Why cats yell in the apartment in the morning

Cats should be taught the rules of behavior in the house from a young age. If the process is started the cat will not understand why previously allowed actions are forbidden. Most of the problems with waking up your cat in the morning can be solved if you find the right approach.

Why cats wake us up

Cat activity is high at dusk and dawn. This is caused by the ancient instinct of the hunter. Therefore, closer to night or early in the morning, the cat begins to run, jump and behave restlessly.

The cunning little beast will sleep during the day, when the household is at work or studying.

The cat's interesting life begins when the owner comes home. If people are home, it means they will feed him. Food is no small part of a cat's life.

A sleeping human is associated with a cat's absence. The cat's logic is simple: no person, no food; there is a person, there is food.

So the purr wakes up the owner, thinking that in this way he brings him home or saves him from the embrace of Morpheus. And since the two-legged man got up and went, encouraged by the cheerful cries of the cat, why should he not wander into the kitchen for some tasty treats?

How to teach the cat to wake up the owner in the morning?

It is better to feed your cat at the same time 2-3 times a day. Feeding "as you have to" disrupts the cat's biological clock. Leftover food after feeding should be removed.

Feed the cat better in the morning, right after work and at night. You can work out the pet's eating schedule, so you'll sleep through the night.

It's not about five minutes of waving a wrapper or waving a fishing rod, but about full-blown action play, where the cat will run around all day long chasing a red dot, ball or string.

Too lazy to move or no time? Buy interactive toy and turn it on in the evening. The kitty will be exhausted, then have a good dinner, soften up and fall asleep soundly.

Learn to ignore the actions of a furry dictator in the morning.

At first the cat will not understand why the man is not happy with him and does not go to feed his handsome.

So be prepared for increased attacks on the legs, full body pressure on the face and chest, loud yelling and even increased purring.

Just hold on and do not give up! Don't throw pillows and slippers. Don't react. Pretend to be asleep.

Sooner or later, the disappointed kitty will leave with a disgruntled meow.

Why cats wake up early in the morning

To wean an animal from waking the owner early in the morning, you need to understand the main reasons and motives for the unpleasant situation. They can be very different.

  • The fault itself – in some cases, the pet may behave very strangely in the morning because of the master's compliant behavior. If the owners initially did not teach the cat, but only indulged every whim, is it worth complaining about the morning reflexes? Cats are used to living at night, and without a firm hand from the owner can behave quite aggressively.
  • Morning hunger – Like all animals, cats like to have a good meal and eat something tasty in the morning. If the pet eats wet food, which cannot be poured in plenty at night, in the morning it will definitely ask for food. And this reason is considered the most common.
  • Hormones – play not the least role in the life of a nocturnal "predator". At certain periods of life, hormonal outbursts can cause inconvenience not only to the animal itself, but also to its owners. When the cat walks, it can scream all day long, and the morning time is considered the most active. The problem can only be solved by special means or sterilization.
  • Health disorders – some diseases cause insomnia in the pet, as well as feelings of anxiety. In addition, the cat may experience discomfort or pain after going to the bathroom or eating. You can detect the disease if the pet was calm before, and then his behavior began to change. This is a very alarming sign.
  • Stress – the cat's psychological equilibrium can be disturbed for any reason. In this case, it is necessary to go to the veterinary clinic, where the animal can be prescribed sedatives.

If the early rise of the animal is not associated with diseases and other internal factors, then you will have to wean it from this behavior.

How to wean the cat to wake the owner early in the morning

It is necessary to exclude all psychological and physical trauma, which can only be cured with medication, and go to the training of the cat. Representatives of the feline family are rather poorly amenable to training. And it's not about mental abilities – cats are very harmful and stubborn.

To wean the pet from waking up the owners in the morning, you need to be persistent and determined, otherwise nothing will work.

  • Daily routine – most cats begin to change their behavior when it is normalized. It is necessary to accustom the animal to eating at specific morning and evening hours. This method may take quite a long time, but the result will always be positive.
  • More toys and games – all cats are quite energetic, they can play and run around for hours. But they also sleep just as much. Try to pay more attention to your cat during the day and also in the evening. It should spend all its energy, so that in the morning it has no desire to wake its owner.
  • The problem of hunger – some cats experience a constant feeling of hunger, and this is normal. In such cases, the animal should be fed in the evening or left with food for the morning.

