Cat meowing

[Williams27x]

Our cat meows so much of a night.

unfortunately I’m having to sleep in the living room with our 6 month old son, due to a mould issue in our bedroom. We are waiting for our landlord to sort the issue.

due to this I unfortunately have to put our cat in the kitchen of a night (I feel awful for doing it). I put him in the kitchen, because I fear that he will jump onto our baby of a night. I know it sounds silly, but I don’t want to take the risk of him unintentionally sitting on our baby in his sleep and suffocating him. When my baby naps during the day, I have to watch our cat as he always wants to cuddle up next to him in his bed.

I wake up at 6am and let the cat into the rest of the house, and I try to delay putting him into the kitchen as much as I can, so I stay up until 12 and put him in the kitchen at 12am. I do this so he is alone for a as little as possible.

all throughout the day he has endless cuddles with us all. He has a large cat tree, balls, toys, food, water, three beds including a radiator bed, all in the kitchen.

he absolutely hates being separated and locked in one room (understandably) and meows and scratches at the door. I feel so awful, but I really don’t want to take the risk.

does anyone have any advice how I can make him happier and stop the endless meowing?
I’ve had to inform our neighbours that we aren’t abusing him, and I’ve explained the situation. Luckily I have very polite and understanding neighbours.

it isn’t a temporary fix, as soon as the mould issue is sorted he will have the run of the entire house other than our bedroom of a night.

My old cat (the late Millie) was very noisy at night & used to bang on room & cupboard doors with her paws constantly until I got up and told her to stop.
I then decided that I would break her bad habit by ignoring the noise until she gave up banging. It took a week & the noise at night was horrendous for that week (my poor neighbours) but ignoring her & not giving her attention broke the noise making habit for good so I could sleep!!

I recommend trying something similar with your cat.
Cats thrive on attention & your cat has learnt that if he miaows constantly you will give in & try to stop him (which is giving him attention in his little mind).
It's a battle of wills so you have to totally ignore the miaows until the cat gives in.

Also.. when I was a baby in my pram my mum used a 'pram net' to prevent our cat getting in the pram. You could try something similar over the cot / basket.
Cats like to snuggle up to babies as they're very warm but could smother them accidentally so you're right to be cautious.

Cat tax - here is the late Millie!

Thank you so much. I will definitely try not to give in, as hard as it is. They know how to make us feel bad don’t they haha.

I’ve never heard of a pram net before, that’s a brilliant idea. Thank you!

Millie was absolutely adorable. Bless her!