Onyx is driving me CRAZY!

[.unknown.]

I felt sorry for my cat and bought him some Fancy Feast (I know, I know)during a cold snap since he was sad and couldn't go outside, and now he won't shut up about it!

I give him half the can (the tiny ones) in the am and the other half at night, before I go to bed. Sometimes he does not think this is enough and will wake me up meowing. He will even sit on me while I'm in bed and meow. When I get up he runs straight to his bowl... This is the kind of meowing that cannot be ignored, either. If there is a pause it's for long enough for you to just fall back asleep and then he starts again!

How can you get a whiney cat to stop being so whiney!! I am planning on not giving him the food in the morning to possibly wean him off his new addiction, but I am going crazy. I have enough troubles sleeping without him waking me up, and I don't know how to get him to be quiet! He's not a big playtime cat either, so I can't just play with him so he's too tired to care about his stupid food.

(his vet checkup is soon and yes, I will tell my vet)

He has Orijen dry food available at all times, but he's completley forgotten about this food now since the introduction of "Fancy" feast. I wonder if there is something addictive in it??

[Marty11]

I've heard that there is a lot of sugar and or salt in fancy feast. It's addicting for cats. I have a cat that prefers canned now, i'm feeding evo. I know orijen is one of the best dry foods out there, but this forum really prefers raw and canned. I leave out orijen as a supplement. I think maybe to be unpredictible in your feeding times, this may change your cat's clock. My mom had a cat that woke her up at 5 a.m for breaky every day for years.

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by .unknown.

He has Orijen dry food available at all times, but he's completley forgotten about this food now since the introduction of "Fancy" feast. I wonder if there is something addictive in it??

Depending on which Fancy Feast flavour you're feeding, it's actually a much better food than Orijen. Cats should be eating wet food, not dry (not even the very "best" most expensive dry). I would actually increase the Fancy Feast and maybe start mixing in a higher quality canned like Wellness or Nature's Variety, and completely ditch the Orijen. More info on why here: www.catinfo.org

[dollface]

Gotta second SCM on this!

Obviously your cat prefers wet over his dry food now, so might as well switch over to the good stuff that he now wants i.e. flavourful and full of moisture food (cuz he's soo hungry that he won't touch the dry food).

I fed my two Fancy Feast for quite a few months, only cuz we couldn't afford much else and it was $0.64/3oz can. THEN, we found Sophisticat canned 5.5oz cans @ $0.48/can! HUGE savings and lots more food for them to satisfy their junky food cravings. Sometimes they don't even eat all of it, cuz they are soo full now The only thing to be careful with Sophisticat is to read the label and make sure there isn't any added fish (even in the all meat flavours). Or if you do feed the ones with added fish, limit that flavour to 2-3 times a week.

As for the meowing, you just have to ignore it and not give any attention to him whatsoever, otherwise he will learn that all he has to do is keep meowing and he will get his way. I have a whiner too, I try to let him meow but somedays he catches me on an irritable day and I snap lol so then I clap my hands loudly or make a "psst" sound to shush him.

Happy switching!

p.s. depending on your vet, good luck telling them about feeding a cat wet food...

[.unknown.]

I have no issues with feeding him wet food and realize it is better for him, I used to but he is a finnicky eater and the better canned foods don't interest him as much as this stuff.

I should take a video of him when he meows and you would understand that at 4:30am there is no ignoring and sleeping through his meowing. It's incessant, loud, and in your face. If I close our bedroom door, he scratches at it... I hope that with nicer weather he will be happier when he can go outside because this broken sleep is wearing me out! I've hissed at him, clapped, yelled etc. Nothing works. He'll stop for 15-20 mins - Just enough time to fall back asleep - and then he'll start again. Sometimes he even sounds like a baby, which is EXTRA creepy when you are awoken in the wee hours of the morning. I am sure he's got some siamese in him because the sounds he comes up with are pretty...special. hehe


OI!

