In this article we will talk about the reasons why a cat yells at night, how to behave with a screaming animal, and whether it needs to be punished. Let's figure out how to stop a cat from yelling, what methods exist and what not to do.
Sometimes cats can irritate even a patient owner. The behavior of a cat is especially annoying when it starts screaming at night. Sometimes it seems that the cat behaves this way out of harm. But to find a solution to this problem, you need to understand why even a neutered cat screams in a bad voice at night. Let's figure it out.
Sometimes domestic cats can irritate even a patient owner
Reasons why a cat yells at night
To solve this problem, you need to understand why the cat yells at night.
Boredom and lack of attention
Usually cats react to the appearance of their owner with a short greeting “Meow”. If he has been absent for a long time, the meowing is longer and repeated, this is a demonstration of joy and excitement about the meeting. The meowing of cats left for a long time in an empty apartment is long, drawn-out, similar to a howl, this is a complaint about loneliness.
Cat parents often conduct a dialogue with their pupils, responding to each “Meow” with their own remarks. Cats that talk to for a long time are more likely to meow for no reason, as if inviting the person to communicate, attracting them to dialogue. Some breeds are especially vocal - Siamese, Oriental.
By meowing, a cat can demand that you pay attention to it - play, caress, or pick it up. It is better to communicate with the cat in communication, without waiting until she begins to insistently demand this, meowing piercingly.
You cannot punish a cat for loud, persistent meowing; spanking, splashing water, blowing in the face; cats are vindictive and vindictive. It’s better to behave like you would with a child throwing a tantrum: try to explain that you will grant the request when you are free and the pet has calmed down.
Felines are nocturnal, so a situation often arises when a cat sleeps during the day, but at night, despite the dissatisfaction of its owners, it becomes active, wanders around the apartment, jumps, rustles something, plays, meows, and attacks imaginary enemies. To avoid this, play with your cat in the evening and talk to her.
To prevent your cat from screaming at night, talk to her in the evening
Hormonal changes and diseases
One of the main reasons that makes a cat behave quite aggressively is hormonal changes in the body. Unneutered cats scream about their desire to meet cats that are in territorial proximity. The instinct of procreation in animals is developed at a high level, but cats do not feel pleasure. Cats experience physical and psychological suffering during hormonal surges. Animals cannot overcome their instincts, so there are two ways to solve the problem - find a mate for the groom or take him to an appointment with a veterinarian and have him castrated.
- If a cat is in pain, it will announce this with a loud, high-pitched meow, but may also purr, although this is usually a sign of pleasure. Anxious meowing is accompanied by anxiety or lethargy, digestive disorders and other symptoms:
- Meowing in combination with vomiting or diarrhea, trembling, attempts to rub the anus on furniture or carpet indicate infection with helminths;
- If meowing begins before going to the toilet, it is likely that bowel movements are painful due to constipation or diarrhea;
- Mite infestation leads to severe anxiety, screaming, and the cat may scratch itself until it bleeds.
- with a viral disease, the animal is usually passive, refuses to eat and screams hoarsely;
- aged animals sometimes meow loudly and pitifully for no reason, stand in one place for a long time, lose orientation, look into space with an empty gaze, this is a sign of degenerative changes (Alzheimer's disease).
The cat demands something
A prolonged meow is a call for help, a demand. You can understand its meaning by observing where the animal is. Cats ask to be let in, let them out, or just open the door, because they don’t like it when they are closed. An animal may need help getting up or down somewhere; kittens and large overweight animals often ask for help. Neat cats require changing the litter in the tray.
The meow of a cat begging for food is similar to a child's cry, and it is difficult to resist it. Sometimes the animal can remind the owner that feeding time is approaching. If your cat stands at the filled bowl and meows demandingly, but does not eat, the food may not be suitable for her. Or the bowl is the wrong size, unclean, with a foreign smell of washing up liquid.
Old age
As a cat ages, it becomes more vulnerable and becomes a harmful and capricious creature. By the time they reach 10 years of age, about 30% of cats are affected by incurable Alzheimer's disease. By the age of 15, 50% of animals get sick; there is no need to punish an aging pet for little pranks. It is necessary to protect him from stress and pay more attention.
