To be considering rehoming my cats?

[nationalshirehorse]

I know I’m going to get hate for this but please hear me out.

We got two kittens in the autumn. We live rurally and a derelict farm by us was discovered to have a cat and four kittens. I managed to find a home for two kittens and kept the other two and I now really think that this was a huge mistake.

They are lovely friendly cats but it’s the sleep issue. We have young children, aged four and one and the one year old generally doesn’t sleep through. I have to keep the cats downstairs as otherwise they charge round upstairs and also if I get up to go to DD they then thunder around expecting food.

So what they have started doing now is making an absolute racket downstairs until someone me goes to feed them. They have dry food and water and a litter tray but they bash themselves against the doors so that they shake and rattle. I know it would probably be best to ignore this but I can’t have them waking the whole house up. This used to be just in the morning at around 6 which I didn’t really mind as it isn’t that far off when I’d be getting up anyway but then it was getting earlier and earlier 5, then half four, then four.

Last night they would not settle at all and I was up every couple of hours with them. It was awful and it’s so difficult to get back to sleep afterwards.

They have been to the vet to check they don’t have a thyroid issue as I know this can cause excessive hunger but they are fine. Plus they do have dry food so they can’t be all that hungry.

DH wants them gone; he’s absolutely fed up of it and I have to admit I am as well. It’s one thing to have bad nights with children but with the cats combined I’m barely getting three hours some nights.

I don’t know if anyone has any suggestions. I have tried putting them out but they yowl under my window so that doesn’t help!

If we don’t leave wet sachets out as well as dry food they wake us up. Have you tried that? Our current two are 8 and 17 and healthy, we’ve always left out both types for them and they feed when they want.

You say they want you to feed them, so the obvious answer is to leave them some wet food down in the night, in addition to the dry food. I always leave wet food down for kittens and young cats overnight.

But possibly they hear you moving around with the 1 year old and think it's time to get up. The reason you have never had this behaviour before is that you never had kittens, you say you always had older cats.

If you got them in the autumn they are not tiny kittens and are presumably now neutered, so you could let them go out at night. As the nights get lighter and warmer, they will want to go out at night and hunt.

Doesn’t wet food go off or attract flies if you leave it out? I’d be nervous of that

I leave wet food down overnight. It doesn't go off in the course of a few hours and it can't attract flies as the windows are shut.

Ok! Good to know

Cats hate closed doors. The only solution I've found is to leave all doors open. Once they realise everyone is asleep and they're not missing anything, they'll sleep too. Persevere, it'll be much better by summer when they've matured a little. By a year and a half it'll be a different story.

Our cats sleep in the house all day but we put them out at night for this reason. As you live rurally you should be fine to do this! As long as they have somewhere to shelter from bad weather.

Well it is obvious @Marinel … so obvious I’ve done it! But one sachet of wet food isn’t enough all night (apparently) what I mean is that they bolt it down immediately and still want more.

I can’t lock them elsewhere in the house; the downstairs is all open plan and they have the run of downstairs. If you give them free rein they just disturb the children and DH and charge about if someone gets up for the toilet or to tend to a child.

I will have to think about how to use the outhouse area. It’s really miserable. Cats can be pains but I’ve never had this before.

Cats hate a closed door I find. We’re a fully door open household so she can strut about as she pleases. She does usually have a mad five minutes racing around about 11pm but she does a couple of laps and then gives in.

If you don’t have a cat flap and can’t easily put one in could you leave a small downstairs window open for them to get outside at night? That combined with all doors bar the kids rooms open could well solve it.

@nationalshirehorse
Leave more food down? You haven't had kittens before so you may not know they are eating machines until they're a year old. They need constant refuelling.

But I think they are probably also responding to hearing you moving around and knowing you're awake. If you allow them out at night they will find more interesting things to do than bother you for food. The outhouse could be an option although it was -3 here last night, I wouldn't leave kittens in an outhouse when it's that cold.

Sorry you’re having these issues OP. I think the outhouse might be a good temporary solution as they’re so young. I have two cats and had them from kittens. They’re incredibly vocal and I had some interesting experiences with them when younger, so here’s what helped if it can translate to yours! Please note mine are also indoor cats, so putting outside isn’t on the cards (unless I can afford full-on garden cat-proofing one day):

• use a ‘biscuit puzzle’. You can buy these cheap off Amazon, and apparently they help satisfy some of their instincts. Mine scoff all their food immediately, so this forces them to eat slower. It’s a board with plastic insets that means they have to paw to get their biscuits out. If they’re still not interested, they will be if you drop just a few dreamies in there too!
• Play with them before bed and completely wear them out. CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH.
• It’s hard, but try to ignore the noise if you can as they are learning it gets them attention. Invest in good earplugs for a short time - or put in outbuilding/outside as others suggest. If they yowl in the day time, go over and pet them as soon as they’re quiet.
• Cat flap and cat bed somewhere outside - cat flap in outhouse maybe?
• Feed them wet food later
• If not already done, definitely definitely neuter them. Mine are boys and calmed down a bit immediately after - wouldn’t even sit on my knee before.
• When you do put them down for the night, make a real fuss of them and give them affection. Sit with them a few minutes until they’re settled. Ours are put in the living room every night because they’re too affectionate to sleep with (would also wake me up at 4am), but we found that this is the best way to calm them down. Once you build a habit, they may actually look forward to it as they know they’ll get play & hugs before being in the room. If they get on well (as ours do, bonded) they’ll like snuggle up and sleep together eventually,
• Get a cat camera e.g. Blink for the room so you can keep an eye on them/can speak through it.

