Hey everyone! I have a beautiful year old Bengal named Duchess and also a 1 1/2 year old tortoise shell named Hoosier (she's a girl too). So Duchess has always been VERY vocal. Like probably a 9/10. She never cries for food but mostly just for attention and she's only quiet when she's asleep. I'm a college student and my boyfriend who lived with me is only here 5 or 2 days out of the week.

She recently went into heat and that was a nightmare but she's getting fixed next week. So onto the point...she is very active at night so we usually will leave our door open until she starts making excessive noise or gets into something she shouldn't be. I usually go to bed around 2-3 in the morning she is pretty quiet by then but she wakes me up around 8am every morning so I get only 5-6 hours a night and if I went to bed earlier she would just wake me up earlier. She just yells for hours straight even if we wake up and give her attention. Oh and Hoosier even tries to get her to stop by chasing her and whatnot.

I just don't know what to do I feel like I have a newborn even though she's one and I'm so exhausted my grades are starting to slip. And I'm starting to train her to walk outside so I'm hoping that will help a little as well. I love her to death and her cries are so pretty but I need my sleep.
(Sorry for such a long post!)

First of all, bengals are quite vocal and they are perpetual 2 year old toddlers. Females will yowl when they are in heat -- trying to lure a male for mating. Getting her fixed will solve the heat cycles. That being said, some bengals sleep through the night (I have one of them). Other bengals are nocturnal and want to be up and doing things all night. Having a bengal is just like having a child. They are active, get into things, do not like to be told "no", etc. And getting little sleep with a young'un is part of the deal. See how she does once you get her fixed. If she still is wound up during the night, then you're going to have to play with her and wear her out so she does sleep. You should be engaging her in play time every day. Bengals are very social, they crave attention, they love human interaction. They are not your typical cat.

Walking your cat is a great idea and it's wonderful exercise for your kitty, but if yours is like mine, there may not be a lot of walking -- just sniffing bushes, so actual play time is a necessity. You may need earplugs or white noise to drown out the cries, but hopefully, if you get her worn out from playing before bedtime, she will settle down and sleep through the night.

I don't know if my experience is helpful but I'll share. My bengal would cry and cry when I let her have free roam of the house all night. We had no idea why and it drove us absolutely mad. Then we took her to my parent's place and kept her shut in the room with us all night and she slept soundly all the way through. I realized that she probably wanders in the night and gets lonely, and ever since I shut her and her litter, water, food, silent toys etc in our bedroom with us overnight, and I shut the door. Then she feels safe with us nearby and sleeps soundly.

Ditto the playing with her more before bedtime. Maybe a walk will help to tire your bengal out.

I hope fixing her helps though... good luck!!