The options described do not always work for cats. All animals are different, so the first thing to do is to find the cause of the unpleasant behavior. Sometimes cats may wake the owner on purpose to throw him off balance. If you allow your pet to manipulate himself, such attempts will become more frequent.

Play with your pet

Not all cats are quiet. Many of them like to be active. An energetic cat needs to move around during the day so that by the end of the day he will be tired out and be able to sleep soundly at night. Play with your cat before bedtime. It is best to play with hyperactive animals several times a day – in the morning and in the evening. If you don't have time to devote to your cat every day, get a second cat. They will have more fun together. They can run after each other and won't get bored when they are home alone.

Give the cat enough attention.

Lack of attention may also be the reason for loud howls in the morning. Be sure to pet your pet and scratch the spots he gives you. Don't deny him the companionship he so desperately needs. If a cat jumps on your lap, don't chase it away. Show her some care and warmth, even if you have lots of other things to do. A cat may scream in the morning because it feels lonely. Just take him to your bed and scratch his belly, back or neck. This will usually be enough to calm the cat down and make him purr loudly. When your pet gets tired of lying next to you he will quietly go away and not wake you up again. Because the cat will get what it needed, attention and affection.

Reasons .

In the early morning hours, your house is probably full of silence, but your cat's food bowl is probably not full of food. The moment your cat comes to life in the morning, he is likely to make his way to his food.

If you're lucky, he'll wait a few minutes. But if he doesn't eat soon, he will make his point by coming into your room and meowing incessantly. He may also jump up on your bed, pat you with his paw, and, usually trying his best to annoy you, make you get up and feed him.

No matter how long you sleep, your cat doesn't interact unless you have other animals that are in his sleep mode. This means that your cat is hiding around your house all night, but is not being petted, picked up, or talked to.

Come morning, he's bored, and he's probably sick of the silence. Cats that need attention, not food, will usually stick close to you if you're awake, rub up against your leg, and show little interest in their food bowl.

When the sun rises, the same thing happens to other animals, including birds and squirrels. Some cats are content to sit on your windowsill and watch the feathered and furry animals running around outside. Others are a little more frisky, slamming their paws on the window, meowing and chasing the morning creatures from one side of the window to the other.

What to do

  • Don't give up! If you're sleeping in the same room as your cat, you may have to practice some behavior modification. When he yells in the morning and wakes you up, you should take him outside and only let him come back inside when he stops meowing. This will help solidify good behavior and help him associate time with you as a direct result of his calming down!
  • If your cat's feeder is always empty in the morning, change his feeding schedule so that he eats his last meal when you go to bed. When he wakes up, he should have at least a few bites of food left over.
  • Extended play time.. More often than not, your cat's early morning meow is a cry for attention and his method of releasing restrained energy. According to the Seattle Times, you can tire your pet out a bit by playing with toys before bedtime. A feathered toy attached to a pole is a better choice, and you can have him chase you around the house and burn off some of that extra energy. When he starts to pant a little, reduce the activity and feed him some good food. After he's full, he'll probably take care of himself and take a longer nap, leaving you extra time to rest in the morning.
  • Distract his attention.. One reason a cat will yell in the morning is the lack of stimulation in his main play area. Consider putting a cat tree next to the window overlooking your yard-so that all the birds fly over it in the early morning; he'll have the perfect vantage point to view them and focus his attention on your window.

Giving up the cat's morning meow habit won't be easy, but with a little patience and humility, he can find something to do every day.

How to keep the cat from waking me up early

Now that you know the reason why the cat wakes you up in the morning, here are some tips and useful tricks you can use to keep the cat from waking you up in the morning.

