Dealing with a noisy cat

We have this cat, and it's an annoying sack of meat. We got it many years ago when we were younger and even dumber and my wife just HAD to have a cat. Well, life changes, now we have two kids so I am lucky to get any sleep at all, and I'm dealing with the cat yowling in the night. She's got food, she has water, she has access to our bed where she likes to sleep. HOW can I get this thing to stop wandering through the house and crying?

I get so angry with her, too. I need help dealing with the anger. I'll be sound asleep, she starts her pitiful yowling, and I wake up to a rage that is hard to handle. I usually end up putting her outside but I am so mad at that point that I have lots of much more violent scenarios playing out in my head as I do it. And for the next half hour as I attempt to go back to sleep. It's gotten to the point that she'll wake me up even if I'm wearing ear plugs. I am not a deep sleeper.

Lock said cat in farthest room of the house for the duration of the night? Garage? Give it catnip? Make it an outdoor cat?

Also...

Water spray bottle. Mine does the same thing. Keep it next to the bed. Adjust the nozzle for sniper shots. Don’t mist, that’s the pansy shot. 

Of note, you can’t train a cat to not yowl, but you can teach it consequences. If I even move toward that bottle, my cat flees in fear. 

Don't even get me started on cats.  Suffice it to say that I am not a cat person.

I don't know. The cat we adopted last year when we moved into the new house tends to just walk around all the time, anytime of day doing it. 

During the day he typically wants attention and pets, at night, the bedroom door is closed and he'll shut up after a few minutes. But as soon as he heres us up and moving around it starts again with him shoving his paw under the door and such. 

Get a dog. 

Time to find kitty a new home?

That's what we did. My Dad had the coolest car I've ever met, but he was deaf, and for some reason at night had the loudest howl I've ever heard. 

Eventually we found him a new home as a companion to a deaf woman. They get along great. 

I’ve been wondering if there isn’t something you could put in the water bottle that would leave a bad taste, remind the cat who’s boss, not harm the little critter, and still yet, not harm the house surroundings. Maybe vinegar?

dean1484 said:

Get a dog. 

Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly.

Doesn't that end with her trying to swallow a cow or some such thing??

dean1484 wrote:

Get a dog. 

I can tell you from experience that the cat will wake up the dog, and then you have two animals wandering the house making noise. 

I had a boss once upon a time when I worked as farm hand, that surgically silenced a rooster that made too much noise. This guy was a plastic surgeon and had the knowledge and skill to do the job...

A good cat is the best pet in the world. Sounds like you don't have a good cat. Neither do I. We keep ours outside, where hawks, foxes, and coyotes abound. Joking aside, I don't wish her harmed or eaten, but I can't honestly say I'd be disappointed.

Outside or gone. Those are the only fixes I know.

WilD said:

dean1484 wrote:

Get a dog. 

I can tell you from experience that the cat will wake up the dog, and then you have two animals wandering the house making noise. 

"NO" spray for dogs is wonderful :)

Our house has the yowling cat, 2 King Charles Spaniels, and 1 Pit Bull. But the dogs get crated at night. 

Don’t know if this will help or not, as yowling isn’t the issue we have, but for about 2 hours before we go to bed at night, we make sure that cat doesn’t get a chance to sleep.  Tends to make her tired enough to crash for most of the night.

If you get a dog, you'll just make it possible to annoy your neighbors as well. I have no idea which of my neighbors have cats, but I know exactly which ones have dogs.

Some cats do develop this behavior as they get older. I've seen it a couple of times, they get 'lost' and yowl. A nice echoey hallway seems to be preferred.

Change up the routine. Either let the cat into the bedroom or lock it out of the bedroom, or confine it to a certain part of the house when you're sleeping. Maybe change the feed schedule. We had one cat that used to need alone time, so we'd separate the cats at night. Made a big difference in behavior, far more than attempts at discipline.

SVreX said:

dean1484 said:

Get a dog. 

Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly.

Doesn't that end with her trying to swallow a cow or some such thing??

 

Mmmmm!  Cow.

Make mine medium rare, please.

Take it to the vet. 

My roommates way back had a cat that started getting very whiny and annoying, then started pissing on everything. Took it to the vet to put it down because it was getting up in years anyway and turned out to have a UTI. A week locked in the bathroom with meds and it was back to being a typical cat. 

RevRico said:

Take it to the vet. 

My roommates way back had a cat that started getting very whiny and annoying, then started pissing on everything. Took it to the vet to put it down because it was getting up in years anyway and turned out to have a UTI. A week locked in the bathroom with meds and it was back to being a typical cat. 

The first step in a behavior workup is a good medical workup. 

When I saw the title, I was ready to suggest a screw clamp around the cat. I guess that won’t work here!

Time for a visit to the farm. People shouldn't endure so much suffering for the sake of an annoying as berkeley animal. 

Keith Tanner said:

If you get a dog, you'll just make it possible to annoy your neighbors as well. I have no idea which of my neighbors have cats, but I know exactly which ones have dogs.

Some cats do develop this behavior as they get older. I've seen it a couple of times, they get 'lost' and yowl. A nice echoey hallway seems to be preferred.

Change up the routine. Either let the cat into the bedroom or lock it out of the bedroom, or confine it to a certain part of the house when you're sleeping. Maybe change the feed schedule. We had one cat that used to need alone time, so we'd separate the cats at night. Made a big difference in behavior, far more than attempts at discipline.

Not everyone who owns a dog(s) are the shiny happy people that just leave them outside all the time to just bark and bark.

Our cat "talks" to her toys in the middle of the night or in the middle of the day. It's almost like "hey, the house is quiet, that's weird, lemme make some noise." When we ask her what's up, she looks at us like "what?"

We have "cat sit" some cats in the past, and one in particular would hide all day, not making a sound, but at night would come out, walk around, and make tons of noise. He was an outdoor cat previously, and when he went to being an outdoor cat again he was much happier.

We had another cat who just liked to play in the middle of the night, and so it was almost like she was talking to herself. What was interesting is that with her original owner, in an house with no other animals, she never did this, but with other animals it was like she was trying to say "hey, other animal, come play!"

I will never find a cats as annoying as a bad dog, though.

If one of my cats was a jackass like that they would be out.  The sprayer training sounds like a go if you want to give the cat a chance... 

z31maniac said:

Keith Tanner said:

If you get a dog, you'll just make it possible to annoy your neighbors as well. I have no idea which of my neighbors have cats, but I know exactly which ones have dogs.

Some cats do develop this behavior as they get older. I've seen it a couple of times, they get 'lost' and yowl. A nice echoey hallway seems to be preferred.

Change up the routine. Either let the cat into the bedroom or lock it out of the bedroom, or confine it to a certain part of the house when you're sleeping. Maybe change the feed schedule. We had one cat that used to need alone time, so we'd separate the cats at night. Made a big difference in behavior, far more than attempts at discipline.

Not everyone who owns a dog(s) are the shiny happy people that just leave them outside all the time to just bark and bark.

No, but there are dog breeds who will bark no matter what. We have a Pyrenees. He barks. It is in his nature. When we leave him outside, if he starts to bark, we bring him in. We don't let him bark and  bark and bark, but someone has still called us in.