Hi

our cat ( Asia) lives in a house with 2 kids, a dog,a fish, a ferret and a rat. She gets 12 hours outside each day - running around our huge backyard and up and down our tall trees. But she does sleep for a while during the day and obviously prefers to be active at night. I do not let her out after dark as she will kill the native wildlife. But this seems to be when she most wants to be out. I think I just have to lock her in a room away from everyone when we go to bed and that is how to get peace and quiet. Not really any other option. I cannot spend much time tiring her out at night as there is too much else going on. Maybe eventually over time she will realise that is how it is and stop meowing at night...

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jenny
Sydney
Australia

My 8 year old Bengal cat spends early morning and then again from 7 to 8 every night walking room to room meowing and causing general mischief. This isn't a new behavior but it seems to be getting worse. He's now added pooping and peeing on my sons laundry to the mischief. I have a box full of toys for him that he seems to enjoy but will only play with them during the day. He's very attached to me and I've been home on a medical leave for the past two months and I feel like it was that change in routine that created the situation. He is a rescue cat that I rescued a few years ago but he never did this to this degree until now. During the day he's very calm and spends most of his time following me around the house or sleeping. I'm concerned that this is not going to stop and my family needs to sleep. Both of my children get woken up as do I add about 430 in the morning in the meowing is so excessive that I've had neighbors knock on my door to make sure everything is OK. Does anybody have any suggestions ?

Your bengal is bored!!! And he is trying to tell you that. Bengals require a ton of attention and distractions. The first thing you need to do is take him to your vet for a thorough checkup. Eliminate anything medically wrong. Then you have to work on the behavior. The pooping on laundry? You know, that laundry is just too enticing for a bengal -- and the best thing is to make sure he does not have access to the laundry, period! One member here had papers all over the floor and her bengal would peed on them. PICK UP THE PAPERS AND DON'T LEAVE THEM ON THE FLOOR. Owning a bengal is not owning a cat. It's owning a perpetual two-year old toddler.

As for the meowing at night. It sounds again like boredom. You might want to make sure you feed him before you go to bed. You must have very close neighbors if the yowling is bothering them. My bengal wakes me up at least twice during the night -- and he yowls. I get up and feed him and try to fall back asleep. He will continue to yowl, hop on his cat wheel, go in and out of his enclosure several times, and then come back to bed. It is just my way of life these days. You will NEVER EVER silence a bengal. But, you can play with him in the evenings and wear him out. You can make sure he has beds all over the house to lounge in -- all bengals need a tall cat tree.

Jackson Galaxy recommends ignoring the cat and the cries and claims it takes two or more weeks for the behavioral change in the cat. It's difficult to do ... but you either get up and deal with the cat or ignore the cat and stay wide awake.