Cats only meow when they wish to have food, attention, a little extra playtime with their humans, or it might be an early sign of their illness. Before you take action, you have to notify the cat’s owner (who is responsible for feeding, play, discipline), or you have to take some steps for it like doing things that might keep cats away from your yard, etc.
Just imagine yourself sleeping peacefully and suddenly waking up to cats meowing on top of their voices.
This can be disturbing and exhausting as it can destroy your rest time, which can affect your health later.
Does the question arise that why do cats yowl at night? It can happen for multiple reasons, as it may be because of its breed characteristics (breeds like RUSSIAN BLUE have been observed to carry on conversations), or it might be due to serious reasons the cat might want to say something.
Why does your neighbor cat meow at night?
Meowing is very common or normal for cats. It is very common for humans to get regularly annoyed (especially if you are sleeping). In this article, we will be describing what you can do to avoid such situations.
It would not be a big problem if it were your cat as you will be having more control over your cat.
Since it is your neighbor’s cat, you really might want your neighbor to deal with their cats, but sometimes you have a very good or very bad relationship with your neighbors, which prevents you from saying something.
There can be many different reasons for the cat meowing at night time. As already mentioned above, there can be many reasons. Some of them are listed below.
1. They might need attention
Your cat might want to play some more or maybe wants some more attention, and hence they meow to get some attention.
As meowing is the only way to communicate, they keep meowing so that you can hear it and give them the attention they need. As we don’t know what they are trying to say through their meow, we take it as their way to seek attention.
2. They might be sick
There is a possibility that your cat might be sick and may want to get attention for that. Cats can be extra smart in hiding diseases; hence excessive meowing with lack of energy and disinterest in food is enough to warn you about their medical needs or medical attention.
Cats are usually smart, and if they feel that something is wrong with them, they will try to communicate with you through excess meowing.
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3. A sign of old age
Just like humans, cats also get old over time. They get confused and often forget things, it is common with older cats, and as they get older, they tend to see fewer things; hence, they might meow at night by bumping into random things at night.
4. They might be hungry
Your cat might be hungry; hence if he or she sees an empty bowl, it will want to call for human attention (through research, it is found that cats hate to see the empty bows and hence keep on meowing until they find their bowl full with food or water)
5. They might be stressed
Cats often get stressed for many unknown reasons. Their stress might include looking at new people, animals, changes in home interior, changes in human behavior, changes in their food, changes in their schedule, and the list goes on.
When you find that your cat keeps meowing after those changes, that could mean that they don’t like the change, and they are angry because of that.
6. They might feel cheated
Especially female cats feel a lot of heat, and they can be very vocal during that time, and they try to attract the male cat by meowing more excessively (they use it as the way to call the male cats)
7. Maybe “JUST FOR ATTENTION”
They might just want to wave a hi, and hence they meow to gain attention and probable might want to gain some attention for some cuddles or food or attention or maybe some extra playtime, but you have to keep in mind that every meow has its different meaning, and some are probably very easy to understand.
There are many types of hints, like if it meows beside the door and keeps on scratching, then it means it might want to get inside.
Or if the cat sits a bit far from you and keeps meowing, that means that it wants attention or food. If you keep cuddling your cat and if it meows, that means it doesn’t want to cuddle at that time (we all know how many tantrums these cats have)
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How to stop your neighbor’s cat from meowing at night?
Here are some steps that people like you can do or avoid the sound at night
1. By spaying them
As already mentioned, female cats meow when they feel the heat, and hence if they are spayed, it might stop, as they stop facing any heat-related issues from that, and hence getting spayed will make them healthier too.
2. By feeding them on time
As already mentioned, cats hate changes. It might be changed in schedule or feeding time and keep meowing out of anger. To prevent that, you must ensure that you feed them on time and avoid as many changes as possible.
3. By installing a cat flap
It is hard to understand whether the cats want to get outside or remain on their couch. Hence, installing a cat flap at your door will help your cats decide whether they want to stay inside or outside, so it won’t disturb you.
4. By playing with them
Try to spend some time with your pets because every pet loves to have more playtime with their owners.
Some cats long for affection and love at night; hence, they keep on meowing as they feel lonely. (You must keep in mind that your cat doesn’t have a family and is separated from its own family, so either you have to get them some pets to play with or you have to spend more time with your cat)
5. Discipline them
Try saving some money and try to give your pet some train, or you can try to train your cat by yourself by watching some YouTube videos, which are always free of cost.
Usually, trained cats know when to meow and know when not to.
They are trained in such a manner that they wake up at the time when they are trained to, training will save you from all those extra meows which might disturb you at night. When you train your cat, then it might be easier for you to make them shut up when needed.
6. Try to avoid changes
As mentioned above, you do nothing except make them feel stressed by regularly changing the schedule. Stress affects their health and will lead to meowing because they might feel hungry or angry as they do not like changes in the schedule.
7. Monthly scheduled vet visit
Suppose you notice them meowing unnecessarily with slurry behavior lack of energy or having disinterest in the food.
In that case, you must immediately seek medical attention because your cat might want some treatment. She might be trying to gather attention because she might feel uneasy or uncomfortable.
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Conclusion
Cats are known to wake their humans up at unwanted times (day or night doesn’t matter). Maximum time, if a cat is meowing nonstop at night, that means it’s an alarm to something, but if it is harming your sleep or is causing disturbance to your rest time, it might be the best thing to make it stop. Before you take action, make sure to contact the owner first.
Hi There, AJ Oren here. I am the founder of this amazing pet blog & a passionate writer who loves helping pet owners to learn more about their pets through my articles. I am also the content manager of this blog. I have experience in pet training and behavior, sheltering, and currently working for a veterinary clinic.