The pet is overexcited
In case of excessive nervous overexcitation of the animal, you should pay close attention to its behavior. If a cat, for some unknown reason, is afraid of its owner or, on the contrary, shows aggression, behaves abnormally, runs chaotically around the apartment, this may be a serious problem with the pet’s nervous system or a sign of rabies. In this situation, the animal must be placed in a closed carrier, through which it cannot bite or scratch, and taken to a veterinarian.
If a castrated cat yells
More often than not, young, uncastrated/unsterilized animals cause concern to owners. The problem is resolved after a scheduled visit to the veterinarian. The best age for an animal to be sterilized is 1 year. If you do this later, the behavior may develop and the cat will continue to scream out of habit. But don't expect the screaming to stop right away. The animal may continue to scream for a week or two, as the hormonal levels need time to change.
If enough time has passed after castration or sterilization, and the cat still continues to give nightly concerts, the veterinarian may have performed the operation poorly. Sometimes part of the gonads remains, and they produce hormones that awaken the sexual instinct. If you suspect this state of affairs, you should contact a veterinary clinic.
Castration or sterilization is the optimal solution to the problem of a pet’s night cries
If a kitten cries at night
There are several reasons why kittens meow:
A change of scenery. If you have just moved or bought a baby, then there is nothing surprising - it is difficult for him to adapt. Mom has disappeared somewhere, strangers are walking around, familiar furniture has turned into new things, even the smells in the apartment are different. It’s good that a young body quickly gets used to changes, and if the new owner shows care and attention, the baby will calm down very soon.
Kittens are constantly tormented by hunger, because their body needs a lot of building materials. The bowl should be in one place, and the amount of food should be sufficient for the furry baby to grow up healthy and happy. Don't forget about water, the kitten may be thirsty.
Once trapped, the kitten will begin to scream and cry heart-rendingly - this will happen if it climbs into a place where it is difficult to get out, into a bag or other place. You need to immediately come to the rescue by freeing your friend.
Often a baby needs affection and attention: just take him on your lap, stroke him, cuddle him in your hands, scratch his neck and behind the ears. Screams can occur at night - then do not indulge the whims, otherwise the animal will decide that it is allowed too much, and you will have to wake up too often. At night, it is enough to allow the kitten to sleep next to you if he is lonely.
Advice from veterinarians
Veterinarians do not recommend resorting to medications or traditional methods in situations where a family friend is yelling. The use of additional funds is permitted only in extreme cases.
Carefully look for the reason for the scream: perhaps you have moved to a new house and the cat needs to get used to the situation, or you have guests who are scaring the cat. Just pay more attention, show him maximum care and warmth.
However, if you decide to switch to a drug to calm your animal, you must follow the following rules:
- These medications cannot be given constantly, as this can greatly worsen the animal’s health;
- How does the cat feel after taking the medicine - weakness, vomiting or diarrhea may occur. There may be an allergic reaction to the components of the drug. In this case, you should not continue taking this remedy;
- Buy medicine only as prescribed by your veterinarian. Each animal is individual and must be based on physiological data.
In any case, medications should be prescribed by a veterinarian.
How to deal with a cat screaming at night - instructions
If you get a vocal pet, it is useless to call him to his conscience; you will have to check several ways to stop him from screaming at night.
The cat screams at night: what to do?
Try to make sure that the cat has played enough all day and spent all its energy. If you go away for the whole day, houses, devices in which you can put your paw and move a ball, labyrinths, scratching posts, and stairs will help you. Try buying or making your own different toys for your cat: squeaking, rustling, ringing.
If your cat is bored, it will bother you at night. Create something fun for your cat
Don't scare the cat. Don't yell back at the cat. A cat's hearing is better developed than a human's, and your scream will only frighten him more.
Feed your cat before you go to bed. This method may work if the cat becomes sleepy after eating. But don’t overdo it: feeding at night can have a negative impact on digestion - there is a risk that the animal will get fat and start waking up the owner in the middle of the night to eat.
You can spray the cat with a garden sprayer. But you need to be careful with this advice, because if you wet your cat every night, he may catch a cold from the cold water.
You can solve the problem by getting the cat wet. However, don't overdo it
Do not react to provocations: if your cat keeps you up at night and demands attention, and you are sure that she is not doing this because of illness, stress or heat, but simply to get a reaction, ignore her antics and do not give in to manipulation. During the day, on the contrary, actively communicate with your cat.
