# Advice needed on calming down my cat



## kmw30 (Jul 2, 2013)

Hi,

I have had my cat 2 half months now, he's 10 months old and i love him to bits but he's so hyper which is fine during the day but at night he doesn't settle and we are getting like 2 hours sleep. We play with him for a an hour or so before bedtime to wear him out which it does but he's still waking us up early hours of the morning. He's in the bedroom scratching the carpet and the bed to get attention, if we put him out the room and feed him to settle him, a couple of hours later he's at the bedroom door meowing like mad and scratching the carpet to come in. I have tried the feliway spray and plug in and now im trying the pet remedy spray and plug in but nothing seems to work long term. He has 3 scratch posts which he uses aswell, i don't know what else to try at night to calm him so we can get some sleep. Does anyone have any advice or tips? we have started to use sticky tape to stop the carpet scratching.

Thanks 

Karen


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Hi Karen, basically you have to train your kitten into a consistent bedtime routine every night which you stick to like glue, and never vary. Then he will know what is expected of him.

It is good you are having some energetic interactive play with him before bedtime, and I should continue doing that every night.

Choose a room where he can spend the night shut in, with his litter tray, water and food. Not a bathroom or utility room, but a living room or kitchen.

Make sure the room has thick (or black out) curtains to block the early morning light. If not then buy some black out blinds for the windows (John Lewis sells them at a good price in various colours and you cut the edges to size to fit your windows)

Then at bedtime serve your kitty a meal of tasty wet food. You may want to sit quietly and calmly beside him whilst he eats, then has a wash and settles himself in his bed, on a chair or whatever. Do not make a fuss of him 
as it may make him wakeful or clingy.

Then turn off the lights, leave the room and shut your bedroom door when you go to bed. That way he will not hear you and you won't hear him if he cries.

One reason he might be waking early (as well as the light) is hunger. he is only 10 mths old and still has a lot of growing to do, so he will be very hungry whenever he has a growth spurt. I would buy a battery operated auto-feeder from Amazon, put canned food in the dish and set the timer to open no later than 6 hours after you fed him his supper. (You may possibly find you need to set it to open earlier than that).

It is important to leave wet (canned) food for him overnight, not dry food. Dry food is calorie high but is full of carbs and will only satisfy him for a short while. Dry food will give him lows and highs in his blood sugar levels causing edgy, restless behaviour. Which you definitely do not want at night.

A wet food that high in meat protein takes longer to digest (just as Nature intends for obligate carnivores), and will keep him calmer and more relaxed.

A couple of foods that are high in meat protein are HiLife Nature's Essentials and Natures Menu, both from [email protected]

Or shop online like many forum members do, at Zooplus or The Happy Kitty Company, for excellent choice of good quality canned foods.

Pet Supplies, Pet Food, Dog Food, Cat Food and Pet Accessories at Zooplus

The Happy Kitty Company

EDIT - I must stress you will need to be 100% firm in getting him used to the bedtime routine. If you give in just one night and allow him in your bedroom, you will never train him. He will be OK on his own overnight I promise. I really believe it will be good for him too, as he will start learning how to relax fully, as cats usually do.


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## PetsPantry (Nov 8, 2007)

Hi Karen 
Following on from the other advice you have been given, there is another product from Dorwest veterinary that is licensed for cats - it is Organic Valerian drops, cat find the smell of valerian very attractive and you could put a few drops on your cats bed or blanket at night before he goes to bed. It is used to calm hyperactivity and anxiety. I know a lot of people mention the larger internet companies, but we are an independent pet shop with online store and we do stock this product if you need it, if you have a local independent pet shop they should have it.
Some other wet foods you may want o look at are lilys organic cat food and almo wet.
I hope this is of some help - so you can enjoy your kitten and get some sleep.
Regards Karen


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

PetsPantry said:


> > Some other wet foods you may want o look at are lilys organic cat food and almo wet.
> 
> 
> It is worth mentioning that Almo wet is only a complementary food, not a complete, balanced food and therefore should only be fed occasionally as a treat.


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## Jiskefet (May 15, 2011)

I would like to stress that it iis quite normal for a kitten to be very active.
You can train him not to disturb you at night, but if you think he is too hyper altogether, the only thing you can do to get him to calm down when you want him to is play, play and more play......
He is bound to be very active, it's just his age and his personality....
So you will have to help him channel that energy...


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## EmmaMia (Jul 28, 2013)

chillminx said:


> Choose a room where he can spend the night shut in, with his litter tray, water and food. Not a bathroom or utility room, but a living room or kitchen.
> 
> Then turn off the lights, leave the room and shut your bedroom door when you go to bed. That way he will not hear you and you won't hear him if he cries


This does work! Mia cried from the moment she was in my car when I collected her. Routine from day one was playtime before bed, move into the kitchen and play in there (door shut) check food/water then lights off, door shut and off to bed I go. She cried a lot at first but now she quite often puts herself to bed or if I stand up and say "come on then!" She runs in the kitchen by herself happy as larry. 
Now she just cries in the mornings when my alarm goes off because its breakfast time!


