My cat won't sleep at night. How do I stop the meowing and scratching?

Unfortunately, this is a very common problem - it's normal for cats to be awake and active during the night, since they are nocturnal animals. There are a few things you can do to help. First, try and provide something for Bixby to do at night while you're sleeping - I really like food puzzle toys for this purpose, like a Kibble Nibble or Eggcersizer. You can pick up his food bowl a few hours before bed, and give him the toy with kibble in it at bedtime. He will need to roll it around to get bits of food to fall out, one piece at a time, which should help to keep him occupied with something fairly quiet during the night. You can also try giving him a natural calming supplement like Composure before bed to see if this helps. Finally, I would recommend closing your bedroom door to keep him out of your room at night, and using a white noise machine or something similar to help block out any noise from other parts of the house so that you can sleep.

I certainly sympathize with your situation. I have a few suggestions that have helped me with my cats. Remember that cats are naturally nocturnal, so they want to be active at night. Cats are also hunters, so one of the best ways to satisfy both of these instincts is to find ways for Monty to hunt his food at night. One of my favorite things for cats is a no bowl feeding system like Doc & Phoebe ( https://docandphoebe.com/ ) that requires them to "hunt" for their food. You could also try a feeding ball, but those are a little more noisy at night. Finally, I have used a timed feeder to open at 5 am (since that is when my cats start), but you could set that to open at 3:30 am which might give you some peace and quiet. I have used the Cat Mate C20 for years and it works wonderfully. http://pet-mate.com/us/product-category/pet-feeders-us/ Good luck! I hope that was helpful and gives you some ideas. Thanks for using PetCoach.

You guys are in a difficult situation, and I can sympathize. I had similar problems with one of my cats when she was young. You are doing the right thing by keeping her in at night, however, and hopefully as time goes on and Autumn matures a bit, she will adapt more fully to the human "non-nocturnal" habits and learn that nighttime is for sleeping. Unfortunately, the evolutionary drive to hunt in the nighttime is strong in cats, and not easy to un-do. In the meantime, consider confining her to a small room like a bathroom for the night - equipped with comfy bed, food and water, litterbox, and scratching accessories - and invest in a good set of earplugs. Purchase a plug-in diffuser that diffuses calming cat pheromones - Feliway is the brand I use - which will hopefully help her to calm down and eventually settle in for the night.

She is probably stressed and/or bored. I recommend you put some Feliway diffusers in your house and do some environmental enrichment for her. Usually these two things help tremendously. ( https://www.feliway.com/ca_en/Products/FELIWAY-CLASSIC-Diffuser ) ( thedrakecenter.com/materials/environmental-enrichment-indoor-cats ) ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AejmrLa_Cs4 ) Hope this helps. If you have more questions you can always opt for a private consultation where we can chat back and forth. That way you can ask as many questions as you'd like. Best wishes.

Moon is adorable! I would make sure Moon has enough toys and enough play time. Kittens need to get their energy out. I would make sure that you do not play with him with your hands. Always make sure it is a toy. Here are a few different toy options. The interactive laser is a great option. https://www.chewy.com/bergan-turbo-scratcher-cat-toy-color/dp/49192 https://www.chewy.com/catit-design-senses-circuit-cat-toy/dp/49908 https://www.chewy.com/petsafe-bolt-interactive-laser-pet/dp/55754 The meowing can be normal for kittens. Thank you for using PetCoach.

Hi there. It sounds like Sasha is certainly attached to you! She has most likely just bonded very closely with you and has figured out that when she communicates to you what she wants you understand and give it to her. To her, this is brilliant! You two are in sync! To you...well, you're probably more worried about going back to sleep and trying to get some rest like the rest of us. Unfortunately most of the time with these situations the only solution is to close her out of your room while you're sleeping, but offering her more toys to play with around the house can help as well. Maybe she will use a scratch post? Occasionally one will become so aggressive about their personal needs that we consider mood altering medications-if you are at this point, you can schedule a visit with your regular veterinarian to discuss your concerns and see if it would be a good fit for your situation. My best to you and Sasha-I hope this information helps you!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I would encourage you to enrich his environment inside by adding toys, scratch pads and other things that he can find interesting. I also really like a product called Feliway which helps to make cats feel more at ease in their environment. This is something you can easily get from your pet store or online. Doing these things is likely going to help with this tremendously. Good luck and and have a great day!