Cat Chat Feline Forum

Hello! First time posting here; thanks for reading.

I have a male tabby cat, about seven years old. His name is Klaus. We adopted him, and his brother, from a local shelter; but someone ran over his brother two years ago, and ever since then we've had an issue with him that our vet has been unable to help us resolve. I'm hoping that some of you folks may have some helpful ideas.

At night, Klaus gets lonely. So he constantly tries to wake us up. He hops on our bed, paws at our faces, rattles the window blinds, meows loudly into our ears, etc. If we shut the door, he goes into our three-year-old son's room and does the same thing to wake him up, because when our son wakes up he comes looking for us, and that wakes us up. If neither of these are an option, Klaus will sit at the bottom of the stairs and meow as loudly as he can, and in our little apartment this is enough to wake us up even if we close all the doors. As soon as we go back to sleep, he starts doing this again. He does this all night long, every night.

We've tried spending more time during the day playing with him (which is difficult given our schedule); it didn't help. We've talked about possibly getting another cat as a playmate, but this is a big risk; if they don't get along, we're now responsible for two cats and both of them are going to be a problem. I don't want to euthanize Klaus, so I'm hoping there are other options.

it does sound as if his loud crying has had, from his point of view, the desired effect by getting the attention he seeks

does he have access to outdoors during the night? it sounds as if he might be an indoor only cat, and they do get a bit frustrated, especially at night when their genes want to be out hunting

if he has to stay in, the first thing to do is to shut him away as far from you as you can, and to leave him unattended until morning, however much noise he makes - he may well give up eventually when his wailing has no result, and at the same time you may well find you get used to it more easily once you have determined to ignore it

if you could manage another cat you may well find a rescue who will agree to rehome one but on the understanding he or she might have to be returned if it makes things worse - and two indoor cats in a small apartment has, I fear, a big chance of not working out

In a worse case scenario you could keep the new cat and let the rescue look for a new home for Klaus - one with lots of rooms

Thanks very much for the suggestions.

He is an indoor cat, yeah. He rarely shows a desire to be outside, but when he does and we let him out, he can't find his way home and we usually find him the following morning under one of the parked cars in our neighborhood.

Our apartment is very small, so there is nowhere we can put him where he won't be a disturbance.

If we give him up, it's very unlikely he'll be able to find a new home. Something is not right in his brain, and as a result, he doesn't drink water; so we need to mix water into every meal, and have to board him whenever we go somewhere overnight.

Feed your cat a main meal just before your bedtime. Cats tend to sleep after a big meal. If your cat continues to wake you during the night for food, purchase a timed feeder that you can fill and set to dispense once or twice during the night. If your cat’s hungry, he’ll learn to wait by the feeder rather than bother you while you’re sleeping. Make sure you reduce meal sizes so that your cat doesn’t gain weight.