  • Get dark curtains or heavy curtains. This will prevent sunlight from entering the room where your cat sleeps, so your cat won't notice that it's actually daytime until you open the blinds.
  • If your cat wakes you up out of boredom, remember to entertain them during the day while you are away with toys, scratching pads, brushing them … However, if you are short on time, enrich the environment by providing your cat with some interactive games, mind games, cat grass or cat feeders that they can interact with themselves. Tire the cat out as much as possible before bedtime by playing with it.
  • Feed your cat right before bed and wait a while after you get up in the morning. This process may take a few weeks, but you will notice your cat adjusting their schedule so that they need food later in the morning.
  • Use positive reinforcement at the right time. This means that when the cat meows or tries to wake you up, ignore it. This may seem difficult, but you will need to switch positive reinforcement at times when your cat is silent. If the cat meows to wake you up, try petting it when it is silent and has stopped meowing. This will let you know that they will only be noticed when they are quiet.
  • Remember that closing the door to the bedroom, disgusting or scolding the cat will not bring good results. Be patient, loving and try to understand the psychology of cats. These are the best tools when trying to solve a problem.

Causes

  1. Decreased sensitivity. Cats that lose their sight, hearing or sense of smell may begin to yell excessively. Common sense suggests that a decline in senses leads to confusion and irritability. My 20-year-old howling cat reminded me of my dad when his hearing aid batteries ran out. "Dad, you don't have to yell at me. I can hear you."
  2. Hypertension. High blood pressure, by itself or in combination with other conditions, is common in older cats. Some of these cats scream.
  3. Hyperthyroidism. Very often in older cats, hyperthyroidism can cause excessive vocalization. Is this cat hungry? Hyperactive? Anxious? All of the above? These can be corrected.
  4. Pain. This often requires a diagnostic hunt and a guessing game of sorts, but cats with chronic pain may have periods during the day and night when they make noises. Many older cats suffer from serious dental disease, arthritis, gastrointestinal pain, UTI pain and neurological pain, to name a few.
  5. Central nervous system disease. Cats can get brain tumors. The most common tumor is a meningioma, which can grow slowly and cause behavioral and neurological changes as well as excessive vocalization.
  6. Cognitive Dysfunction.. Although we think dogs are more likely to have Alzheimer's, some older cats show signs of dementia and confusion.
  7. Stress. It's pretty rare, but the fact that an older cat yells can be a sign of stress. You don't want to put your old cat under stress, even after all you've been through together! A new pet, especially a new cat, can be the cause of the screaming. Make sure the cat is as comfortable as possible and that she is not stressed.

What can your veterinarian do?

They will carefully examine your elderly cat and determine the source of the howling. If there is an illness or ailment, they may prescribe medication for the illness.

These medications can eliminate the symptoms, while the disease will never go away. Hyperthyroidism can be treated with medication.

In some cases, your cat may have to go through a long period of treatment. You might consider surgery where there is still hope. Hopefully, you can add a few happy years to your cat's life.

Need for food.

Often a cat will begin to meow loudly in a directional way to wake up a person. In parallel, the animal may jump on the bed, run across the blanket, and get close to the face. The most common reason for such antics is hunger. Not all owners understand how much food to leave the pet for the night, what the evening meal should be. A hungry animal will not tolerate and wait for its owner to wake up. In order to satisfy a basic need, it begins to wake the person early in the morning or even at night.

One of the reasons why a cat screams in the morning is the cardinal difference with humans in life rhythms. Cats are nocturnal animals. Their activity increases at night or early in the morning, because nature has provided such a feature for the efficient extraction of food. Of course, domestic cats adjust to the schedule of their owners, and many of them sleep until morning under the wing of a man. But sometimes the cat's physiology wins and the animal starts to be active at night.

Owner behavior

If a cat is constantly meowing and screaming in the early morning hours, the fault may be the owner's misconduct. It happens that even with little activity, a person jumps out of bed at 5 in the morning and tries to feed and play with the animal. This reaction of the owner gradually becomes fixed in the understanding of the animal, it perceives it as the norm and begins to wake the person, even if there is no hunger. In parallel, other signs of discontent may be observed:

Cats are also susceptible to various diseases. Some of them do not manifest themselves during the day, but at night or in the morning. Parasitic diseases and kidney stones usually manifest themselves in the night hours. You should also pay attention to the animal's joints. If it screams in the morning and does not want to move, it may be a sign of arthritis, arthrosis. Another possible cause is a mental disorder. The psyche of some pets is unstable, and they show aggression in this form. Treatment of diseases should be entrusted to an experienced veterinarian.

