Hey, I tried to look for similar posts but didn't have much luck, sorry if this has been asked before. Anyways my girlfriends cat sleeps in the room with us but she let's him outside in the mornings. Well recently like in the last 6 months he has started meowing really loud and nonstop at 3 or 4 am and she gives in and let's hI'm outside. When it first started she would try to quiet him by shush ing him or getting a squirting bottle and spraying him. It worked some times but now he knows to just meow constantly and he gets what he wants. I usually sleep through it but it's affecting her sleep and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to get him not to meow.

I was thinking of getting a small cage and when he meows lime that put him in it in another room where you can't hear him. This will be hard in her house however because it's all tile and very open with tall ceilings so sound really carries inside. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

First of all, welcome to the forum. I take it your kitty is a bengal. Bengals are vocal! They cry a lot and they cry loudly! I've had various cats the past 50+ years and they all have gotten me up during the night. First of all, I hope your kitty is neutered! Second of all, spray bottles do not work! You only traumatize the cat and he mistrusts you, so stop that immediately! I've always simply gotten out of bed, opened the outside door and let the cat out. The bengal I have now is not allowed outside. He wakes me up to eat in the middle of the night. I feed him and go back to bed and fall back asleep. He wakes up at dawn and is ready to go outside for a walk. That's how he experiences the outdoors. Putting him into a cage is not going to work either!

There are two solutions to this:

1. Get up and let the cat outside when he cries.
2. Let the cat cry and cry and ignore the cat's behavior. It takes a few weeks for it to stop! Raiden had been an outdoor kitty and when we took him in, we decided he could not roam free. We spent a lot of sleepless nights with him crying constantly to go outside. Eventually, he stopped! There are times I will ignore his cries even if he wants food (he has dry food out all the time) and he will go and eat and come back to bed and go back to sleep.

A male cat crying to go outside is not bad behavior. It's natural behavior! You might want to invest in a cat door so that he has 24/7 access to the outside.

Please do not use spray bottle. Your kitty will associate the spray bottle with you and will stop to trust you.

As for the meowing all night part, the best way to make it stop for us is to ignore him completely. If you get up and let him out, he associate the fact that you ate getting up + the fact that he is meowing so he understand that if you do that, he will get what he want. Ignore him completrly for about 2 weeks and it should get better.

The problem is he's a bengal and as you know their meows are extremely loud and not ignorable. We wake up early for school and he will wake us up at 4 am and it's not that easy to just go back to sleep. It wouldn't be a big deal to just let him out but we live in the hills and her last cat was killed by coyotes so we don't feel comfortable letting him outside in the middle of the night. That's why I thought of the crate idea.

What does your g/f suggest?

Can you just lock him out of your bedroom and wear earplugs perhaps?

Once he figures out he does not get his way he will probably ease up.

A cage would not make him stop meowing and, as you noted, outside roaming is not a realistic option.

Tire him out with play prior to retiring for the night. Also, make sure he is fed late enough for him to last all night without wanting food.

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~ Kyenta

A bengal is going to cry in a crate as well. The best thing is to play with him and wear him out before you go to bed, give him a small meal before you go to bed. Cats are supposed to be nocturnal. And it is hard to cope with a loud bengal meow. Trust me. I know. Raiden is up here howling as we wants to go outside for his morning walk. He doesn't understand "a few more minutes," Sometimes when Raiden tries to wake me up in the middle of the night, I tell him to "lay down." If he doesn't get his way, he does and goes back to sleep. According to Jackson Galaxy, it will take TWO weeks of ignoring to change the behavior. If you're willing to put up with that, you may get a good night's sleep!