I hope someone can help me but we adopted our kitten in February and she is very happy and playful.
Recently however she has been sleeping when we go to bed but always without fail getting up at 4:30am and screaming/howling at the front door. I’m not sure why she keeps doing this, she has toys out that she occasionally plays with but mostly she screams until I get up to start my day.
I’ve tried getting up at 4:30 and feeding her, changing her tray and playing with her but the second I go back to bed she starts screaming again?
I really need to try and prevent this as we live in flats and I’m worried she’s disturbing all the neighbours!
She’s 9 months old now for context!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
Kitten won’t stop screaming from 4:30am until I get up at 7am
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- fjm
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Re: Kitten won’t stop screaming from 4:30am until I get up at 7am
Has she been spayed? Is she allowed outside during the day? If she has not been spayed she may be calling, although usually that would mean crying throughout the day as well. If she likes to go outside the crepuscular hours around dawn and dusk are favourite hunting times for cats, and dawn comes early at this time of year. Assuming that she has been spayed, which would be the first thing to address, is it possible to give her safe access to the outside? If not I would try hunting style games that she can play by herself - puzzle toys, ping pong balls, etc. If it is the early dawn that is disturbing her blackout blinds may help too.
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Re: Kitten won’t stop screaming from 4:30am until I get up at 7am
fjm wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 7:11 am Has she been spayed? Is she allowed outside during the day? If she has not been spayed she may be calling, although usually that would mean crying throughout the day as well. If she likes to go outside the crepuscular hours around dawn and dusk are favourite hunting times for cats, and dawn comes early at this time of year. Assuming that she has been spayed, which would be the first thing to address, is it possible to give her safe access to the outside? If not I would try hunting style games that she can play by herself - puzzle toys, ping pong balls, etc. If it is the early dawn that is disturbing her blackout blinds may help too.
Yes she’s been sprayed and unfortunately she has no access to outdoor space but we were told she is to be an indoor cat anyway. We have blackout curtains bht it seems that she prefers them open as she’s a lot calmer when they’re open and she jumps up them when they’re closed! I’ll try the puzzle toys - thank you for your reply!
- Mollycat
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Re: Kitten won’t stop screaming from 4:30am until I get up at 7am
As long as you're quite sure there is no medical or other genuine reason for her to start yelling at you at dawn, it's tough love but you need to play dead. Do not get up, do not respond in any way, do not call out to her, nothing - pretend to be asleep even if you can't sleep. If she is after your attention, she needs to learn that dawn is not the cue to start demanding it.
The problem comes when you do get up. If she is still yelling, unfortunately she will learn that if she keeps going you will eventually get up, and that is what you don't want to happen. You want her to learn that Yelling Does Not get. That means staying "asleep" until she stops. The four day holiday coming up might be a good place to start if you don't have to be up for anything.
The problem comes when you do get up. If she is still yelling, unfortunately she will learn that if she keeps going you will eventually get up, and that is what you don't want to happen. You want her to learn that Yelling Does Not get. That means staying "asleep" until she stops. The four day holiday coming up might be a good place to start if you don't have to be up for anything.
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Re: Kitten won’t stop screaming from 4:30am until I get up at 7am
We do usually ignore her but she gets louder and louder! I’ll try ignoring her over the weekend that’s a good idea but she lives in a world of her own!Mollycat wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 8:32 am As long as you're quite sure there is no medical or other genuine reason for her to start yelling at you at dawn, it's tough love but you need to play dead. Do not get up, do not respond in any way, do not call out to her, nothing - pretend to be asleep even if you can't sleep. If she is after your attention, she needs to learn that dawn is not the cue to start demanding it.
The problem comes when you do get up. If she is still yelling, unfortunately she will learn that if she keeps going you will eventually get up, and that is what you don't want to happen. You want her to learn that Yelling Does Not get. That means staying "asleep" until she stops. The four day holiday coming up might be a good place to start if you don't have to be up for anything.
The problem comes when she starts knocking things off the sides which subsequently sometimes smash so I have to get up in the end but maybe I’ll move everything!
Thanks for your help