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## catzrule (Aug 4, 2013)

Been there, done it! :frown2:

There are actually a couple of thing you can do, and gee, I really mean it when I tell you that I wish someone would have told me about this before going through countless sleeping nights with Raffi meowing in front of the bedroom door! :001_huh:

1) get a thunder shirt

this shirt will put the cat in a calm state. it is like a hugging box. In psychology we use hugging box to calm emotionally unstable people. The thunder shirt works the same.

2) Put a battery operated mat or a cat off spray in front of your door. Kitty will never meow there again, I promise!

Check out cat-off.com for more info or just go to google and type in thunder shirt or SSScat.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

catzrule said:


> > 1) get a thunder shirt
> > this shirt will put the cat in a calm state. it is like a hugging box. In psychology we use hugging box to calm emotionally unstable people. The thunder shirt works the same.
> 
> 
> ...


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## catzrule (Aug 4, 2013)

chillminx said:


> catzrule said:
> 
> 
> > I believe these are recommended for use when travelling with the cat, or e.g. a stressful situation like a vet visit.. They are like a large harness. I would not want to put one of these on my cat every night - far too hot for them, and it would prevent them grooming themselves properly. Not something you would want to encourage, and could be immensely frustrating for some cats.
> ...


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## catzrule (Aug 4, 2013)

chillminx said:


> Hi Karen, basically you have to train your kitten into a consistent bedtime routine every night which you stick to like glue, and never vary.


That is absolutely impossible.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

catzrule said:


> That is absolutely impossible.


If it is *"absolutely impossible"* as you state, then perhaps you could explain how I have managed to do it successfully with all my cats (some rescued, some I adopted as kittens) for the past 45 years? As well as helping friends train their cats too.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

catzrule said:


> > Something that is calming can not be frustrating at the same time.
> 
> 
> I don't agree. The so-called "thunder shirt" is nothing more than a large harness. Many cats find wearing a harness even for a short time very frustrating. And to put a "thunder shirt" on a cat all night would mean they would not be able to groom. Many cats would find that very frustrating!! There can be no argument about that.
> ...


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## catzrule (Aug 4, 2013)

chillminx said:


> If it is *"absolutely impossible"* as you state, then perhaps you could explain how I have managed to do it successfully with all my cats (some rescued, some I adopted as kittens) for the past 45 years? As well as helping friends train their cats too.


You cannot be serious about this. Are you seriously telling me that you know someone who is going to bed EVER night at the exact SAME TIME so that the cat will not meow in front of the door? If you do, please tell them about the SSSCat spray so these poor folks can travel again, stay at their friend & family's house, go out, attend an event...

Besides that, there are people who simply cannot go to bed at the same time because of their work schedules. Or would you suggest a doctor to change his/her job as well so he/she can go to bed a t the same time every night?

I have replied to OP with constructive feedback about great products that have helped many, including myself. You on the other hand attacked all of these products without having experienced even just one of them. You did not even google them or look at objective customer reviews, you simply tried to convince others that these products won't work based on, well, based on what?

If you have a BA in psychology you should know that jumping to subjective conclusions is not very professional or informative, and certainly won't help anyone.

I will refrain from commenting any further on this thread as our conversation on this thread is not really constructive for anyone anymore. Feel free to pm me if you would like to continue our discussion.

To people who are following this. Just look up these products online at various stores. You will find that they all have a 4-5 star rating on various sites.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

catzrule said:


> > Are you seriously telling me that you know someone who is going to bed EVER nigh
> 
> 
> Why are you jumping to conclusions?  I said nothing about "going to bed at the same time every night" I go to bed at a time that suits me according to what I am doing that evening. If I am home I go to bed early, if I have been out I go to bed late. My cats are settled in their room for the night whenever I decide its time for me to go to bed. Simple.
> ...


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## kmw30 (Jul 2, 2013)

Thanks for all the advice. I have tried putting more food down at night but he won't eat much of it, last night he wanted to play again at midnight and was up playing again at 3 so he's keeping us awake so much, i just don't know what else to do. I can't really afford to go out buying gadgets that claim to work, we have tried shutting him the kitchen at night but he starts scratching the door meowing to get out and i feel cruel for doing it.


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

The key is being consistent - he may cry at the door and maybe you feel cruel and so let him out, however, if you persist and don't give in he will eventually stop - it may take a week or so. All my cats sleep downstairs and they neither cry nor scratch. They know when we go to bed, they go to their rooms (kitchen and dining room) and stay there until we get up again. They have done this since the day we got them and through 4 house moves and because the routine itself never changes (the time itself is irrelevant, the 'trigger' is you saying 'bedtime' and putting them in their room(s)) they always settle well. 

You may feel cruel but you are being cruel to be kind (and actually it isn't cruel at all)


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## kmw30 (Jul 2, 2013)

Thanks, I need to stop being so soft with him and make sure i stick to my rules. We've had him almost 3 months now and he's not been shut in a room over night before so i think thats why i feel cruel for doing it.


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