Neighbours who spend hours calling for their cat each night?

[OohAahBird]

They stand at the front door calling for their cat, she is very elderly and I know she worries but its also keeping me awake every night when I am trying to fall asleep.
I can't decide whether to keep ignoring it while inwardly going 'its a cat!' Or to have a word with her daughter, if the cat doesn't come she leaves it 5 min then starts again, so just as you think it's finished it can start up, sometimes it can go on for over an hour and she doesn't stop till the cat is in so sometimes it can be really late.

Daaaaaaaanieeeelll! Here Daaaaaaaanieeeelll!.

Hearing that repeatedly, for people to an hour, while trying to sleep would every night for years would try the patience of a saint. You've done well to last this long OP.

Sorry, have no advice but YADNBU

Two options:

Kind = Have a quiet word with her daughter and suggest the cat is introduced to Dreamies. Cats almost always arrive when Dreamies are present

Cruel: Open a window and shout 'Shut up! People are trying to sleep. Tiddles will be home when he feels like it'

Why not ask, in an interested sort of tone, if she's having trouble getting the cat in? When she's told you all about how naughty he is, you could mention you heard her shouting for ages "while you were trying to get to sleep" and wondered if something was wrong?

Hopefully she might take the hint ...

Thanks Puzzled I think I will do that and add in a fictional friend who uses dreamies to get the cat in and have they tried that?

My lovely cat I had when growing up got chucked out with the empty milk bottles every night. My Dad would walk around our house at bedtime looking for the cat shouting ‘fling the mog!’
The cat lived to be 19 and never went to the vet in all the time we had her.
My own cat now who I adore to pieces - who has already cost us a fortune in vets bills and isn’t even a year old -, I couldn't possibly leave out at night but at bedtime I can call and call and nothing will happen but as soon as I shake a box of whiskas dried food there he miraculously appears on the door step.
I’m very conscious of my neighbours though and never call him for long ... so it's not me!

I can understand the neighbour wanting the cat in at night. I don’t like leaving mine out, but how often is she actually calling for Daniel. Is she really calling every 5/10 mins for hours on end ?

If she is honestly calling out that often, then i’d be worried about dementia for her as well as the cat.

Finders That is why I wouldn't say anything to her directly, her daughter who lives with her is in her 60-70's.

😂😂😂

OohAahBird

You're very welcome ... another cat owner here, you see, except mine (almost always) come when called and are shut in before dark

The woman is being anti social and it's reasonable to tell her that she's keeping you awake. Would you all be so patient if it was a younger woman shouting into her mobile phone or shouting at her kids? They're all equally annoying when you're trying to sleep.

And yes some nights its only a few times and it's reasonably early, but tonight it went on for a an hour and a half and stopped just before 11. And now I have no excuse not to be asleep except having gone to bed sleepy am now wide awake again!

'very dangerous' to leave your cat out all night?! Guess it depends where you live... But still, not more dangerous than all day, surely?

It used to be a thing to put the cat out at night didn't it? Last thing.

now I have no excuse not to be asleep except having gone to bed sleepy am now wide awake again!

Why not get a cat to snuggle up on the bed with you?

Perhaps you could train the cat with treats to come over to your house around 9pm then carry it over to neighbours and hand it to her.

Yes, you’re right - it did used to be “a thing”

Now with increased traffic and other risks it’s not so much of ‘a thing’ - not advocating leaving a cat out all day as some sort of alternative btw....just my opinion, but DH is a vet so I suppose I’m more aware of the dangers maybe...

Why would anyone call their cat in ever if they had a cat flap?! Genuinely very puzzled by that. I mean, obviously if you hadn't seen the cat for about 2 days or something you might go shouting and shaking bags of food and all that but otherwise I agree with you OP, 'It's a cat!' It'll sort itself out.

Yeah, "it's a cat," meaning cat's just don't come when called. They come when they want. I don't know that there's an answer to this, but here's what I'd try:

1. Going up to her an commiserating with her. "Yeah, those silly cats; they only come when they want to; my friend had a cat and, blah, blah, blah. Can I help you in some way? Want to me to go check a favorite hiding place?" etc. Until you talk to her, I suppose you can't know for sure if she knows this about cats, or if she's realized that her calling is even something being noticed by the neighbors. This discussion might be enough, especially if you repeat it several nights in a row. After a couple nights, she might suddenly realize "Hey, wow, other people can hear me." Even better if you can get other neighbors to do the same on another night.

1. If you know what the cat looks like, or have any relationship with it, can you give it some special treat? Once that has happened once or twice, you might have success leaving the treat out around the time you know the owner will first start wanting the cat. You might be able to start a habit with the cat at that point, which you can slowly pass off to the neighbor so she can get the treat and put it out at the right time.

1. White noise. I lived for years in China, where people learn to sleep amidst a cacophony of the most amazingly obnoxious noises (everyone hawking up phlegm onto the street at all hours, neighbor's child playing "football" against our shared wall on polluted days, half a dozen budding "pianists" in the surrounding apartments, no trucks let into the city until after 10pm--guess what happens once 10pm hits?–people yelling, screaming, and slamming doors all hours). White noise saved my life and kept me from going completely insane.

Yeah, "it's a cat," meaning cat's just don't come when called

Yeah, they do though.

I do this too, but will only whisper their names past a certain time, usually around 9pm. If they are close by they can hear me and usually come in.

My catcomes when called. He won't always come in but he often appears to sort of say I'm here!

We also let our cat out most of the night. I don't like it, but,we live in a small village which alhough can it be used by a few people coming off the country lanes, it's often so quiet at night your ears ring like you've just come of some 80s discotheque . It's also the routine he got himself into rather than anything to do with us. I think the mice and rabbits are aplenty at night in the farmers fields!

I think he best suggestion is aboveboard asking if she had troubles getting him in etc.

Sorry for the apalling typing

Dreamies.£1 a pack.Tell her to shake the pack.Everyone should be happy then.Unless of course there are a lot of cats in your street then they will all come running.

YABU and mean.

When we had two cats we didn't give them their last meal of the day until after they had been put outside at about 9 - 10 pm. Then they were keen to return when we rattled a box of bikkies at the back door, so they could feed. We then closed up the cat-flap to keep them in for the night.

We banked on their stomachs over-ruling the need to roam!

That's a fair bet with a cat