (or, he will try to hook it open with his paw).
If we shut him in a room downstairs when we go to bed, he will just scratch at the door and miaow (so still wakes us up).
I had thought that if we let him out, he'd probably spend most of the night outdoors and burn off some energy. However, our last cat was killed by a car outside the house, so we're not ready to let him out unless we're there to supervise (and having been a house cat for 4 years, he's no doubt completely unaware of the dangers of being outside).
Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts or tips on how to dissuade him from this activity
Is it something he'll get bored of after a while, or am I going to need to invest in some ear plugs?
In April we re-homed a male cat, aged 4. He's always been a house-cat I believe - he's very friendly, and loves attention and cuddles. From that respect, he's settled in fine, and seems to like us (which can often be a battle with cats).
However, he's driving us mad with his nocturnal activities, which are waking us up almost every night.
Basically, he seems to roam the house looking for doors. If he finds a door that's shut, he scratches at it and miaows. We tried leaving all the internal doors open in the house, and found that he will then go in to a room and find a cupboard door, and scratch at that (or, he will try to hook it open with his paw).
If we shut him in a room downstairs when we go to bed, he will just scratch at the door and miaow (so still wakes us up).
I had thought that if we let him out, he'd probably spend most of the night outdoors and burn off some energy. However, our last cat was killed by a car outside the house, so we're not ready to let him out unless we're there to supervise (and having been a house cat for 4 years, he's no doubt completely unaware of the dangers of being outside).
Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts or tips on how to dissuade him from this activity
Is it something he'll get bored of after a while, or am I going to need to invest in some ear plugs?Thanks for the replies.
The cat flap is at the rear of the house, and it leads on to a fairly large/enclosed garden.
We found with our last cat, the first few days they tend to stay in the garden. But, as they get braver, they roam further and further away. And that's my main worry - it doesn't matter if you live on a quiet road yourself, it's more about the roads they cross when they're out exploring.
Building a "Catio" is on my list of jobs to look at. We bought some chicken wire already. I'm just trying to figure out how to fix it to the door (UPVC patio door) where his cat flap is (and without ending up with the view of the back garden being obscured by a bunch of chicken wire and wood).
He does have supervised time in the garden - I just like to make sure I know where he is.
Not being happy with his food may be a good shout - we're not sure we've found something he really likes yet. But, he does this scratching/searching between 3:00AM and 5:00AM most nights - not at any other time. When he does it, he has plenty of food and water available (upstairs and downstairs). It's like he's trying to fully explore the house - but I wish he wouldn't do it in the middle of the night.
The cat flap is at the rear of the house, and it leads on to a fairly large/enclosed garden.
We found with our last cat, the first few days they tend to stay in the garden. But, as they get braver, they roam further and further away. And that's my main worry - it doesn't matter if you live on a quiet road yourself, it's more about the roads they cross when they're out exploring.
Building a "Catio" is on my list of jobs to look at. We bought some chicken wire already. I'm just trying to figure out how to fix it to the door (UPVC patio door) where his cat flap is (and without ending up with the view of the back garden being obscured by a bunch of chicken wire and wood).
He does have supervised time in the garden - I just like to make sure I know where he is.
Not being happy with his food may be a good shout - we're not sure we've found something he really likes yet. But, he does this scratching/searching between 3:00AM and 5:00AM most nights - not at any other time. When he does it, he has plenty of food and water available (upstairs and downstairs). It's like he's trying to fully explore the house - but I wish he wouldn't do it in the middle of the night.
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