I've got an indoor/outdoor spayed cat. What do I do when she is meowing like crazy to go outside@night? ?

Question

Yes the cat has been spayed. I asked this question last night and everyone literally responded that she's in heat. Well that's not the reason. My vet verified and showed me. See she's a stray. We found her in January so near 9 months ago. She has since slept at night and during the day we'd let her out and she always comes back when we jingle the keys. Well for the last month she meows like crazy until we let her out. She comes in eats like two bites and runs outside. A couple of days she slept on my bed all day long but she is driving me nuts at night. She doesn't want to stay in at all. Do I give in because she's meowing like mad to go outside or do I stick to it and let her out in the morning? Many cat owners tell me you can't train a cat but I just want to do what's best here. I don't want her to only come once a day for an hour now. I'm thinking she's doing this because it's really hot. She's 1 year old the vet said. Do cats sleep in the daytime and out at night when it's hot? It's a very nice quiet neighborhood. I don't have a trap door because I'm not sure I can it's a no lease apartment for students at the university. Very nice though. She's got the claws and I'm not declawing her. Someone told me that I should keep her inside all the time. I think that is ridiculous. I'm not declawing her. She's been just fine when I let her out and she can take care of herself. I am against keeping her indoors never seeing the sun or sky again personally. Your thoughts on how to respond to the crazy meowing? Last night I didn't give in to the meowing and let her out this morning. She at least slept most of the night finally!

Answer 1

I sympathize totally. I always give in and just try not to wake up too much when I get up to let the cat out. I did it for my old cat EVERY NIGHT for 16 years.... But it seemed like a good thing when I started. Does the cat have a litter box? Or is she trying to go out to go to the toilet? And it's very probable that she will stay in the bed and sleep all night when the weather gets colder, unless she needs to go out to pee...

Answer 2

I used to think like you until I found my first cat that had been hit by a car. The one I replaced her with was killed by a predator [big dog? coyote? I'll never know.]

It's too dangerous to let cats outside if you want them to live more than 3 years.

Besides cars and predators, there are poisonous plants, diseased birds and rodents, fights with ferals that are HIV+ or have feline leukemia, and antifreeze, just to name a few extreme dangers your pet won't find indoors.

I understand the howling drives you nuts, but believe it or not, if you provide indoor entertainment and are willing to put some energy into it, your cat will understand the meowing won't get results. It might take a couple of weeks, but after a while, your cat will give up. It just takes time.

Provide some entertainment for your cat. It wants some action! They need interactive play if you keep them indoors. You don't need to spend money. Paper grocery bags with holes cut in them and a ping pong ball inside one of them can provide hours of entertainment. Get a stick with a a feather on it and play with the cat for 20 minutes when it's freaking out. Cats are curious and intelligent, and they get bored. Frequently after you play with the cat, it will do a bit of grooming and go to sleep.

Remember, cats sleep 20 hours a day. You think it's outside getting fresh air and jumping around, but usually, even outside, it's asleep. This means it's vulnerable to predators or possibly sleeping in the wheel well or near the nice warm engine of a car. My neighbor's cat was killed when somebody started the car not knowing a cat was asleep on the engine block. I don't know where you live, but I live in LA in the middle of a city. Coyotes prowl in packs, and hunt in teams even in the busiest urban areas. Racoons can kill cats, as well as hawks and owls.

I've talked to vets and cat rescue people for hours. Everyone agrees, if you love the cat, keep it inside.

Also declawing is illegal in many states. It's extremely cruel, and similar to removing the first joint of your finger. People that recommend this are ignorant, as the cats are always in pain after declawing, and often respond with bad behaviors.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Morning!  You poor thing, you must be tired.

I personally think from years of experience with cats that they ARE trainable.

They will try you, and if you give in (getting up to let cat out in the middle of the night) they will do it again the next night because the howling worked on you the night before.

So my advise would be to try to get her to go out during the day as much a possable.

Try to put up with the meow's at night as much as possible without giving in.  Eventually it will work.

  I have a cat curfew around here, they go out all day, when 7 o'clock comes they KNOW it's in time.  This works for me.  Good Luck with your girl.

Answer 4

It's really a personal preference kind of thing as to whether you let your cat out or not and when you let them out (day or night).  As long as where you are letting them out is safe, of course.  Most cats sleep a lot during the day and some at night (cats sleep a lot!), so it's likely that she will be awake some at night, but they are usually quiet.  Our older cat likes to go out in the evening, but usually comes back after an hour or two out.  A friend cat sat for us over a week and didn't know that he was allowed out and he drove her crazy with his meowing, but at the end of the week he wasn't meowing nearly as much to be let out, so after another week or so he probably would have stopped asking.

You are probably right in thinking it is too hot for her to be out during the day and she wants to go out when it is cooler.  Perhaps as things start to cool down she will decide to go out during the day again.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

"My vet verified and showed me. See she's a stray."

Did your vet actually do the spaying? Because if not that doesn't say she's been spayed. And since there is no way for a vet to see inside the cat to see if her ovaries were removed, then your vet can't just look at the cat to "see" if it was spayed. At the very least the stomach should have been shaved to verify a spay incision scar.

All of that said... I concure with last nights answers. The cat could in heat. Get her in to verify because this sure does sound like heat to me. I've been dealing with cats fo a long time and this sounds like classic heat.

Either way... stick to your guns and keep her in. ;o)

Good Luck!

Answer 6

During the summer my cat spends most of the day and night outside.  When the colder weather comes, she usually spends most of the day indoors.  At the moment, she sleeps all night and goes out during the day.  It changes from season to season.  Is there a small window you could leave open for yours?  I don't have a cat flap - the door that had one in was replaced about a week before she decided she wanted to live with me.    I expect that there are lots of things to see and do when the weather is warm.  Mine spent the couple of hot sunny days we had here in the UK lying under a bush and watching the birds.  If you have no way of letting your cat come and go as she pleases, then you will have to decide whether you put up with the maiowing, or let her out.

Answer 7

all 3 of my girls must come in at dark; most of the time they will listen...other times it is talk to the butt....

her highness will sleep in a tree and complain in the morning....