My family’s ten year old cat is a decidedly nocturnal creature. That’s all well and good – except that she seems to expect the same of us every night! This wasn’t a problem until we moved to a house that didn’t have a cat door, and now she howls until one of us gets up to let her out, and then again to let her in half an hour later. My parents are not interested in having another cat door installed, but I am interested in getting some uninterrupted sleep.
Just start leaving the back door cracked open about 6 inches when you go to bed. When your parents get mad because your doing this, just remind them that it’s their fault since they won’t install a cat door.
Oh and if you guys get burglarized, then its still their fault since they won’t install a cat door.
She has a litter box. She just wants to go out for the hell of it.
I’m pretty sure it’ll be a cold day in hell before my dad will install a cat door, or leave the back door open. So, basically, I should prepare to drop her off at an animal shelter.
We had an outdoor cat once for about 12 years (and a cat door) but moved to a place where it was not safe for him to be outside. So, we decided to (try) to make him an indoor cat.
It took many months of yowling, caterwauling, muttering and swearing at us, but eventually he accepted the inevitable, and slept through the night. He did, however, begin using the litterbox from Day 1.
So, keep the cat inside and get sets of those hearing protectors used for noisy industrial areas. Lottsa luck.
I have a cat that was rescued as a stray, and he is now an indoor-only cat and has never been happy about it. He still runs out the door every chance he gets (but will stop and let me pick him up about 5 feet from the door) and meows, howls, and cries to go outside. He’s getting better though, at least about the vocalizations.
My advice, and it probably isn’t very good, is to stop letting the cat out at all. He will go nuts for a night or two but should eventually get used to the idea…just make sure he has lots of things to do indoors so he doesn’t get bored. While he is in the heavy-screaming phase of adjustment, if you can confine him to a room or basement or someplace where he can’t do too much damage and won’t disturb your sleep, it would probably help too.
I was just about to say this too. If you keep letting her out, she’ll keep meowing at the door until you let her out. Keep a bed and a water dish (and possibly some toys) in the basement or a back room somewhere, and keep her in there at night. It might be hard at first, but don’t give in.
And I actually wouldn’t advise using a cat door at all, as it can let in other animals that are not your cat. Raccoons or whatever smaller local wildlife you have in your area can come in if they sense that there’s food to be had.
If you let her out when she howls you’re just reinforcing her behavior. She’s never going to stop doing it if it gets her what she wants. If you can stand it, ignore her for a week or two and she might stop when she’s realized it’s not working anymore.
You could also try a Feliway diffuser. It might mellow her out her urgent need to be outside.
When I was a kid we had this issue with one of my cats waking everyone at night (except it was for wet food, not going out). As Maiira suggested, we set up a little kitty-cave in the furnace room in the basement, with a litter tray, some dry food, a comfy bed, and some toys. He was put in there at night when we went to bed and let out in the morning.
He gave up on the yowling within a few days, because it never elicited any results (we couldn’t hear him from upstairs). He actually came to like going in there at night because it was nice and warm near the furnace and made a good bed. All was well, except for one memorable occasion when my Mom threw him in there on Thanksgiving while she made a turkey (he was underfoot and begging), and the smell made him so crazy that he pulled the grate off the airduct, climbed in, and wandered around the house. He ended up inside the livingroom wall. So … make sure she can’t get into any trouble.
Our cats are our “whatever-the-opposite-of-alarm-clock-is” s.
Between 9 and 9:30 at night, one cat heads to the bedroom and warms up the blanket, and the other one gets behind me on my chair and gets all squirmy and cute and sleepy, stretching against my back, while slowly pushing me off the chair so she can sleep there at night.
On weekends, or any other time we toss schedules to the wind, they get outright grumpy and glare at us with half-opened eyes if we fail to hand off the Domain of the Living Room at Night. It’s hilarious.
I’m not serious! I would never really suggest such a thing.
You could get her a harness and walk her in the evenings before bed. It would probably take some getting used to for her, but it might satisfy her urges.
We had a milk chute, that functioned as a cat door and the cat kept bringing things in, like birds and mice, which was a huge deal, 'cause kitty never killed the birds. Next thing you know we had birds flying in the house.
And then the other neighborhood cats decided “Hey we can go in there too.” Of course since we had a dog that only happened one time to each cat. The next thing you know our neighbor’s cat is ontop of they clothes dryer while my dog was barking at it.
Maybe you could train the cat to do her exploring at a more reasonable time.
For instance, when I was young I had a cat, and at dusk she would ask to go out and she’d stay outside until the last one went to bed. Whoever that was, would flick the porch light on and off a few times and that signaled the cat to come in.
So maybe if you tossed her outside earlier in the night when everyone was awake and made her stay out for a few hours, then let her in, she’d adapt to that schedule
For those who have cats that bolt out the door - I have the cure for you! From my behaviorist friend, this is her recommendation, I only had to do it once.
Put a coffee mug full of water outside, right next to the door. Whenever you’re going in, and the cat tries to run out, dump the entire contents of the mug on the cat. For most cats, you’ll need to do this maybe twice.
If you have a former outdoor cat, it may take more persistence. This method is a charm for the mostly outdoor-curious cat.
Not totally sure if this could work for the OP - but if she ever does wander out during the day, doing this at that time may also curtail her nighttime desires to go out there, where the big water-splash happens.