# Cat is sooooo naughty at night. Please help!



## Liz G (Mar 25, 2014)

Cat is sooooooo naughty at night! Please help!
My cat Billy is approaching his 10th birthday soon and just seems to be getting naughtier and naughtier at night time.
I had Billy as a rescue cat from about 9 months old. For about 8 years we lived at a house without a cat flap so anytime he wanted to go out at night I used to get up and let him out and he would stay out until morning.
We moved house about a year ago. The new house has a cat flap so after making sure he could use it I felt confident I wouldn't have to get up in the night any more. How wrong could I be!!
The issue now is that he seems to lack the ability to take himself downstairs to eat or let himself out. He has free range of upstairs at night and the kitchen where his food and cat flap are. When he is hungry he scratches until me or my partner get up and walk downstairs with him. Often we get downstairs and Billy sees he has food in his bowl and starts eating straight away. 
Over the last couple of months he's got worse and is now scratching the wardrobe doors. 
We have a Feliway on the go in the bedroom where he sleeps. There are also scratching posts and lots of toys upstairs. He sleeps most of the day until I get home early evening and then will go out for an hour at night before coming back in (on these occasions he manages to do this all by himself!!)
Any ideas why he might be getting worse and any tips to stop this so I can get a decent nights sleep?
Thanks in advance
Liz


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Hi Liz, 

I think the problem is Billy is lonely at night when his human companions are asleep and he wants your company. He feels reassured when you are awake and paying him attention then he is more inclined to eat his food. 

I have found cats as they get older can start behaving like this, especially at night when the house is quiet. Not that Billy is old of course, but he is no longer a youngster. 

In a few years he will be at an age when feline chronic health problems can sometimes start to develop. I think it would be worth him having a thorough check up at the vets just so any possible health issue (e.g. chronic kidney disease, hyperthyroidism or high BP) can be ruled out to give you peace of mind that there is not a physical cause of the behaviour.

Other than that I am not sure there is much you can do. He is probably too old now for you to start changing his bedtime routine and shutting him in a room of his own at night, and it would not be fair to shut him out of doors at night now he has a cat flap. 

I do sympathise as I had similar problems 40 years ago with disturbed nights with my first two cats when they became seniors. That experience made me determined with any subsequent cats I adopted, to settle them every night from the start, in their own room with all they needed, including some heat from an oil filled radiator set low, in the winter. 

As cats get older they feel the cold more and are less comfortable when the CH goes off at night. Even though at present the UK is warm during the day it is still chilly at night. So feeling chilly may possibly have a bearing on why Billy is not sleeping through the night. 

I have always kept to the bedtime routine with all my cat companions since the first two, and have never had disturbed nights, not even when the cats were seniors. I think this routine of being settled in their own room at night gives them a feeling of security which is comforting when they get older.


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