Kitten won't settle at night

Dan Akroyd

Hi

Stray kitten owner for the last month but its more like a baby than a cat. Vet says 5 months old, too young stil for neutering havent asked vet about this problem. I am woken by her in the middle of the night nearly every night mee-owing for attention. She's a very affectionate cat but also very independent and will feck off out the back for hours at the weekend so I am totally stumped by her behaviour.

Last night for example 3am she is mee-owing madly, but not in distress, only looking for affection it would seem-she would run in between my feet and jump up at me etc. When i open the door to let her out she doesnt want to really go out either i have to push her.

The only thing that i can think of is that she is crying to be let out to do her business as she has never used the litter tray even once and never gone on the floor either. Advice please-i need a good nights sleep!!!

If it is the litter thing, how do you train a cat to use it??-all i try and do is dump her in the litter from time to time to try and get her to cop on what its for.

MsFifers

If you respond to her mee-owing then she'll keep doing it! One of my cats used to do this, but I stopped responding (even though it meant a few v. disturbed nights at first) he gradually got the message, and stopped trying to wake me up.

Can you put her at night in a part of the house where you won't hear her?

I'm not sure about the litter tray, as usually cats figure them out by themselves. I'd say if she really needed to go she would use it. You could try putting a piece of poo/weed-on earth in it to give her the idea.

BTW - just to let you know, some cats can get preggers at 4 months! :eek: If she is meowing more than usual at the moment, it could be that she is coming into season. Just keep an eye on it!

Sigma Force

Sounds like she could be coming in to season already, it happens a lot the vet should spay her now if she's not already in season. If not try another vet there is no medical reason that a healthy cat can't be spayed early.

Also I know most cat owners hate me when I say this but please consider keeping the cat indoors there are too many dangers out there and the risk of her getting hit by a car are very high, not to mention attacked by dogs or people or causing a nuisance to other neighbours.

biko

Dan Akroyd wrote: »

If it is the litter thing, how do you train a cat to use it??-all i try and do is dump her in the litter from time to time to try and get her to cop on what its for.

After every meal, put her in the litter box. Scratch the litter a little too, cats have a very strong instinct to do this after going to the toilet so she should get the message.
Leave droppings or if you had to wipe up after her leave them in box so she associates the smell with the box.
Clean with citrus smelling detergent where she weed on the floor so she can't smell the urine any more - cats also don't like citrus smell (I have heard).
If you see her hunker down immediately pick her up and put her in the box again.
There will be accidents but soon she'll only go to the box.

Something like this will keep litter from getting on the floor

Dan Akroyd

Thanks for the shocking replies!!!:eek: Only crumb of comfort to me is that she has always been a mee-owing cat but not in a bad way, just a cute way. What does spraying mean anyway as opposed to neutering?

Edit-have decided to book her for neutering tomorrow than next week when i was going to get it done. Can the vet tell if she's up the duff?

MsFifers

Dan Akroyd wrote: »

What does spraying mean anyway as opposed to neutering?QUOTE]

Do you mean spaying? I think its just what they call neutering a female. But not sure about that one!

If she's only a few days pregnant it shouldn't be a problem, but if she is carrying kittens the vets can charge a bit extra for the operation. I doubt you would be in that situation though.

Dan Akroyd

Pardon my ignorance now but if the vet discovers that she is indeed pregnant then why would she go ahead with the neutering operation? If the cat is only a few days pregnant like you say then would neutering have the effect of aborting any kittens inside her?

She was at the vet last about a month ago, shortly after i took her in, and vet said she was about 5 months old so still too young for neutering, got my dates wrong there in my original post-so she's be 6 months now according to vet.

cltt97

I doubt your kitten was in heat. I've adopted a stray kitten as well, and she sometimes does the same. They just want to be acknowledged, so like a previous poster said, once you ignore them, eventually they get the message. If a cat is in heat, they go totally bananas, and it's nothing like meeowing for attention. They stick their bum up in the air and roll around a lot and meeow in a totally different kind of way, you'd notice that something is not quite normal. One of my cats almost seemed drunk she was that swamped with hormones, the other one was a bit more subtle, but the diffrence is very much noticeable.
Re the litter, put the little one in it, grab one of her paws and scratch the sand a bit, that also helps them getting the message. If she pees somewhere, spray vinegar onto it, it helps with the odour, and she won't pee there again.