Cat meows in the morning – early morning syndrome

When a cat meows in the morning, it greatly annoys many owners. This article explains the reasons why cats start meowing in the morning, and offers some suggestions on how to wean a cat from meowing early in the morning.

It is a common problem for cat owners that their cat meows in the morning before the alarm clock rings, especially when they want to sleep so badly. Contrary to the opinion that cats are not nocturnal animals, they can annoy you both at night and in the morning with their singing. Why does a cat meow in the morning and how can I fight it?

Cat meows in the morning - it's "early morning syndrome"

A cat meows in the morning for two reasons:

  1. A cat's meowing in the morning is provoked by his feline nature. His internal clock and nocturnal ancestral nature causes the cat to get up early in the morning. The cat will wake up later or earlier depending on the time of dawn. In summer, when the sun rises early and the cat may wake up very early, and during the long winter nights, he may sleep until dinner every day.
  2. The reason that stimulates the cat to meow in the morning may be your inappropriate response to his demands. If the cat meows in the morning and you encourage it with your attention, then you have to keep doing it day after day. If it starts meowing, or if it seems to be scratching the furniture, and you jump out of bed and chase it around the apartment, or go into the kitchen to feed it, and then pretend you do not even hear it when it starts meowing in the morning, you will be unable to wean it from waking you up in the morning. No method of "repulsion" will help to make the cat not meow in the morning, he will continue to make his demands. On the contrary, by doing this you will encourage the cat to play harder, which is more tempting for the cat than the constant attention it receives.
  • You should understand and try not to blame the cat for its natural behavior. Be patient to try to change his habits.
  • Hang blackout curtains in rooms to simulate nighttime.
  • If the cat meows in the morning, you should not go along with his whims.
  • Make sure that he is fed twice a day, but you shouldn't wake up in the morning and feed him first thing in the morning.
  • Ensure that the cat has an active daytime routine – training, games, toys, etc.
  • Feed the cat just before going to bed at night, as late as possible.
  • You can try getting another cat, then you will no longer be the center of entertainment.
  • You can give the cat the hormone melatonin at night, which prolongs the sleep period and affects the animal's circadian rhythm. But you should consult your veterinarian for this.

What to do if the cat screams at night (sharing my own experience)

Living with beloved purring pets is not always fun. Like all animals, there are problems with them, too. Meowing at night is one of the most unpleasant manifestations of cat behavior. A cat's speech, otherwise pleasant to listen to, when it disturbs our sleep, arouses negative feelings in us. The crying of four-legged friends is sometimes so loud that even the neighbors cannot sleep. Fortunately, the problem is solvable, and it is not necessary to get rid of the pet.

First, let's understand the causes, see how we can solve each of them, and at the end I'll share my own experience – how I got Max to stop yelling at night.

Let's look at the causes

No action can be taken without identifying the source of the problem.

When a cat is in heat cats They yelp loudly to attract potential mates. These sounds are different from normal meowing – they are easy to recognize.

Non-neutered cats also give nocturnal concerts, which are also an expression of an unsatisfied sexual drive.

Of course, they become even louder when they smell a female ( cat senses are more acute than human senses, so it's possible even with cats living in an apartment building ) or hear it ( which is not surprising – you can also hear cats' love songs just fine ).

The only effective way to solve this unpleasant problem is to have the cat or cats spayed.

In the case of neutered animals, start looking for the source of this behavior by visiting your veterinarian.

Cats tend not to show illness and hide from others, but sometimes the pain makes them cry. This is the case, for example With urological syndrome, for example. Of course, a pet endures pain not only at night, but they can be heard more at night because of the silence around them.

We sleep, sometimes locking ourselves in the bedroom, and he's out all night without company. Don't forget – the diurnal cycles of humans and cats are different. Humans function during the day, while cats' sleep and wakefulness are interconnected, although they are most active in the evening and morning. So the furry may just want to play at night and try to engage you in the fun.

Not only can cats get bored at night, but they can also feel really lonely. There is a stereotype that cats are solitary creatures. However, hundreds of years of domestication have already changed their character, so modern felines have become quite social.

Loneliness most bothers kittens, especially those who lost their mother and siblings too early (it is now believed that babies must stay with their mother until at least 12 weeks of age). But adult cats can also miss humans.

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