Some owners said that before going to bed they smeared the cat’s whiskers with sour cream. Firstly, it bothers the cat, and he will lick it off until he cleans all the whiskers. And secondly, while eating, the animal gets tired and calmly falls asleep.
Calm the cat with medications
In order to calm a screaming cat, there are many medications:
The most popular of them:
Fitex - soothing drops with motherwort, valerian and hops, help relieve stress and normalize heart function;
Stop-stress – quite strong tablets and drops that reduce the activity of the animal’s brain, but at the same time are not addictive;
Cat Bayun is a powerful sedative in the form of a solution and tablets to relieve aggression (especially in cases where the cat is marking the apartment and is overly nervous), as well as to relieve estrus in cats.
Don't overuse sedatives for your cat.
Sedatives for animals are a last resort. If you still decide to resort to a sedative, listen to the advice of veterinarians:
- do not use drugs too often, as they are addictive and lead to health problems;
- carefully monitor your pet’s well-being; if you notice that the cat has become lethargic and is vomiting, then you should stop taking the medications immediately;
- do not buy a drug just because it is advertised or because your friends told you that it helped their pet - the same dose will have different effects on animals.
Before purchasing a sedative for your cat, consult your veterinarian.
Needs feeding or attention
If from childhood he is accustomed to being the center of attention, it is time and honor for him to demand it in adulthood. If you are distracted by some activity, the cat may scream to attract attention. This is a kind of blackmail. The pet seems to make it clear that if he is not petted, he will continue to make such sounds in short.
If a cat has been accustomed to this since childhood, it is quite difficult to wean him off. The pet learns the manner of manipulation very well.
Sometimes cats, which suddenly begin to check their hunger at night, also make very loud sounds. They will harass the owners until they feed it. To avoid such manipulations on the part of your pet, there is no escape from stopping them from an early age. To do this, you need to unpretentiously ignore your pet’s blackmail, and he will understand why it doesn’t work. Having suffered several times, your sister will not have problems with this in the future.
How not to behave
No matter how angry you may be at night with your restless pet, do not forget that this is still your beloved almost family member. And you cannot treat it in such a way as to injure the animal, physically and morally.
Under no circumstances should you:
- Throw objects at the cat, scream and punish.
- Give your pet hormonal drugs to extinguish the sexual instinct. This is a direct road to serious illness and a significant reduction in life expectancy.
- Let him go outside to walk around.
- To get rid of a cat: take it to a shelter, euthanize it.
Folk remedies for fighting orom
The nightly concerts of pets get on the nerves so much that their owners, despairing of finding a radical remedy, are finding their own ways to calm the “singers”:
- Spray bottle with water. It has been noticed that if you specifically spray water on a cat’s tail, its owner will have no time for songs. For some time he will be busy licking his main decoration and will calm down for a while. If after this he starts yelling again, threaten him with a spray gun. Most likely, the cat will hide in a secluded shelter and soon fall asleep.
- A game. If your pet is not in nature and is forced to spend all his time within four walls, he has no way to relieve excess energy. Outdoor games can help with this - only, of course, not at night, but shortly before you go to bed. Having had a good run and relieved the accumulated tension, your pet will sleep without its hind legs. If you have neither the energy nor the time to play, hang two or three toys near you on strong laces - the cat, rejoicing that you are watching him, will happily catch them, and having had enough fun, he will fall sound asleep.
- Nutrition adjustments. Save the largest portion of cat food for evening feeding. Having properly refreshed himself, the cat will sleep soundly until the morning, completely forgetting about vocal lessons.
Veterinarian recommendations
Of course, sometimes it seems that you have taken all the measures - fed, watered, caressed, survived the sterilization period, and the cat still screams at night, but even in this case you should not give up.
Only patience and education will help you cope with a noisy pet.
But under no circumstances should violent measures be used against an animal. After all, a cat is a very intelligent creature; it has a sense of revenge. And how she will take revenge is unknown. In addition, cats are also proud animals; they will not tolerate any violence against themselves; it is impossible to achieve obedience from her using force. If you have tried all the remedies, contact a zoopsychologist, and show patience and attention yourself. Only in this case is it possible to obtain a positive result.
