Many cat owners can attest not once or twice they have had their REM sleep disrupted by their cats meowing at night.
And this type of behavior can be annoying, especially if it occurs daily. As a responsible cat owner, knowing why your cat keeps on crying at night is the first step of putting this behavior to a stop.
So why does your cat cry and meow at night, and she seems comfortable and happy during the day? Let’s delve deeper to learn more.
Why Is Your Cat Meowing At Night?
Cat meowing is one of the ways cats communicate with us during the day or night. And a couple of factors could be the reason your cat has developed this behavior recently, much to your dissatisfaction.
1) Your Cat Is Hungry or Thirsty
A hungry or thirsty cat will keep you awake all night with its meows. Mostly this will happen if you underfeed your cat.
Also, cats need frequent hydration as it is important for overall body health. If you fill up a water bowl before going to bed, your cat will rarely disturb your sleep with constant night calling.
2) It’s a Learned Habit
Most pet parents can reinforce this behavior of cat meowing unknowingly. For example, if your cat meows at night and you dash right in its direction, this meowing won’t stop as it will be more of a reinforced habit.
Meowing can be used for attention seeking.
Your cat will understand that constant crying and meowing at night will get your attention.
3) It’s a New Environment
A new environment may not settle well with your feline friend. I know even your first time at a new hotel or apartment was not that easy.
Your cat could be startled by a new environment during the first few days hence why it won’t stop meowing.
Your cat could also be scared if you introduce new pets, thus the constant cat crying and meowing at night.
4) It’s More of Cat Yowling
Yowling is the sound cats produce when they want to mate. (not regular cat meow) This behavior is common in intact cats. If you have a female cat, she may yowl and meow at night since she is on heat.
If you have a male cat, he could be yowling since he can smell the scent of females on heat around.
Also, during mating season, a male cat will yowl at night to scare off any male competitors around.
5) The Cat Is Aging
Age could be the reason your cat is meowing at night. Such behavior is common to senior cats above 10 years. Older cats develop cognitive dysfunction syndrome, which worsens at night, and one of the symptoms is continuous meowing.
This cognitive dysfunction has other symptoms like zoning out, loss of vision, and disruption of the sleep-wake cycle, making your older cat anxious.
6) The Cat Is In Pain or Discomfort
If your cat has been okay the whole day, and all of a sudden, he starts meowing at night, then he might be in some discomfort.
Also, some conditions like an overactive thyroid or kidney disease can cause lots of agony which might cause your cat to vocalize the whole night.
7) Dirty Litter Box
Cats like doing their business in a clean place, and if she finds the litter box dirty at night, she won’t hesitate to wake you up with her loud cries.
To prevent that, you need to provide a clean litter box for your cat every night before you sleep. Also, make sure you have changed the litter frequently.
If you are not a fan of cleaning, you can get an automatic cat’s litter box that will relieve you of all the hard work of touching a cat’s mess.
8) Your Cat Didn’t Exercise During the Day
Physical and mental stimulation is vital for all cats. If not exercised, your cat will have lots of pent-up energy that may deprive it of sleep. Thus your cat may spend a few hours in the night crying for someone to come and play with it. Usually this happens with younger cats.
How to Stop a Cat from Yowling and Meowing At Night
After figuring out what is causing your cat to meow at night, it will be much easier for you to come up with ways to put this behavior to a halt. Following the below interventions will see both you and your cat have a good night’s sleep.
Feed Your Cat Enough Cat Food before It Sleeps
Hunger can make your cat wake you up with constant crying and meowing at night. If that is so, ensure you feed your cat quality cat food daily, more so before bedtime.
Ensure you feed your cat in small meals daily without exceeding its daily calorie needs. Also, one hack is feeding your cat before bedtime. Let’s say 9:30 pm.
That way, your cat will sleep full and happy.
Tire Your Cat Up
Pent-up energy makes your cat awake all night. That’s why it won’t stop meowing when you are deep asleep. One way to reverse that is by ensuring your cat is well exercised. Get interactive toys that will tire your cat’s brains. You can also look for cat-friendly toys that will tire your furry friend.
Ensure you have 10-20 minutes of playtime with your cat before bedtime for better results. Do this daily, and you will note your cat will rather sleep rather than cry the whole night.
If your cat naps a lot during the day then she will have a lot of energy at night. That’s why you should try less napping and more playing approach.
Visit a Vet
Perhaps it’s not hunger but an underlying condition causing your cat to meow all night. And that’s where the vet comes in. The vet will try to diagnose what condition is making your cat uncomfortable. Afterward, the vet will guide you on the right course of action appropriate for your cat.
Neuter or Spay Your Cat
Neutering or spaying your cat can help you control this behavior of meowing at night. Besides that, spaying or neutering controls the number of unwanted kittens, which may end up euthanized.
Time to Ignore Your Cat Meowing
If your cat is fully exercised and its litter box is clean, ignore this meowing as it could be a habit.
Although it may be hard during the first days, ignoring your cat can help put this behavior to a stop as it will realize you aren’t entertaining it anymore, unlike before.
Only give it attention after it has stopped crying and meowing all over.
To help you ignore your cat, you can put in some earplugs for you to have a peaceful night.
Conclusion
We know it’s not always easy to find the right cat care, but we hope this article has given you some insight and better understanding why is your cat meowing at night.
If your cat is still meowing loudly and frequently when he or she should be sleeping, there are a few ways to help alleviate the problem. One way would be to make sure that their litter box needs are met by changing out the litter more often or adding an extra liner in case they need more space for scratching.
You may also want to consider investing in a pet camera so you can monitor them during nighttime hours without having to keep coming home because of all the noise!
Also, many cats are night owls. As we sleep they stalk and hunt in our dreams, they doze and yawn and stretch and arch their backs. So it’s quite common for indoor cats to start meowing without a good reason, like when you’re home at night and your cat wakes up and starts meowing.
Other times cats will start meowing in the middle of the night for no reason too, so don’t think something is wrong with your cat if it does this once in a while!
Where you able to stop your cat’s night time meowing? What other advice do you have? Share with us in the comments down below.
This is very helpful advice.
I disagree with one thing.
I think you should always rule out a physical/cause before focusing on behavioral help for your cat.
This applies to things like urinating outside of the box as well.
Thanks for reading. 🙂 Yes, we can agree on that too 🙂
My ginger. cries all the time. Took him to vet but. found nothing wrong. Answers also when you ask him a question.lol! He is ultra affectionate!