Your cat keeps meowing all day? From her little cooing to her long plaintive tirades, you are constantly searching how to answer her calls, how to fill her expectations, but it never stops, including at night. This becomes unbearable, you do not sleep enough and more your nerves are on edge.
What does she try to tell you? Why doesn’t she stop? And how to make her stop?
The expression of emotions
To begin with, it is important to know that cats always meows to express something (you guessed it), but without necessarily expecting something in return.
A bit like we are sometimes groaning, blowing because we’re bored, or whistling happily, the cat also expresses her emotions. So it happens that she may meow just for herself! She also sometimes calling a congener, and of course she meows to ask us for something (since we are providing her with her vital needs, for example).
Many things can push the cat to meow; a state of boredom, frustration, fear of something, or pleasant emotions! We too quickly tend to think that the cat expresses discomfort, while many times it is not. And that’s not counting the cat breeds say more talkative, or owners who talk incessantly to their cat: the more you talk to your cat the more likely it is to hear her!
Quickly assimilated habits
The catch is that if we consistently respond to her meowing, then the cat will quickly associate that with a particular meow, she will get such and such!
For example, if a long meow makes you think she is unhappy and then you give her a treat, then she will again give it a try perhaps many times! And if the answer is the same (ie a treat) then she will certainly make it a habit.
This applies also if you think that she’s bored and you instantly play with her; she will understand that this meow created an interaction, and she will do it again.
And at night?
This is the same pattern that occurs at night. Although some cats have adapted to our pace and have become accustomed to sleep at night with us, the cat, by nature, has a peak of nighttime activity.
The house sleep soundly, but she wants some interaction. So she naturally tries to draw attention: she meows (and/or scratches) and sometimes she gets a “shhh”, sometimes a caress, and sometimes a slipper on the muzzle. Some, to stop this behavior, they get up to give some paté to a delighted kitty. Unfortunately there is a safe bet that the next night the cat will start again, either for food, either for that much-desired moment of interaction!
How to make her stop meowing?
We must not forget that the cat has a very strong associative memory. And we must also know that at night for example, even if the attention she is receiving is a reprimand, for the cat it will still mean an interaction! (That is to say therefore that rebukes are useless in this case as in general!).
This is why the best way to stop this behavior is to not respond at all to the meowing of our cat.
This can be very difficult nervously; lack of sleep (and understanding) makes it a very exhausting situation physically and mentally. But we should stand strong and never give up (especially at night, a tougher situation than the day). Why? Simply because if at “stage 3” you respond again, the cat will receive what she wanted. So if you decide to keep on not responding, then, just to check, the cat will pass to “stage 4 “, higher intensity meowing for example and so on. A vicious circle in other words.
Any behavior that gets no response eventually stops. But a cat is very strong and stubborn! So get ready for a tough week; consider vitamins to help you during the day, and get headphones to listen to relaxing music in the evening, envisage otherwise earplugs, breathe well, meditate and … be strong!
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