Help! What to do with my cat

[Havifus]

Hi all

Hoping to get some cat advise.

Currently our cat is locked in our lean too overnight, she has her bed, litter and food in there and is very happy.

We are about to embark on an extension and this lean too will be removed.

I need help with where she can sleep, it would be amazing if she could sleep in our kitchen but the times we tried this she howled the house down in the night waking up our neighbours (yes that loud) and our 1 year old. We have tried to at random intervals and it’s the same outcome.

She would love to have free access however she’s very much a hunter and we have had all kinds of animals bought it, alive, dead. As a result we had to put in mouse traps and they had babies in our house near a drain inside. NIGHTMARE! Birds which have pooed all over our furniture

So yes she cannot have access outside. I don’t want to lock her out all night.

Please can someone help me!

What does she need to be confined to one room. Can she not access the rest of the house at night?

Sorry I should have said that she is too loud to roam free in the house, again the howling wakes us all up, she wants to be able to get in and out all night so will keep crying until we give in. We sometimes leave the lean too cat flap unlocked and clean up the dead animal in the morning - this is when she is happiest. She’s a savage and I love her for it!

I wouls leave her have the run of the house, she may howl initially but it will stop. Try earplugs thats what I do when mine are howling outside the bedroom door. They used to sleep on my bed but after months of disturbed sleep I had had enough. They got used to being shut out quite quickly.

If you keep her locked in the lean to overnight consistently then actually being locked in the house overnight won't be such a change in her routine.

Sure she may create for a week or two but she will eventually settle.

We always used to give ourselves treats at bedtime and now they ask to be put to bed 🙄

Does she not howl when locked in the lean too? Or can noone hear her?

Once the extension is completed, is there a room similar to the current lean too that she can have? ie are you looking for a temporary or permanent situation?
If she likes the outdoor feel, do you have a conservatory that could become hers?

Are you against her being outside overnight for safety or just hunting purposes? A shed, outside kennel or garage could provide shelter with outside access? Or a utility room with catflap, and no access to the rest of the house?

I think that may be our only option, completely fine if it’s just the 2 of us but it’s waking up my 1 year old that’s the problem. She’s just very active. Good idea with the treats. I wish there was some sort of cat flap that could detect a second “animal” and stay locked to prevent us waking to a murder scene

Just give her a cess go the whole house and bring her litter tray in and lock the cat flap. Get ear plugs, she won't howl forever, she'll settle down.

@PeonyTime thanks for your reply. For some reason she doesn’t howl in it, it’s all glass and she likes seeing outside, if she wants to go out we just leave it unlocked, we’re not that strict on it but she will mostly out of choice stay in there all night. I am looking for something permanent, there won’t be a room but we do have a garage, I just feel guilty she may not be as warm. I’ll check out an outdoor kennel! Didn’t think of that

Apart from the occasional 3am 'I've woken up and nobody is here, where are you?' yells (usually sorted by saying 'we're in bed, you muppet' and him coming in to have a cuddle nick the spot between the pillows ), what stopped it here was ensuring he couldn't see outside overnight; he was stressed watching other cats and foxes invade his territory overnight.

I stuck window film over the back door, pulled the kitchen blind down and not only did the yowling stop, he switched from being awake and yelling half the night to be a cat who;

Goes down for first nap at 8-9.30pm,
Bedtime - complete with grumpy, bleary eyed 'it's bedtime, why aren't you going to bed yet' look at 10.30pm for a proper sleep on the sofa, cushion on the floor, bag on the rug, middle step of the stairs or end of the bed sleep until 3am,

Then by 3.30am, he's out of it again until my alarm goes off just after five, whereupon he takes up his daily duties with the obligatory bathroom supervision and then a politely shouted enquiry as to the location of his breakfast (and a trip out back to see if Mouseaggeddon is a viable pursuit until the 9.45am morning repose on the sofa).

If you covered the windows, it's very possible she'd decide there was nothing exciting and would settle down to sleep until morning with downstairs to roam around (and preferably access to upstairs with a nice bed and non baby rooms if that's something you don't want).

Honestly you can train cats, they love routine and adapt.

I hope she can get used to it. She’s a fighter too so we had to keep her in as she would get badly injured by the local cat bully. She’s only 2kgs fully grown and just wild but loving, exactly what I love about her. The extension will be much better to stop her seeing outside. She refused to come in earlier and I’ve just heard a cat fight, you can’t make this up. Off outside to get her inside!