If your cat has been meowing through the night, there could be a number of things causing their odd behavior.Having a cat as a pet can be quite magical. Although, not many pet parents enjoy the nights when a noisy cat wouldn’t let them sleep.It could be a change in environment, a health issue or maybe your cat just needs some food. However, since cats and humans don’t speak the same language, understanding them can be a little tricky. Read on to find out how you can make your cat feel better and earn yourself some much needed rest!If you enjoy this article, why not also check out why do cats drool and why do cats bite when you pet them.Do they meow at other cats?Cats, like other animals, have their own ways of communicating. Understandably, since meowing is the only sound that cats are capable of making aside from hissing, this serves as their chosen mode of communication when another cat are involved.While your cat’s meows can be directed towards other cats, did you know that this curious animal is capable of communicating through its body language? Female cats can even communicate their thoughts and needs through the smell of their body, although this is mainly true for female cats that are in heat. Male cats, on the other hand, can smell this scent from miles away and run to help at the first opportunity that may present itself. A cat’s call to another animal of the species is also often a sign that a fight may be breaking out in a while. Such sounds will usually sound like a baby crying.If it so happens that your cat is not just making this sound for other members of it species and is directing it towards humans too, you should be careful! This cat may be getting ready to hurt or scratch you. Meows are the only way that cats can communicate with humans because their normal body-language tricks don’t work with us. While we don’t really understand a cat’s ‘meow’ either, this noise is very good at grabbing our attention. Whether it needs to be let free, or wants some food, a cat will meow or even scream just to get a reaction.Did you know that if you do react when a cat tries to knock things off of shelves or cries too loudly during the night, it could actually lead to the feline to doing these things more often. Since humans and cats have a communication gap, your pet will do anything that gets it some food, a hug, or even play-time. Even if you decide to scold your feline, this attention could be enough for the cat to continue its annoying behavior!Do older or younger cats meow loudly at night?Nocturnal meowing can also be an age related phenomenon. If you notice that your pet has been meowing more during the night now that it is an older cat, make sure that your animal gets checked for cognitive dysfunction syndrome or CDS.This syndrome is mostly found in older cats. However, if such behavior has begun rather suddenly, you should pay attention to the triggers that may have led to such calls from your old or young cat. Young cats, on the other hand, may develop the habit of meowing at night simply out of boredom or so that they can get some human attention. Such yowling and attention-seeking behavior can happen because your pet needs food or because the water bowl is too far away. It may also be because the cat got too much sleep during the day and would rather be active during the night. Understandably, it can be quite bothersome for humans, and no one would want to play with cats at all hours of the night after an entire day of work.One of the best tips that can be followed is making sure that your cat is active during the day and hasn’t been sleeping too much. In this way, kittens can get tired and fall asleep during the night. If the meowing has gotten to a point where you simply cannot stand this nightly ordeal, try to ignore your pet completely. While it can be very tough to ignore a cute kitten, and especially one that spends hours crying and roaming around the house, it is important that this routine is not encouraged. No matter how loud the vocalization gets, the best advice is to let the animal know that it is the owners’ time to rest.Although it may be very important to follow tips such as ignoring and fixing your cat’s schedule, it is also important that you know if the animal is in poor health or not. A kitty can be very loud and can show excessive amounts of attention seeking behavior just to wake you up when it is troubled. It could be a change in environment that has been bothering your pet, maybe it is hungry and needs feeding or there might be a medical condition that needs attention. To make sure that your cat is healthy, be discrete and check if the poor cat is okay or if the meowing at night has actually been a cry for help.Do stray cats meow at night?Everyone has heard at least one stray cat meowing at night and wondered if it were normal for an animal to be that active in the middle of the night.While cats can hardly be called nocturnal, they are actually crepuscular. This means that they show the most amount of activity during dusk and dawn. It’s fairly simple to handle a cat that is active at dusk, but, when it begins to meow in the middle of the night and asks for you to play, it can be absurd. Stray cats have a tendency to feed during dusk and dawn, and so, if you have been keeping a stray cat as a pet, it will naturally want to be set free during those hours.The concept of a human sleep schedule is lost on cats, since they have low emotional intelligence, unlike dogs. The best thing to do for a cat that has been meowing ceaselessly would be to install a cat door. This would mean that the kitty is free to go on its nightly prowls and eat whatever prey it wishes. Stray cats also let out loud calls in the night and run or walk around the house, since these kittens feel more alone than ones that have been bred and brought up in confined, domestic settings. Hearing a stray cat meow at night is a sign that it needs to meet its friends and follow its self-sufficient feeding routine.How do you get cats to stop meowing at night?If you have a pet cat endlessly meowing at night, chances are that you have been looking for tips or a vet that can help you out. The first thing to do in handling the situation is to accept the crepuscular nature of the animals and understand its bed-time or sleeping schedule is not the same as a human’s.Understanding the reason behind a cat meowing is key. If you think the animal is hungry, make sure that you give it enough food and love. If there has been a change in environment, or even if you have been using a different air freshener, try to comfort your pet with toys and extra snuggles to let it know that the house is still a safe place. Some cats also refuse to keep quiet when their litter box is out of reach, which, honestly, is quite understandable. Make sure that there is enough food and water, a nice bed and a nice litter box that the cat can help itself to.A cat will also meow a lot if it has had too much rest and wants to play. One way to make sure that your cat isn’t lonely during the night is to bring home another cat. With another cat in the same house, you will have complete freedom from all that yowling! It may need a lot of patience to deal with an animal that meows through the night, but it is also important to understand that whether it be a senior cat or a rather young one, the cat’s health might be compromised. In addition to a nice bed to sleep in and some nice food to eat, it is also very important that pet parents keep in touch with a vet.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for why do cats meow at night then why not take a look at why do cats pee on the bed, or Scottish Wildcat facts.
If your cat has been meowing through the night, there could be a number of things causing their odd behavior.
