Hi everyone.. Love reading about all of your cats. I have a one and a half year old bengal girl ( desexed) who slept on my bed nice and quietly for the first 15 months of her life... then she suddenly started prowling around the whole house and meowing all night. She gets plenty of exercise during the day ( she can access a huge area outside) and has a dog for company also. I tried checking that she wants more food, toilet... but nothing seems to really be the problem. She just won't settle. The only solution we have come up with so far is to lock her in my son's bedroom ( he can sleep through anything)... she quietens down. But I do not want to keep cat litter in there. I tried the laundry ( where her cat litter is) and she meowed non stop for 40 mins... does anyone have any ideas?

jenny

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jenny
Sydney
Australia

Hi and welcome to the forum.

It's not unusual for Bengals to be vocal during the night - it's naturally their active time so they can't really understand why we're all asleep and quiet. However, what is a little unusual is that she's only recently started doing it and that suggests something has happened to disturb her usual routine. Has anything changed in the house, new people, new furniture, any change in your routine? Are there any new neighbours with pets or has anything else that has changed outside? It can sometimes be the most trivial things (to us) that can bring on a behaviour change.

Also make sure she has access to toys that she can play with by herself - I find that cardboard boxes and little catnip toys are good. I often wake up to hear sounds of them jumping in and out of the boxes.

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Hi

thanks for your reply. I am scratching my head to find something that has changed - so far with no luck. If anything she has been able to access outside for longer recently ( up to 7pm) - so would have thought she would be more settled at night ( because had done more during the day) ?? She does seem to want to sleep on my bed like before but then about 4 am or so she just loses it... will also try the toy idea. Just bought her some xmas toys - so see how that goes...

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jenny
Sydney
Australia

Ah - that could be the reason. Once they've had a taste of the outdoors it simply whets their appetite for more so it's quite possible that it's as simple as that in your case. 4am is the classic wide awake time for a cat. They're what's called "crepuscular" rather than strictly nocturnal which means they're most active at dawn and dusk so 4am is the start of their second active phase and they want to tell the world about it. It is possible to retrain their routine over time but you'll need to be strict and not respond to her crying and you need to give her something to occupy her when she wants to be active - the Christmas toys sound ideal.

Good luck

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could it be the temperature? or some cinnamon christmassy scent or candles? eithne loaths incense, i know that... *thinks* maybe check you don't have mice or something? though...they'd probably be dormant this time of year!

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"kitten...down...get down...get...kitten..KITTEN...don't make me come over there!"

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jenny
Sydney
Australia

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Belinda

yes - have realised now that with the last 6 weeks it has been so hot in the afternoon that instead of prowling around she is inside sleeping for 4 hours - so that is also why she wakes up at nighttime.. so now we are trying to wear her out big time before we go to bed.. but I think this could take a while

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jenny
Sydney
Australia

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Belinda

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jenny
Sydney
Australia

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jenny
Sydney
Australia