[Dog Dancer]

I'm sorry your cat is waking you up, but maybe you need to give him more food at night. You said you were giving him half of a small can. He may just be hungry.

You say you will be happy when he can go outside in the nice weather. Are you planning on putting him out at night? So you can sleep and he can be coyote bait. I really would not recommend you putting him out at all, let alone at night when so many hunters are out there with him. I had two cats who lived their entire lives indoors to the age of 18 and were quite content. Please reconsider putting him outside, for his safety.

Just my

[gardensgrow]

Hmmm .... aren't you special??? Do you even have a cat in your family? Feral cats meowing sounds are like a new born baby crying. The wha wha wey wey is very same.

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by .unknown.

I have no issues with feeding him wet food and realize it is better for him, I used to but he is a finnicky eater and the better canned foods don't interest him as much as this stuff.

Then feed him the FF for now. As long as you limit the fish flavours (as dollface mentioned) and feed mostly gluten-free varieties, he'll be better off. If you do eventually want him on something with higher quality ingredients, the trick is to very very slowly mix the new stuff in with the old. Like start with less than a tsp of Wellness, thoroughly stir it in to the FF and feed that for a week. The next week, put in 2 tsps, with less of the FF. And so on. You might also have to rotate flavours and brands because many cats get bored of eating the same canned food day in, day out.

Originally Posted by .unknown.

I should take a video of him when he meows and you would understand that at 4:30am there is no ignoring and sleeping through his meowing. It's incessant, loud, and in your face.

Oh believe me, I understand!!! I have one of those myself. I make sure to give him a meal just as I'm heading off to bed or else for sure I'll be getting up to feed him in the wee hours. A good routine to get into at bedtime is some vigorous playing (15-30 min) followed by a snack. That should help him sleep longer. You could also think about an automatic feeder timed to open up just before he starts his rampage.

[.unknown.]

Dogdancer:
I am full aware of the dangers of him going outside. He is not out all night, I call him inside when I go to bed. He is much happier when he can go outside and is a healthy 9 year old cat. While I know there are many threats, I'm not convinced letting your cat out is a "matter of time (before they die)" situation. My first cat was an outdoor cat as well and she lived to 15. I know the stats, I understand the risk, but he is a much happier cat when he can go outside.

And SCM/Dollface, thanks for the tips! I will slowly switch him to a better food for sure. I just bought a mixed case of Fancy Feast, so I will check out the flavors in there and take out the fish and gluten-y ones and feed those less often.

I will look into the auto-feeder, too. I am intrigued!

[dollface]

Originally Posted by .unknown.

I have no issues with feeding him wet food and realize it is better for him, I used to but he is a finnicky eater and the better canned foods don't interest him as much as this stuff.

I should take a video of him when he meows and you would understand that at 4:30am there is no ignoring and sleeping through his meowing. It's incessant, loud, and in your face. If I close our bedroom door, he scratches at it... I hope that with nicer weather he will be happier when he can go outside because this broken sleep is wearing me out! I've hissed at him, clapped, yelled etc. Nothing works. He'll stop for 15-20 mins - Just enough time to fall back asleep - and then he'll start again. Sometimes he even sounds like a baby, which is EXTRA creepy when you are awoken in the wee hours of the morning. I am sure he's got some siamese in him because the sounds he comes up with are pretty...special. hehe


OI!

