Puccini the Opera singing cat

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Dear God, I'm being driven slowly bonkers by our cat singing at 4 in the morning

It's proper singing too, not yowling, he's not distressed at all.

Roughly translated it means 'This is my hooooooooouse, I have people and I loooooooove them ,they give me fooooood and I quite fancy some now I wish they get up and feed meeeeeeeeeeee and plaaaaaaay.....'

We've had him since Christmas, he was a stray and just turned up in a dreadful state and he took a long time to get tame but he's gorgeous now and super tame.

He used to go out at night when he was semi feral but now sleeps on the spare bed on a special fluffy blanket

He's only about a year old,and either fully Bengal or a cross. Very, very vocal, in the day he chats away , it's like a proper conversation. It's just the singing at night that's keeping us up, it's like having a new born, we're EXHAUSTED!

we put food down, play with him until he's had enough, Feliway diffuser- any other suggestions?

I have ear plugs but if they come out his singing wakes me up. I could gaffer tape them to my head...

Will he settle down as he gets older?

Other than that he's gorgeous

Firm when, at night? Yes,we go to bed at 11 ish, he goes into spare room to sleep in his cozy blanky then we shut our door and it stays shut until 5.30am when dh gets up, sometimes he's in and sometimes he's out at that point, usually in so he gets fed then goes back to sleep until I get up at 7.

Is he still classes as a kitten at just over 1? Perhaps he'll settle down as he gets older as mentioned up thread.

You could try sewing a massive wadge of catnip into a pillow/ teddy bear and place it somewhere in the house veeeeeeery far away from your bedroom. He'll then cuddle the cushion/teddy and drift away across the universe?

OOH OOH OOOOH! Just thought of another suggestion! I bought my cats those microwaveable hot water bottle things (but they have oats in them I think, not water). And they were just in ecstasy cuddling up to them. I think a combo of hot-oat-thing and catnip might make him sleep though? Gotta be worth a try.

Good idea!! I will make a little cat nip pillow and I have a wheat bag.

Unfortunately, due to the layout of the house wherever he is he sounds really loud- like a Siamese, gutteral miaow unless he's singing, then he sounds like an opera singer

Ah. So he's fed/rewarded in the middle of the night? Maybe even with a bit of affection/attention from DH?

Dh gets up at 5.30 for work. He's always been fed then even when he was just visiting for food and didn't come in, so that's not a new thing.

Food is 5.30am , about 5pm and food left down before bed.

He's singing like crazy now because it's raining

At 5.30 am dh puts food down and that's it as if he starts talking to him the cat responds and the rebuild house is awake, so it's very much food down and that's it and cat either goes out or stays in and guess to sleep again. Sometimes he's out when dh gets up but usually he's in.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions so far

Rebuild? Whole house!

You need to film/ record him. I would DIE to see him in full operatic flow.

I have another suggestion! I bought my eldest tom this light up dance mat thing a few years ago. He loves it and it keeps him quietly distracted: www.amazon.com/Petstages-Flashing-Firefly-Play-Cats/dp/B003K07J6A

Think this might be starting to tell you about how spoiled my cats are.

Just realised that I've never put mine on his light up mat whilst he's under the influence. That could be a rewarding experience for all of us.

I'm not so sure about the 'rewarding' - 'interesting' certainly. 😀

There's this thing that some people have where they seem to think that saying No to a cat is being mean and they 'won't like you any more'. I've actually found that cats react very well to a clear routine - it seems to give them the structure and security which they enjoy.

I wouldn't feed him at 5.30 or whatever. He's still a kitten really (in many ways - and likely with some baggage after his bad treatment) but at a year old, he should be able to go through till 7 without intervention.

It would likely be two days of hell but he ought to learn the routine fairly quickly.

My eldest cat understands discipline and if I tell him 'no' he gets it, although he flicks his tail angrily at me for daring to not give him a chunk of Boursin or whatever (he's also 'daddy's boy' so conversely, he gets away with everything despite knowing the difference between right and wrong). He's the most intelligent of the three. The other two are thick as bricks and they just don't get it. So I think it depends on the intelligence of the cat. Puccini sounds very bright so I think he'd understand.

I'm fine with saying no, I've trained him not to scratch the leather sofa and to stay off the counter by telling him no.

Wrt feeding- dh doesn't get up to feed him, he's up at that time for work.

The yowling is anything from 2- 4am and not for food and usually out in the garden by the cat flap - which sadly is right under our bedroom window.

That light mat looks ace!

I'm dying for a recording of his catty opera!

Can you put his performance on YouTube?

I can't hang out the window with my phone I will next time dh is away for work and it's just me.

Dh calls ours a Jack Russell in a cat onesie. You honestly do get used to it.

They just like the sound of their own voice. I've never trained ours to do anything, he perfected the fuck off I'm doing it anyway look early on.

Dame

You're actually far better off to hang out of the open window with your phone when your DH is actually there!

Fluffy 😂

Cozie- very good point

Ooooooo we've had a bit if a breakthrough - 2days of no opera!

As he sleeps in the spare room I realised I wasn't shutting the curtains so I pulled the black out blind and the curtains before bed and we've had TWO good nights,not a peep!!! Keeping fingers crossed this continues!!

Very good news.

Maybe he's now found his routine - helped by your pulling the blind etc. ('This is night and night's when we sleep!' )

You're doing something right anyway. Fingers crossed for you.

(By the way, if it's a new routine, he might just test it by letting rip in the next night or so. Hang tough if so. That wouldn't necessarily mean a complete reversion to former behaviour - they'll sometimes just have a go at something to check their boundaries.)

I think he probably sensed my desperation and decided to behave

Ha! My experience is that they attempt to get you on the ropes and then move in for the kill. You've (hopefully) probably shown yourself to be resolute in the matter. They seem to rather like and respect that.

Felixstowe made my cat bonkers and I would never use it .The veto nary nurse sprayed it to calm my rescue ginger Tom down as he Hates car travel he ended up 10 times worse

I just harden my heart, put them in their carriers and tell them to be quiet. And then pay little or no attention to them. They all seem to realise that there's no point in drama and they might as well hunker down and put up with it. Which they pretty well do.