My kitten keeps me awake at night. How can I get her to sleep?

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.

The best solution is to let him go wherever he wants in the house, this is your best chance at getting some sleep, but kittens this age are very active at night and you can expect intensive night action for the next 3 months.

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’s just a playful kitten. I recommend playing with her during the day so she sleeps at night. With a bitey kitten I play with a toy on a string, a ball for her to chase or a laser pointer. I wouldn’t discipline her for biting since that may result in more biting. Feed her a wet food meal just before bed and that will keep her full so she doesn’t wake you up to get food. Be patient, this is a phase she’ll outgrow soon. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Coco.

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.

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.

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!