Hi all
I am desperate for some advice if anyone has any ideas!
I got my cat about 3 years ago when he was around 6 months old. He was a rescue, was underweight and a bit neglected, and it turns out he is deaf after having health problems as a tiny kitten. This means he has a very loud mew and purr. Over the last couple of years we have developed a really strong bond and I absolutely adore him. If I'm watching telly he will come and sit behind my head like a pillow, and he will spend the night curled up on the bottom of my bed.
Or at least he did until recently. I moved house a couple of months ago, and after a month or so of being terrified of life, he's back to normal during the day and evenings but - he has started howling between 4 and 5 every night. It's horrendous - it lasts for at least half an hour and quite often involves him pouncing on my hands, feet and head. If I put him out of my bedroom, he scratches on the door and keeps howling.
I don't know what to do. I have plugged in a feliway, set a timer for his breakfast for dawn (the vet suggested it may be that as my new house is much brighter than my old one), he has lots of catnip toys, scratching posts and ping pong balls to play with, and he gets his bedtime supper in a food dispenser ball so he has to "play" with that before bed. We play with a laser pen on an evening, and I have bought those feather on a string toys but he's never shown much interest (the vet thinks because he was under stimulated and neglected as a little kitten) in any of it except the food ball to be honest. I have to keep him in the house because he is deaf and is prone to eye and ear infections from having cat flu before I rehomed him.
But none of it is working and he's still howling and scratching me and I'm absolutely exhausted from a couple of months of broken sleep and worrying that he's not happy. The frustrating thing is that he will eventually calm down and curl up purring with me - and sleep until I get up!
If anyone has any ideas or words of wisdom I would be very grateful!
Thanks 