Ok some suggestions for the meowing:
1. try the Ssscat can if you have the cash and position it your bedroom door
2. try leaving some classical music on at night, before I got my hydro bill I was leaving the classical music channel on at night and it would quiet Forest a bit (he's a whiner if you leave him alone at night), now there's no music b/c it's too expensive unless you have classical cds lol
3. close the door at night and tape/wrap some aluminum foil on the door, most cats hate aluminum foil cuz of the sound it makes so it should deter the scratching at the door. I recently had to cover my counters in the kitchen to deter my youngest from running amuck up there while I'm at school

You should hear Forest when he meows, he sounds like he's saying hello most of the time "harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrowwwwwwwwwww!" "helllllllllllllllllllllowwwwwwwwwww?!" we could have a competition hehe

Here's a link for the gluten-free Fancy Feasts http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm

As for the outside issue, Forest was an outdoor cat for 13 years, and then me and my bf moved in together and he brought him with us and we live in a high rise building. I tried leashing him last year and that didn't go very well. He has adjusted well to being inside and he's 15 now (16 in July), his health is deteriorating now so even if we move to a house with a yard, we won't allow him to be outside and due to the fact that he's prolly forgotten all those outside instincts anyway.

Here's another link for reasons why not to let your cat out if you want to read http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph...oorsoroutdoors

Good luck with everything and let us know how everything progresses !

[.unknown.]

hehe thanks!

I have read those sites before and I know it would be better for him to be inside... It is a really difficult thing to convince him that his cat tree is better than a real tree, that rolling on carpet is better than rolling around in dirt. When he can't go out, he sits in the window, cackling at birds. If its nice and he doesnt get out he cries and cries. Its not so bad now that our neighbors have moved; he made friends with their kitty and whenever he saw him outside he would have to go out and hang out.

I've thought about getting another kitty as a friend (to make inside seem more fun), but the last time he lived with another cat, it went terrible. It was winter and my roommate moved in with his cat. She tried to take over all of his things, his trees, his litter box, his beds, and he got so upset. He stopped using his litter box and ended up with a really serious bladder infection and a plugged urethra. The vet said If I had gotten him in to the vet any later, he would have died. After he was treated and got better, I had to lay down a pretty strict law of clean kitty litter at all times and my room mates cat wasn't allowed on any of Onyx's things. I had to protect his territory for him

Anyway, it will be a slow process but we'll make it work!

I will definitely let you know how it goes

[dollface]

One question regarding the other cat, did you do a proper introduction at all? If not, that's probably why Onyx got very upset. Cats don't like change

That's the one major mistake we didn't do, so now the result is Forest likes to dominate Gizzy all the time and the end result is that Gizzy sprays everything. I've managed to stop it for now but still regret not introducing them. Firstly, because I had no clue about how cats interact with each other and second, my bf is ignorant like that lol just cuz his cats weren't introduced it was never a problem

But a friend might be helpful if you do a proper introduction, and 2 is definately better than 1

[.unknown.]

If I remember correctly, the new cat was left in my roommates room for the first day and then let out to meet my cat. Not the best way, I know. They hissed at each other and then left each other alone. My cat was the most upset about his litter box smelling like her... I tried to keep it spotless, cleaning it morning and night, but if she used it; it was game over. I think he would be ok with a submissive and easy going kitty, but, yeah.... I can't even consider getting another pet, I have too many as it is

On a side note, last night I had a little chat with Onyx; a little heart to heart, if you will. As he lay on me in bed, I held the sides of his face and spoke directly to him and asked that he wake me up at 6:30am instead of 4, or 5 and that I'd really appreciate the chance to sleep... and guess who came in meowing at 6:31??

hehe

[dollface]

Ok no friend for now lol

Heart to heart's are pretty helpful I think after I just read yours. A couple of months ago I was petting Gizzy and telling him it's ok that he doesn't like to sit on mommy's lap but it would be nice once in a while. Then the next day he came up on the couch and sat on my lap! Lasted a few days, once or twice a day. He's slowly coming around tho and starting to do it more, especially after one of us comes home. So yay for heart to hearts, it's like they can really understand us and surprise us sometimes

[happycats]

had the same problem with mine (years and years ago) when I ws feeding canned in morning and in evening.

STOP morning feeding (cold turkey) and only feed canned in the evening. It may take a few mornings for Onyx to come to the realization that there is no more breakfast. But eventually he'll get it.
Stick to your guns and DON'T cave, he will leave you alone to sleep eventually.