Cat Arthritis Treatment

A lot of people put messages on this thing about cats wanting attention in the middle of the night. It isn’t convenient for people who have to get up for work. Maybe you could try feeding her right before you go to bed and play with her awhile then too. Maybe she will be ready to sleep all night.

Hi there…I don’t know if this will help but someone else asked a similar question about their elderly cats keeping them up at night with meowing episodes and here’s my answer: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Al8jLjqa1IhYcrI5xJze_Nrsy6IX?qid=20061201154518AAiFdk8&show=7#profile-info-467ecbd4310ef3dd4b4c9f341bb8e053aa

Cat keeps waking us up in the middle of the night. Any ideas?
We have two 11 year old cats, both spoilt with a ridiculous amount of unconditional love (as all cats deserve). At night the female is no problem but, over the last couple of years the male has taken to walking all over us in bed, mee-owing in our ears and pawing at our faces during the early morning hours.

We’ve tried shutting him out of the bedroom but the scratching at the door (and wailing) kept us awake also. (Not surprising really as they have had the run of the house all their lives and my partner won’t shut them downstairs in case of a fire). We have tried keeping him awake during the evenings by poking at him while he was trying to sleep to stop him being so active in the early hours but all that did was annoy him and it didn’t really improve the situation.

Any (humane) ideas gratefully received!

Hi there…I’m partially reiterating some of the other suggestions here, but elaborating on them. It sounds like your kitty has found a schedule of his own. There are many possibilities as to why he may be waking you up at this particular time of night. Has anything in the distant or near past always occured around this time that was either frightening or pleasant? For example many cats who are fed at a scheduled time will learn when to expect their meals, the family members come home and leave for day, etc. It’s more of a conditioned response from a pattern which is being continually reinforced…and is why I’m making this assumption.

If you would like to change/adjust his schedule to yours consider by playing with him using more physical active activities (e.g. laser light) if he’s still interested in interactive play for 10-15 minutes prior to bedtime to exhaust him so he’ll sleep longer. If your cat isn’t free fed (food available at all times) some people who feed their cats on schedule (once in the morning and once at night) have found that by feeding right just before bedtime also note that this has a sedating effect because their tummy’s are full.

This particular method isn’t known to many as most people are not willing to consider it, however one the things we as animal trainers/behaviourists do to break bad behaviours with animals is to ignore the undesired behaviour. What follows is called an extinction burst where the behaviour becomes progressively worst for awhile hoping for the same positive reinforcement as received in past. Eventually the animal learns this behaviour does not gains them any positive reinforcement and eventually fades away.

Here’s another example of how an extinction burst works: This happens when a proven method of doing something that brings a desired response (i.e. stealing socks always elicits a chase from a human), all of a sudden stops working. The extinction burst is the part where the dog tries the proven method again and again, and hundred times stronger before they figure out that it just doesn’t work anymore. Human equivalent: you’re at the elevator. You pressed the button 10 seconds ago. This has always made the elevator come and pick you up. For some reason, there’s no sign that the elevator’s coming. You press it again. And again, and again and again, harder and harder, with more force (extinction burst!), until finally you just give up and use the stairs. If the original method doesn’t work anymore, why use it?!

More on Extinction Burst: http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/archives/bursts.txt

If your kitty had more serious behavioural problems some cats can be successfully helped who are on antidepressants, but it’s usually given to cats who suffer from aggression/anxiety disorders as well as inappropriate elimination (urine spraying/peeing) disorders: http://www.newmanveterinary.com/feline.html

cats are very weird sometimes. if she is meow or yelling at night and acting weird there very well may be a spirit in your home that only the cat can see. this happens a lot and ppl get mad at the animal when all along the spirit could be the cause of the cat being irrational at all hours of the night. most of my animals (90% were cats) have experienced some sort of unexplained behavior. most times if you talk to what or whomever may be there before you go to bed…just ask them to not bother the cat at night so we can sleep and i bet anything after 2 or 3 nights you may find that whatever it was will leave the cat be at night for you. good luck and i hope that it works out for you=)

Is she spayed ? If not, then that’s your problem. I did have a cat who died a couple years back, who, in the middle of the night would carry around a toy in her mouth and meow these mournful meows. No harm done though. Since she’s a member of your family, it shouldn’t bother you to get up in the night just to check on her when she does this.