Nighttime/Morning Yowling - HELP
I moved into a new place about 6 weeks ago, and my cat, 9(f) spayed, is having a hard time adjusting. It’s especially apparent in the evenings/mornings, when I’m going to bed and right before I wake up, sometimes also around 2-3AM, like clockwork she is downstairs loudly yowling. I live in a loft style apartment and our walls are THIN. I know that ignoring her is the best way to address this, but I can only let her yowl for so long before I start getting worried about neighbors complaining…🥴 which honestly would be understandable, I’d also be pissed if I had a neighbors cat waking me up at 3am daily scream yowling. Even when I do ignore her for a bit, she doesn’t quit or self soothe, so it feels pointless to let it continue indefinitely. when I do get up to check on her she still has food and water, so she’s not crying for breakfast. It’s also not enough for her to know that I’m awake, she wants me downstairs WITH her before she will calm down enough to go back to sleep. If I try to call her upstairs to go back to bed with me, she ignores me and the yowling continues.
Some other relevant info:
- She just had her vet check up and got a clean bill of health
- I have an auto feeder for her, so meal times are on a set schedule.
- I started giving her a small portion of wet food at bedtime in hopes the extra snack will help tide her over till morning.
- Added extra scheduled play times to burn more energy
- litter box is cleaned daily and is in a private/low traffic area
- tried a feliway calming collar, it worked for a week or so but wore off quickly. At $40 a pop I can’t keep replacing it.
- I’m away from home daily for work 8-5ish, and she doesn’t yowl. I have a pet cam that would send alerts for any noise. So it’s only happening at night.
Any advice is welcome! I hate thinking that she’s stressed and hating it here, but I’m not sure what else to do at this point. The lack of sleep is killing me 😭
TLDR: Cat nighttime/morning yowling is becoming a problem, looking for advice!