Anonymous wrote:Have you gotten his blood levels (particularly thyroid) checked recently? Especially since you said he is 11 and this seems to be a new behavior? Our cat with overactive thyroid became like this at night because his metabolism, energy, etc was in overdrive. I would set up a vet visit.
Anonymous wrote:You have to completely ignore the cat, as hard as it is, as destructive as they may be. By Day 10, they will stop, and learn that they're not getting what they want by being active.
Trust me, I thought that this was impossible with my cat/kitten. Those 7-10 days were rough, but the "sleep training" by COMPLETELY ignoring them, really did work.
Anonymous wrote:Have you gotten his blood levels (particularly thyroid) checked recently? Especially since you said he is 11 and this seems to be a new behavior? Our cat with overactive thyroid became like this at night because his metabolism, energy, etc was in overdrive. I would set up a vet visit.
Anonymous wrote:How to handle a cat who gets active in the middle of the night? My cat first starts by asking for food, then comes scratches my arms, (lovingly) bites me. If I don't entertain, he starts knocking things down the night lamp table, scratching on the side of the bed, meowing which is more like yowling. If I feed him, he sits quiet for half hour. The process of trying to wake me up again starts. I have tried tiring him out with toys before going to bed and also giving him his full meal before I go to bed. With that he stays quiet for a few hours and becomes extremely active by 2 am. I can keep him in another room through the night but his meow will still wake me up. Keeping him in the basement at night is another option but I want to avoid that. What have you done with your cats so they sleep through the night? I need at least 5 hours of unbroken sleep to function well during day time.
Anonymous wrote:We followed this advice with ours and it worked: https://www.jacksongalaxy.com/blogs/news/train-your-cat-to-let-you-sleep
Play ~2 hours before bed, feed 3 meals/day with dinner as late as possible.
Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing your cat is younger than 2?
Cats are like toddlers. They need a completely dark, completely quiet room for the best sleep. Even a loud snorer will alert them (especially if the snorer jolts or gets loud).
Once my husband started wearing his sleep apnea mask, the cats started sleeping better. They generally sleep soundly from midnight to 6 am. Sometimes they may wake up and come cuddle if they are cold, but they settle back down pretty quickly. That's only if I have the shades closed, and no birds are singing in pre-dawn hours (worse in the spring).
My sister had to crate her cat at night because he was so naughty. He has settled into that routine, but it took persistence of being in there only while she was asleep, and only for 5-6 hours.