Cat meowing all the bloody time.

[TheGMF]

We moved house with our two cats almost 5 months ago. We had a few of the usual settling in problems - nothing we weren't expecting, but one of the cats has continued to meow loudly several times a night. He also scratches at the bedroom door (we have to wedge it shut from the inside because he has realised that it will open if he pushes it hard enough). He has never been allowed to sleep with us and we have really persevered with re-establishing this at the new house. However he has been getting progressively worse - he now meows a fair bit through the daytime as well. He didn't do this at the old house.

He is 6-years old and in good physical health (weight, heart-rate, temp and full bloods all came back normal). When he is meowing he seems very restless - prowls around in circles, repeatedly jumping on and off things. We have tried Feliway, Pet Remedy and Calm-eze tablets, all to no effect. Have tried knackering him out with flying frenzy but it doesn't make a difference. Vet thinks the problem is behavioural and has offered a referral to a cat behaviourist but he is not insured and I'm guessing they are not cheap.

Would be interested in hearing from anyone else who has survived something similar (5-months of interrupted sleep is taking it's toll!), or has any experience of a cat behaviourist?

Thanks

Also interested if anyone has had good results with any of the other stress treatments - eg Zylkene, etc.

Not keen to spend money on more stuff that doesn't work!

Our cat is a terrible crier and to be honest it drives me demented. Fortunately though we have a stairgate at the too of the stairs that prevents her from coming up at night. So she sleeps downstairs and it works really well. Would that be possible in your situation?

*top

I'd have him in the bedroom with me, sounds like insecurity.

We used to be able to shut them downstairs in the old house but our options are limited in this one. There is the lounge, which is where the good furniture is (they are sofa-scratchers!) or the kitchen, which is quite small. I'm sure shutting them in the kitchen would improve our stress-levels but I don't think it would do much for the cats'!

On the rare occasions when we have let him into the bedroom - he just meows loudly and jumps on an off things INSIDE the room instead of outside. I feel that the problem is largely that he doesn't go out as much in this house as the old one so he isn't getting enough stimulus. We could leave him something to play with during the night but he is a destroyer of toys so we don't usually let him play unsupervised. I've read about the boinks on another thread so might give them a go. Also I think a heated cat bed might encourage him to stay put during the night.