I have two 12 year old cats who have been through a lot of change in the last 6 months, moving to a flat with me and becoming indoor cats for the first time in 10 years. Things had been going well and I thought they were adjusting nicely until this weekend.
For the past three months they have slept on the bed with me (because my bedroom door doesn't shut) and it has largely been ok, apart from the odd pillow take over...
Since Sunday night they have been very anxious and skittish overnight, resulting in very little sleep for me. One in particular seems to just move around the flat mewing all night, is jumping on and off the bed, making lots of 'chirruping' type noises and just won't settle. He is waking my up (by climbing on my pillow or mewing in my face) about every hour or so, they have had fights at 2am or just started running around making noise. By 5am they seem to calm down and sleep again.
I have noticed that even in the evenings when I am home, the one in particular seems very anxious and edgy - last night I dropped a bath towel on the floor and he almost jumped out of his skin and hissed at it - it didn't even make a sound!
Changes I can think of in the last few days are the weather - can the heat make a difference to their behaviour? I bought a standing fan for the bedroom, so that might be making a difference with the additional noise? The other thing was I had three people staying this weekend (Friday and Saturday nights) with one in the spare room and two in the lounge. I am also wondering if this might have made a difference to them.
Any advice on how to calm them and get things back to normal would be much appreciated. I have ordered some Feliway diffusers as have heard they can help but beyond that, I am at a bit of a loss and very tired. I can't shut them in another room in the flat as I know they will roar the place down if they can't get to me and that will disturb the neighbours upstairs.
Kirsty
Sudden change in night time behaviour
-
Jacks
- VIP Cat Chatter!
- Posts: 767
- Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:40 pm
- No. of cats in household: 7
- Location: Enfield, North London
- Contact:
Re: Sudden change in night time behaviour
Hi Kirsty!
They are keeping you busy, aren't they!! I would suspect the visitors have put them on edge, in that they don't know whether you and they are the only people in the flat... if this is the case it should settle down in a few days and I'd try to keep to a normal routine and not give in and play at 4am or something, or they'll get into the habit of expecting it!
As they are 12 years old I wouldn't have thought they needed more activity, but it is just possible that having been outdoor they are not getting the same level of exercise and need some chasey play in the evening before bedtime. One of mine chirrups a lot - and it's generally an invitation - to play if it's directed towards another cat, or for treats if it's directed towards us!
One other thing of course - is it possible that another cat is coming to the windows at night? I only ask as I don't know how high your windows are, but as they can't get out and confront an 'intruder' it might disturb them?
I would say too that ours took a while to get used to a ceiling fan and it MAY be that the standing fan is making them jumpy and edgy at night - and because they're not settling down to sleep they are thinking of mischief... If this is the case it will settle down as, like other household things, they will get used to it. It's not just the noise with a fan, it's the artificial blowing which seems to disturb cats. Some friends have reported their cats will not tolerate fans at all...
Hope these are some helpful thoughts x
They are keeping you busy, aren't they!! I would suspect the visitors have put them on edge, in that they don't know whether you and they are the only people in the flat... if this is the case it should settle down in a few days and I'd try to keep to a normal routine and not give in and play at 4am or something, or they'll get into the habit of expecting it!
As they are 12 years old I wouldn't have thought they needed more activity, but it is just possible that having been outdoor they are not getting the same level of exercise and need some chasey play in the evening before bedtime. One of mine chirrups a lot - and it's generally an invitation - to play if it's directed towards another cat, or for treats if it's directed towards us!
One other thing of course - is it possible that another cat is coming to the windows at night? I only ask as I don't know how high your windows are, but as they can't get out and confront an 'intruder' it might disturb them?
I would say too that ours took a while to get used to a ceiling fan and it MAY be that the standing fan is making them jumpy and edgy at night - and because they're not settling down to sleep they are thinking of mischief... If this is the case it will settle down as, like other household things, they will get used to it. It's not just the noise with a fan, it's the artificial blowing which seems to disturb cats. Some friends have reported their cats will not tolerate fans at all...
Hope these are some helpful thoughts x
Re: Sudden change in night time behaviour
Jacks thank you so much! That is really helpful, not least to have my fears confirmed that it could be something as innocuous (to my mind) as the fan as well as the visitors.
I will try tonight without the fan and see how we go. It's a start at least. I think in future if I have more than one visitor I'll put them in cattery. They seem to be ok if there's just someone in the spare room but it was the ones in the lounge that may have made the difference...
They're funny little things, aren't they?
Kirsty
I will try tonight without the fan and see how we go. It's a start at least. I think in future if I have more than one visitor I'll put them in cattery. They seem to be ok if there's just someone in the spare room but it was the ones in the lounge that may have made the difference...
They're funny little things, aren't they?
Kirsty
-
Willowgill
- VIP Cat Chatter!
- Posts: 112
- Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2014 12:48 pm
- No. of cats in household: 3
Re: Sudden change in night time behaviour
Hi Kirsty
This sounds just like the issues we have on a weekend with Max which I've mentioned in previous posts. In the apartment he is totally fine all day and evening until we go to bed when he then starts wandering round crying - the noise gets louder the longer we ignore him. Alfie also is a bit unsettled and will run around chirruping at times but I've found he does that just before he goes in the tray so I assume he's getting anxious about going (he rarely uses the tray at home preferring the soil outside). It goes on all night with me in and out of bed alternating between feeding Max and picking him up and carrying him to my bed - sometimes he settles for a while but then he's off again. By 5 or 6 am he's flat out asleep on the bed either from exhaustion
or just simply because it's morning! From the sound of it your visitors have upset the equilibrium of your cats new abode and they're a bit unsettled. Hopefully as they were originally getting used to their surroundings things will settle down in a few days. Are they able to look out of the windows (we're on the second floor so mine can't go out)? We bought a tree post which is quite high and put it by the window for Alfie to see out - Max is blind so that doesn't help him. I'm also giving them Bach's flower remedies to try and calm them down. Hope the situation settles down soon for you.
This sounds just like the issues we have on a weekend with Max which I've mentioned in previous posts. In the apartment he is totally fine all day and evening until we go to bed when he then starts wandering round crying - the noise gets louder the longer we ignore him. Alfie also is a bit unsettled and will run around chirruping at times but I've found he does that just before he goes in the tray so I assume he's getting anxious about going (he rarely uses the tray at home preferring the soil outside). It goes on all night with me in and out of bed alternating between feeding Max and picking him up and carrying him to my bed - sometimes he settles for a while but then he's off again. By 5 or 6 am he's flat out asleep on the bed either from exhaustion
or just simply because it's morning! From the sound of it your visitors have upset the equilibrium of your cats new abode and they're a bit unsettled. Hopefully as they were originally getting used to their surroundings things will settle down in a few days. Are they able to look out of the windows (we're on the second floor so mine can't go out)? We bought a tree post which is quite high and put it by the window for Alfie to see out - Max is blind so that doesn't help him. I'm also giving them Bach's flower remedies to try and calm them down. Hope the situation settles down soon for you.