Outdoor to indoor cat + meowing.
Hi brainhive
I have two Burmese boys - about 5 years old, we moved overseas about 5 months ago. Previously our cats were indoor outdoor, but now they are only indoor.
One of our cats has adjusted to the change really well, and just lives his little life within the house.
Our other boy has been a nightmare - constantly meowing and has developed the habit of meowing at the top of his lungs A LOT. He has been to the vet and does not have any medical issues.
Our main issue is at night time, He hangs out at the top of the stairs and loudly meows for at least an hour, sometimes longer. He has made himself sick from meowing so much.
Both cats have access to the outdoor balcony which is cat safe. We have cat trees, and toys and I play with them multiple times throughout the day.
Prior to moving the cats have never slept in our bedroom, there would be very infrequent meows for attention lasting only a few meows before they gave up, it never bothered us although we never responded to them at night even then, they are still not allowed in our bedroom and will not be allowed in ( it won't work for our own sleep)
Both cats free feed dry food and I give them a small amount of wet at night.
The cats are more attached to me than my partner - I recently was away for 3 weeks, and the meowing improved - no shade to my partner but over those three weeks the cats would have had minimal attention as he doesn't play or cuddle with them very much.
Things we have tried:
-Increasing the amount of play - to the point of them not being interested - including just before we head off to bed - no change
-hiding treats at night/puzzle feeders - no change.
-cat nip/silvervine before bed - made it worse cause they got hyper active.
- leaving the balcony door open at night - no change
-Ignoring them at night - they get ignored - we have not once opened the door to let them in, or interacted with them after closing the door for sleep at night. This has not worked.
- play then feed then patting them to go to sleep on a warmed bed - they fall asleep, then as soon as we close the door to our room the meowing starts.
That's all I can think of:
We have considered a timed feeder - but they have always been free fed since kittens and it doesn't seem that food is the issue.
The next thing we are considering is putting them in the garage - considering if putting them in a more confined space will help. The only issue here is that the garage is really cold ( they will have a heated bed) and it is next to our room so if it doesn't work, the cats will be unhappy and we still won't sleep.
Personal things tried:
White noise machine - they meow so loudly that you can hear them over it
Earplugs - can hear the cats still
It seems like it is separation anxiety - my partner didn't notice that they got suddenly worse after I left for 3 weeks - but as mentioned before he isn't the most attentive to them, so it might have got worse then improved.
The troublesome boy still longs for outdoor life but we are not on the ground floor so are unable to accomodate that, we have considered moving to a ground floor but that would be an extremely expensive decision.
At this point we are pretty desperate, willing to consider any solutions. Questioned whether he needs medication at night, questioned whether I need to start ignoring him 24/7 ( that was my partners thought).
Very lost and not sure what to do next! Help please!