Vocal cat

Question
hi there, i have a male cat and a female cat both of them have been neutered and both are three years old. my female cat came from a family environment and i got her at 8 wks old she is well behaved and sleeps alot but is happy. my male cat was an only kitten and the owner seemed like he didnt know how to look after him, he is quite nervous when you try to pet him, is scared from noises of sparys like deodrant etc... but doesnt respond to other noises like calling him by name, bangs, shouts etc.. which suggests to me he may have hearing problems. my main problem is that he is extremely vocal throughout the night and is driving us nuts. i have always had pets but have never encountered a problem like this so dont really know how to solve it. we live in a one bedroom flat so they dont get out but have climbing frames tunnels toys etc.. which they love and do run about mad playing iwth each other. the female cat is more than happy sleeping with us at night but the male cat will sit on the wardrobe or dressing table and just scream at us all night. last night i had to lock him in the living room which is quite a big room and is where his frame is and toys, we heard him less but since the house is not that big its hard to cut the noise completely. any advice? i love them to bits and dont want to get mad at him. the vet suggested a plug in thing that helps to relax them????

Answer
Hi
yes this a common problem for some cat owners.

Night time is the time when cats are most active and so their meows are there way of saying hey I'm bored lets play. If he was outside he would be exploring, hunting and doing all sorts of cat things, but because he is inside he is calling to try and get you to get up and interact with him etc.

There are no grantees that you can stop him doing it, but there a few things you can try to break the habit.

Putting him in another room is obviously the first thing to do but you will also need to try and tire him out before bedtime. I always suggest about an hour before bedtime play a real runaround chasing game with him for about 10 to 15 minutes. Encourage him to chase things and to hunt things ( i have page about playing with your cat here /cat-toys-play.html

This play will help not only to tire him out so that he is more likely to sleep but will also give him the attention he is calling for. Also provide a night time snack for him just before bedtime, this will also help to settle him down.

There are plug in sprays that are designed to calm down cats but i have never used them and so don't know how effective they are. However try my suggestions first before you pay out for the spray.

best wishes
Kate