Constant meowing.. I'm at my wits end!

[suzfoote]

Hey guys! I haven't posted in a while. About a month ago we added another kitten to our family.. so now we have Billie (about 7 month old female), and McNulty (3.5 month old male). Billie has always been very vocal, but would always calm down and chill out for bedtime, and come right to bed. Now that McNulty is here, they fall asleep together in their bed, until about 5am. That's when Billie wakes up and starts constantly meowing... and I mean non-stop. If we close our bedroom door, she meows very loudly outside it. If we let her in, she comes in the room and meows. If we leave the door open, she will walk in and out meowing. We wear earplugs and can even her her through those! We've tried spraying her with water when she meows, we've tried ignoring her when she meows.... nothing works!! I've tried giving her treats when she is quiet... everything!! I love her so much but we're at our wits end. I had about 3 hours of sleep last night, with work today. ANY help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[zoinks]

Maybe McNulty being so young and active is waking her up early which leads to the "good morning ma!!" warbling

The trick might be to tire them both out before bed with some extreme playing, and hope they sleep through the night to a reasonable hour.. that is what works for us and we have one extremely loud cat.

When our boys first came home with us they both took some time to settle into our sleep routine too, and after a month or so, with the playing before bed we got them both to sleep through until we wake up.

 

[suzfoote]

I donno though.. McNulty will still be out asleep on the couch when she gets up and starts meowing!

 

[admin]

Hey guys! I haven't posted in a while. About a month ago we added another kitten to our family.. so now we have Billie (about 7 month old female), and McNulty (3.5 month old male). Billie has always been very vocal, but would always calm down and chill out for bedtime, and come right to bed. Now that McNulty is here, they fall asleep together in their bed, until about 5am. That's when Billie wakes up and starts constantly meowing... and I mean non-stop. If we close our bedroom door, she meows very loudly outside it. If we let her in, she comes in the room and meows. If we leave the door open, she will walk in and out meowing. We wear earplugs and can even her her through those! We've tried spraying her with water when she meows, we've tried ignoring her when she meows.... nothing works!! I've tried giving her treats when she is quiet... everything!! I love her so much but we're at our wits end. I had about 3 hours of sleep last night, with work today. ANY help would be greatly appreciated!

@suzfoote - is Billie spayed? if not, this will surely help with to meowing. Also, as soon as McNulty is of the proper age, be sure to neuter him.

 

[susi794]

Spay her! If she isn't already.

 

[Hairless Blessing]

I was going to say the same thing, spay and neuter.

 

[suzfoote]

She is already spayed!! McNulty isn't though.. he's almost 4 months old now, is he too young?

Also, she was doing the meowing before we even got him.. it just got worse now. So something must have been going on before that

 

[susi794]

Not sure what to suggest....I have a girl who screams out at night. She was just recently spayed and I think it is residual learned behavior from before she was spayed. You might try asking your vet....

 

[suzfoote]

Yeah I'm going to have to ask the vet if there's anything we can do.. or anything that might be causing it. Has anyone had any experience with those calming diffusers? I'm thinking on trying them too... anything at this point! my boyfriend said if it doesn't stop, he wants to get rid of her!.... that is NOT happening!! I need help!

 

[naomi]

Frida did a similar thing when she was six or seven months old. She would wake up at five and insistently meow, walk on my face or my partners face, nock things off shelves ect until I would wake up and pay attention to her and/or feed her. I found a latter super time helped her to sleep more. I think she was growing really fast at that time and it was too big a stretch between meals for her.

 

[andreanar]

Go ahead and give the diffuser a try. I have a screamer too. Maybe she's hungry? Can you get up and give a can of wet food or try one of those programmable food dishes?

 

[Hairless Blessing]

No he's not to young, some breeders spay and neuter before they
let them go to their new homes. If your contract doesn't suggest
or state a certain age, I would go ahead. The sooner the better.
You won't have to worry about spraying.

There is people who wait until 6 mos. old.
Also, how much do you feed your babies? I'm just wondering if
she's hungry?

 

[naomi]

When Frida was doing this it was definitely hunger. I started feeding her just before I went to bed (around 11) and then again at7am. I was always carefull not to feed to early though because I didn't want 5 or 6 to be the expected breakfast time. She is still up like clockwork a 7 am even though she now gets dinner earlier in the eavning. I also had to feed her about 3 times a day during that time. I feed wet food so I couldn't free feed but kittens should be allowed more food proportionately than an adult.

 

[suzfoote]

We actually let them free feed, so there's always food out for them.. breeder suggested it, and that's what I did with my other sphynx too.

The diffuser came in the mail today.. online it's saying after about a week you should see results, so I'm hoping!! Also, the last couple of days we have been paying EXTRA extra attention to her and the meowing has seemed to have gotten slightly better! I forgot too.. when she has a sweater on she tends to calm down, so I have a light fabric shirt that I've been putting on before bed the last couple nights and that is seeming to help a bit too. I have my fingers crossed that this is the start of the end of the meowing lol. And I am definitely going to look into getting McNulty fixed very soon!!

 

[Hairless Blessing]

Sounds good. Hope things only continue to get better.

 

[naomi]

I'm sure everything will work out. Good luck

 

[Ickushouse]

Glad to hear she might be settling down a bit!

 

[Sphynx4sure]

A warm snug fitting sweater will help. Quite a few people have been using the Thunder shirt. Also, instead of just the free feeding kibble, what if she got a yummy, belly filling meal of chicken, rabbit, etc? A full belly and warmth certainly puts my girl in a sleepy trance. Good luck!

 

[MunnkieSphynx]

did the diffuser help?? Whats the status?? I am so curious and hope things are better!

We actually let them free feed, so there's always food out for them.. breeder suggested it, and that's what I did with my other sphynx too.

The diffuser came in the mail today.. online it's saying after about a week you should see results, so I'm hoping!! Also, the last couple of days we have been paying EXTRA extra attention to her and the meowing has seemed to have gotten slightly better! I forgot too.. when she has a sweater on she tends to calm down, so I have a light fabric shirt that I've been putting on before bed the last couple nights and that is seeming to help a bit too. I have my fingers crossed that this is the start of the end of the meowing lol. And I am definitely going to look into getting McNulty fixed very soon!!

 

[Emily0404]

How did the diffuser work out?

 

[suzfoote]

It's been plugged in 4 days now.. the box says you will see results in about a week. We have noticed a bit of difference, but I'm thinking it's probably just a combination of her "pyjama" shirt, paying more attention to her, etc... but, I'm hoping over the next few days it gets even better!! she's doing really well with sleeping through the night/morning... but from what I have heard, when I leave for work and it's just my boyfriend, and/or 2 roomates here, it's almost like she has separation anxiety, and she goes crazy meowing again!!

I will keep everyone updated and I can only hope things get better from here!!

 

[suzfoote]

Billie's pyjama shirt is looking like a belly top in this pic hahaha

 

[suzfoote]

best buddies now!!

 

[Inflamed]

Hopefully things will continue to settle down and she finds her mute button!!

 

[Embracing-Joyx4]

Keep us posted your doing all you can. Chin up