A bit of new (rescue) cat regret

[JMSA]

16 year old daughter and I at home, as the others have now flown the nest. After thinking long and hard and putting ourselves on the waiting list for a rescue cat, we thought it would be a good idea to proceed.
We’ve had her for 2 weeks now and we’re in love. I have EVERY intention of making this work and will put my own needs last if necessary. She is adorable, friendly, calm and even gets on well with our cat-friendly dog.
She is very needy and that’s fine. She’s also incredibly vocal and it’s that I’m struggling with. I’m of the age now where I need to get up in the night for the toilet. The SECOND she hears me get up, she gets up and starts yowling. It doesn’t matter if it’s 3 or 6 am. I ignore it usually but have taken her into my room for cuddles at 6 this morning. At the moment I am lying on my side with her perched on top, so more sleep will be impossible 🤣 I have fed her. She does eventually settle but my sleep is being massively impacted and I’m worried about the upstairs neighbours. It’s more tricky in a flat (don’t worry, she will be an outdoor cat in due course, as ours is a garden flat), as it’s not like I can lock her away in the kitchen downstairs for the night. She hasn’t been spayed yet, which doesn’t help (she had a litter too recently, but it will be done in 10 days’ time), so is literally screaming the feline version of ‘my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard’ at my patio doors every night!
Due to various reasons, my life was finally starting to feel easier. Just me, my teen and our wee dog. Now it feels like I’ve taken a big step backwards. It’s pretty unsettling.
I promise you that she is very much loved and I will make this work. She has settled very well with us. But I’d appreciate any advice, for a noisy, needy, food obsessed cat who seems to require less sleep than the average. She is one year old.
Thank you.

Mine ripped up the carpet outside the bedroom door in protest! Solidarity with you. We now have outdoor cats only (farm) and every few years a new one turns up and stays. At one point in the spring there were 7 cats. I’ve spayed the 4 that are permanent. Takes time to catch them.

Our rescue cat who needed spaying was similar. She upset one of the fixed resident males. It was a torrid few weeks.

It's all good now though. She occasionally shouts at 1am but only a couple of vocalisations.

It took us (seasoned cat owners) a good 6 months to get our rescue cat (aged 1) into a calm, settled way of living. My advice would be to decide what the behaviour is you'd like and the no negotiations things, and stick to them consistently. It's like a child - they need repetition of love and boundaries constantly.

We now have the most lovely cat, and feel it was worth it. Oh, and talk to the upstairs neighbours and explain what you are doing, but I do think she may be less vocal once spayed and settled with you.

I think the problem will be 99% better once spayed and able to go outside.

Thank you all!
It’s funny, because she’s not really the most affectionate cat. You have to really work to get a purr from her. But in the wee small hours, she’s absolutely full of love! 😂
It’s proving hilarious to me just how different they are to dogs. I remove her from my kitchen surfaces every time, but zero fucks are given and she does it time and time again!
Her tiny little face though (she has stunted growth). I feel cuteness aggression just looking at her!

She will probably calm down when she has been spayed. Have you tried a Feliway plug in - it has a calming effect on cats. There are a couple of different types you can try.

How are you feeding her? It could be worth getting a silo-type feeder to fill with dry kibbles so she always has food on hand, but this will depend if she has a tendency to over-eat, as some cats gain weight with this approach - others self-regulate and are fine. If you have issues with your dog eating cat food that's left out, you can put the food behind a safety gate (that's what we did) - the cat can leap over, I'm assuming as you've said a 'wee dog' that he would be small enough not to be able to leap over.

You do get used to sleeping with a cat in awkward places on your bed. I can drop off with mine perched on top of me in bed!

We had the same keeping our rescue cat in for the first couple of weeks. She hated it and weed on my back door rug in protest.
it will be so much easier for you once she is going out.
If mine sleeps in overnight she’s a menace and tries to sleep on my neck or my side if I’m sleeping on my side purring like a lawnmower, I’ve grown to love it as it’s not every night now.
Its still early days you guys will find a new routine once she goes out I’m sure.

