New behavior since moving

Question

I have just moved out of my daughters home where my cat Jazmine stayed in my room or went outside using the doggie door. She never went into the other rooms of the house because my daughters cat was there. My bedroom door was always open so she could have gone into other rooms but because of Frodo (the other cat) she never did. (4 years)

She has always been a cat who does not like change. If I moved my furniture around she would meow for a few days until she got used to the change.

When I moved I got her a cat tree because I can not let her go outside anymore as I have moved from out in the country to the city. I would be afraid to let her outside with the traffic and there are a lot of stray cats in my neighborhood. I thought she would like to be up high and she seems to love it and the freedom of the new house. She moves around every room and runs and plays like I have never seen her do before.

Recently she has started meowing at night. She will run into my room like a wild woman and scratch her scratching post and roll around with one of her toys... run under the bed and just meow loudly!

I keep treats in a drawer and give her some at night before bedtime. When she wakes me up I will get her some treats and put them in her bowl in another room and then shut my bedroom door to keep her out.

I don't know if she is training me to get more treats or if she is insecure in her new surroundings. She used to sleep with me but has not since the move. I have all new furniture in the bedroom so nothing is familiar to her. Any advice on how to help her.

Answer 1

When you move into a new house, everything is new for your cat. If there has not been any other cats there before, she has the whole territory for herself. She feels free to go everywhere and marks it as her area by rubbing against everything.

There are several things you can do when she wakes you at night, but treats are not one of them if you don't want her to wake you every night.

You can put a cat bed in the room where you sleep so she can see you. The reason why your cat wakes you is she is feeling a little insecure and needs to see you and feels safe by knowing where you are. You don't need to do do anything except say "Hi, I am here" and go to sleep again. I know it can be hard to do this but you need to ignore her calling for you. This is actually what a mother cat does to her kittens to wean them off drinking milk.

You can take a t-shirt you have used for a day and put this on her bed if her bed is away from where you sleep. This makes your cat feel safer as she can smell you even when you are not there.

It is important for cats to feel safe. My cat is an outdoor cat and is normally outdoors all day, but she comes inside to see if I am here several times during the day and goes out again.

To avoid the cat waking you it is best to have her toys and cat tree placed away from the bedroom, maybe close to a window where she can look out and watch what is going on outside, as maybe she can see some birds or other animals.

Try to avoid responding to the cat in the night when you need to sleep and make it so your cat doesn't need to wake you to feel safe and make sure you don't give her treats at night, as this is basically saying thank you for waking me and let us do this every night.

Giving your cat some comforting at night when you just have moved in is OK but don't let it continue for many days.