Please keep at it OP. Kittens are a nightmare, but they get better. As you're in a safer location to let them out, I don’t think you’ll have this issue for long.

We’ve always had cats, some as kittens and latterly as rescue adults.

Our 2 are always shut in at night as I won’t have neighbours disturbed by caterwauling and I like the birds to have time for feeding early morning.

They are shut in the utility room with their food, litter and baskets overnight.

Have only had noise for the first few nights then they soon get used to the routine.

If they’re out in the day, I don’t feed, then in the evening, bang a dish loudly with a spoon to call them in.
…..Big fuss, cuddles and treats as reward for coming.
You can train them but just need to set boundaries early on and put in the time.

Any small room would do overnight, a downstairs loo, an under stairs cupboard set up daily with their litter tray so it’s their space.

Think about the size of space they would have if you left them in a cattery for your holiday.

@Marinel how much food!? Because I’m serious here - these cats can just keep eating. When I took them to the vet and was a bit concerned about their appetites being indicative of a thyroid problem she said ‘teenage boys’ and she’s right of course but I can’t afford to put an entire box of wet food down for them (and they can and will eat that if you give it to them.) and it wouldn’t solve the problem because they STILL want more. Last night they pestered for food three times so if we count the sachet they had before bed that’s four sachets overnight, each. Thats an entire pack of cat food. That isn’t financially viable apart from being impractical. And they just keep eating and then wanting more.

Don’t you leave crunchy biscuits out so they can eat as and when?

They’re kittens doing what kittens so. If you’re both ‘wanting rid’ then please do so via a rescue if you can find one with space & please don’t get any more pets.

Anyway - the out at night thing just doesn’t work. I have tried that; felt a bit mean but they just yowled outside, waking me, DH and DS (DD sleeps at the front of the house.) plus although we’re in the country it’s a long country road cars and trucks zoom down at a pretty alarming pace and especially at night; sometimes the whole house shudders.

I’ll have to think. My worry is them destroying the outhouse if I put them there - but I can’t keep them on the house like this.

And her then neutere asap if not already done.

“Them”

First post, literally there

They have dry food and water and a litter tray

and

Plus they do have dry food so they can’t be all that hungry

I know ideally I’d ‘train’ them but the process of doing this would keep the whole house awake and I don’t think I could cope with that!

I don't think you're a bad person for taking in 2 kittens you found as an experienced cat owner who genuinely believed you could manage them - only to find you can't.

Kittens are popular so if you do wish to rehome, do it soon.

What cat food are you feeding them? They might need a higher quality food, like katkin, delivered via automated feeder over night. You could schedule it release food 2 or 3 times during the night to give them a steady supply.

What are you doing with them when they wake you? How are they interacting? Because this will influence their behaviour too.

They have quite a lot of space to play in; one of the reasons I would feel awful about rehoming them is we do have a bit of a cat paradise apart from the road; big garden they like to chase each other round in and shrubbery and hedges they hunt in, trees to climb.

Honestly, hand on heart, they are just greedy gits, I think. And if they learned scrabbling at the door didn’t get them anywhere I could take a week or so of it. As it is though it isn’t fair on my family (or me really but it was me who got them.)

This morning I was beyond fed up after such a horrible night. Now I’m a bit more chill but I do still think I have to do something even if that is locking them elsewhere overnight.

what food do you feed them some of those sachets are not very filling full of rubbish.Bozita from zooplus is good look at the meat content avoid fillers like corn,maize,wheat

Now you can free feed dry thats fine they eat what they need but wet once or twice a day .Make sure its at a dead set time or it will be earlier and earlier, mine eventually learnt no wet before 8 so stopped bothering us

dont lock them out of your bedroom ,i only lock mine out of kids room at night.They need to learn what the routine is ,i recently got a ginger.It took him a year and a half to calm down after neutering.Yes at the start he zoomed all over the place but over time he got better.Now when i go to bed he sleeps at the foot of the bed and i wake up hes there peacefully.

i also recommend this it has a lot less rubbish so its more filling

https://www.zooplus.com/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/porta_21/feline_finest/170966?activeVariant=170966.3

They might be permanently hungry because of their background. The cats I've had who were strays in the past could eat indefinitely.
Op you've had some good suggestions on the thread but if these don't work I don't think you should feel bad about rehoming. You can't live on this little sleep and have enough on your plate with the children.

😂re the eating…. Just wait till your kiddies are teenagers. You’d best start saving now! Lol

Semi feral genes will out, I'd absolutely investigate the outhouse and put them out at bedtime.