@PiccadillyPurple
She has her own ‘high up’ area that the dog cannot access. Her bed and food is there. It’s his food I have to monitor, as she’ll try to steal it!
I don’t think a silo feeder would be a good idea for her. The rescue staff explained to me that she probably won’t grow any more. So if she didn’t self-regulate, she’d only become overweight.
She was very much ‘sold’ to me as a cat who could take or leave food, ha ha!

If she's had a litter of kittens recently she's likely in season and that's what all the vocal behaviour and night time shenanigans is about. Once she's spayed she should be fine, just be super careful that she doesn't get out in the meantime.

@TheStorksAccomplice

Yes, I’m watching the wee diva like a hawk.

You haven't paid the Cat Tax OP.

Our three cats were all vocal from coming into season at the same time !
Spaying has sorted that completely so hopefully same with yours. Just be patient ( I know it’s hard at 3am!)

Has she ever lived in a house with humans before?
Had similar behaviour with one of my boys and he did settle down. He had simply never lived in a house with humans before and didn’t understand our sleeping routines. He would pounce on feet at 3am, sing us songs, you name it. I started shutting him in the kitchen at bedtime- he had everything he needed but did also need to learn that humans sleep!

We also got a timed feeder and he very quickly learnt that the feeder feeds at 7am and not us. Don’t have to shut him in the kitchen any more either, he sleeps at night as he’s a very chilled boy. God forbid you sleep a second past 7,30 though, he shouts the place down 😂

This.

Absolutely pointless removing cats from worktops. Cats do what they like….!

I would be inclined to leave out some dried food, put this up away from the dog if necessary. I suspect a lot of this behaviour will settle as she settles in. But those early days can be very difficult!

Cat tax duly paid 😁

I've never heard or seen anything like it before we had our adopted cat spayed! We had her a few weeks before she came into season, and it was like she had a personality transplant. She was constantly trying to find an escape outside, peeing on my son's school bag, and the noise! Dear God, the noise! Sounded like she was in pain. It happened over new year and it'll be one I won't forget. We had friends round and it was hard talking due to all the racket she was making. The power of hormones. Since her op, she gone back to being a quiet cat.

Definitely need a picture of that cute face!
Ive got 2 cats and they are awake at 6 o'clock sharp every morning, and if its cold in the night one of them does like a fuss and to sleep on my chest!

Poor little thing has had a bit of a rough past, and from her point of view yet another change - she doesn't know this is her forever home, just a new environment she needs to sus out. Add to that being in season, probably having had to deal with food shortages in the past, and possibly her body still recovering from having had a litter, and you can understand the behaviour.

Spay in 10 days time, then a couple of weeks to let the hormones settle, and she should settle down. In the interim as a pp suggested try a hormone calming diffuser like Feliway, and maybe Zylkene capsules (contents sprinkled on food, so you don't have to force them to take the capsule).

She’s lovely! We shut our boy (and our previous girl before him) in the kitchen overnight or he’d be in our bed at sunrise, shouting for breakfast. It’s a big room with his cat tree, a bed, litter tray, water and his “toy box”. He knows the routine and often will trot through himself when he hears me brushing my teeth.

The kitchen surfaces though. Our previous girl wasn’t a climber and if she ever did go up would immediately get down to a stern uh-uh. This fella gives no shits and after a few weeks of adopting him I figured, choose your battles. I now have shares in Method and kitchen roll.

It’s still very early days for her. She may calm down when she feels more secure.

Gorgeous puss and is that a lovely Cav I see beside her? We had a Cav, he definitely knew his place where the cats were concerned😄

@PiccadillyPurple

He’s my beloved Shih Tzu. He’s very respectful of cats, as our former rescue boy had him whipped into shape!

Try getting a couple Felway plug ins around the house. Poor thing is probably just trying to make sure she doesn’t have to be separated again. Once she’s in the routine of your home It will calm down x

She is gorgeous. A few thoughts:
This will all be much better after she is spayed
If she wants to be in your room, you might as well let her. Otherwise the racket will be relentless
If you don't want to be woken up to feed her in the night, never ever feed in the night. She'll remember forever and keep it up for months/years in hope of a repeat
Practice ignoring. 4 cats down I am a world champion ignorer