My cat keeps whining for attention at night. What can I do now?

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.

It sounds like you have an active young kitty cat! Well, unfortunately, you are doing many of things I would suggest for you to do already. However, we have not yet exhausted all of our options. It sounds like Ginger is experiencing some level of distress, whether or not its due to separation or a need for attention is very hard to say. I would consider adding some Feliway Diffusers into the home. They can be found on Amazon or at a local pet store. They send out pheromones into the environment that aim to calm the cat. They also make direct sprayers that you can put onto objects or even directly onto the kitty himself. If this sort of thing works, it usually doesn't happen overnight. Another option, which may not be possible and might sound insane, would be getting a second kitty. Ginger just may need a friend to keep her company when you aren't around. There are also pharmaceutical interventions that can be given if what Ginger is experiencing is truly anxiety. A behavioral work up by a trainer or vet at your home would be very helpful in this case just to get a full idea of the entire situation. I hope one of these tips can give you some peace at night.

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!

This is a common issue since cats are nocturnal. They sleep al day and are up al night. There are a few ways to deal with this. You can lock him in a room or basement at night so he cannot disrupt you. If you do his make sure he has access to food, water and a litter box. Another way is to make sure he doesn't sleep during this day. There are many toys and stuff you can use to tire a cat out. A great one is a laser. They also have automatic lasers so you can leave it on and he can entertain himself. Here is a search looking for interactive cat toys: https://www.chewy.com/b/interactive-toys-327 Here is one for an automatic laser: https://www.chewy.com/petsafe-frolicat-dart-interactive/dp/55756 I would get the whole family involved in play during the day. I hope this helps and thank you for using PetCoach.

If at-home treatments haven't been helping you may want to talk to your vet about a short-term sedative or anxiety medication that may help Watson during the transition and is a little more powerful than calming treats or pheromone diffusers. Once he seems settled in, you may then be able to gradually back off the medication and return to normal. Ruling out any health issues while you are there such as pain, blindness, hearing issues, etc may also be helpful as these can cause confusion and yowling in cats as well. Adding in a few nightlights, especially if Watson is an older cat that may have trouble seeing may help him calm down, especially if the yowling happens at night. Providing plenty of places for him to hide, perch, or explore safely may also help him to settle in.

How frustrating! Unfortunately this is a common complaint. Cats are notorious for training their people to do all sorts of crazy things when it comes to their food. Right now Albert is requesting food early in the morning and you (reasonably) give him food/attention to quiet him, so he learns that meowing at ungodly hours is a successful strategy and keeps on doing it. What you need to do is change that dynamic. A couple ideas: 1) Ignore Albert until a certain time in the morning that you find acceptable. This is very hard at first and you'll sleep less, but he should get the idea after several days to a week. You must truly ignore him -- no positive or negative responses to his attempts to interact. 2) Switch to an automatic feeder that dispenses a set amount of food at certain intervals and then ignore all Albert's request for you to feed him. He'll learn bugging you doesn't results in food. You'll still need to ignore him in the early morning until he learns you're not available 3) Make sure you're giving him lots of attention and environmental enrichment during the day. The Indoor Pet Initiative (by Ohio State University) has some great ideas for this. If none of this work, consider talking with your vet or a veterinarian behaviorist. Good luck!