All day cat is meowing/howling/crying

by Emily R.
(Windsor, CA, USA)

I have a 5 yr old male cat. We moved about 3 months ago, but recently he has been meowing all day and night. Horrible cries that sometimes don't even sound like a cat! He wanders around the house all day, and wakes me up every night. If I ignore him he will jump onto my pillow and step on my hair meowing. I can't let him out into the house at night because he is also keeping my roommate up so I've had to lose hours of sleep each night. I've heard you should "just ignore it" but these awful cries could wake the dead. HELP!

Answer by kate
Hi
You did not tell me if he was neutered or not. If not then his cries could well be his mating calls at this time of the year. they can be pretty persistent. having him neutered will prevent this.

if he is neutered then it sound to me like he could be bored. cats are very active at night as this is their normal time for hunting etc. if they don't have this stimulus then they can become frustrated and bored. i always make sure I play with my two about half an hour before bedtime and then feed them just before i go to bed this helps them to settle down. i also have lots of things to keep them amused at night if they do wake up, things like treats hidden around or in tubes, climbing trees and cat toys of all sorts.
https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-toys.html

The meowing can also be a learned behavior, please see my page here for more on this here

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-meowing.html

best wishes Kate

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