11 tips to teach your cat to sleep through the night

Does your cat have an annoying habit of waking you up at night by walking on your face, playing with your head, crawling under the covers, meowing, or screaming? This can be a real problem. Lack of sleep caused by pets has physical and mental effects that last for weeks or even months.

In this article, you will learn how to teach your cat to sleep through the night so that you can sleep well too.

To understand why our cats do what they do, we must look to their ancestors.

The ancestors of our domestic cats (the North African wildcat) preferred to live alone and were nocturnal or crepuscular hunters. Today, many domestic cats retain these behavioral traits, which affects their sleep and activity patterns.

Today’s domestic cat is crepuscular, meaning it is most active in the hours before dawn and just after it has passed below the horizon each night. Discover why feline-friendly wood pellets are gaining popularity as cat litter. In our article, we explore the suitability and advantages of wood pellets for your cat’s litter box, offering insights into their absorbency and eco-conscious qualities.

This means that it is perfectly normal for your cat to wake you up early in the morning or walk around the house at night.

Before teaching your cat to sleep through the night, rule out any health problems.

While cats are naturally most active at night and early in the morning, some also find it difficult to sleep at night due to emotional or physical problems.

Infections, illnesses, and pain can affect cats’ normal sleep and activity patterns. To rule out any medical problems, take your cat to the vet for a complete checkup.

Reasons Why Your Cat May Have Trouble Sleeping at Night

Changes in your cat’s sleep schedule can have several causes. Let’s go over some of the reasons why your cat may wake you up at night. Sometimes it’s not all about teaching your cat to sleep through the night, there are other reasons why this is the case. Uncover the secrets to unlocking ear desires in your cat. This article provides valuable information on how to fulfill your pet’s affectionate needs and strengthen the emotional connection through the simple act of ear rubbing.

chronic stress

Like medical causes, chronic stress can produce a number of nonspecific signs, including lack of sleep. In addition to sleeping problems, stressed cats may also vocalize excessively, appear restless, or groom themselves excessively. This type of stress is common in multi-cat households, often forcing unrelated people to fight over limited resources.

Boredom

An indoor lifestyle of confinement and boredom, without environmental enrichment, can predispose cats to sleep all day and seek their owner’s attention at night.

Relief / Insomnia

Many cats are restless at night, despite their love and need for long sleep. Typically, these cats wander around the house in the middle of the night, playing with toys, and toilet paper, knocking things off shelves, and trying to get a response from their owner while they sleep.

This behavior is usually attributed to your cat’s nocturnal or twilight nature, but it is not always healthy. Insomnia can extend to daytime responsiveness. If your cat has a sleep disorder, a lengthy behavioral consultation and examination by a veterinarian is essential.

Environmental changes

Cats are territorial and their keen sense of smell is one of the main ways they assess their surroundings. Moving to a new home can trigger emotional distress, loss of appetite, and insomnia in some cats due to the perception of a new threat to environmental safety.

Cognitive dysfunction in older cats

Age-related decline in brain function can lead to behavioral changes, such as confusion, poor memory, and disturbed sleep cycles. Signs of the sleep/wake cycle include frequent awakenings during the night, increased napping during the day, and increased vocalizations during the night. It is estimated that this disease affects more than 50% of cats over 15 years of age.

How to make your cat sleep at night

Once you have determined the cause of your cat’s nocturnal activity, you will want to take steps to help your cat sleep through the night. Your particular approach will depend on your cat’s particular situation, but the following tips will help you get started.

Create a cat-friendly home environment

I design an enhanced and stimulating indoor environment that will increase activity, decrease mental monotony, and prevent behavioral problems. The enriched environment should provide opportunities to climb, play, explore, and solve problems without owner intervention.

A healthy, nurturing environment should include scratching posts, cat trees, toys, and places to hide.

Provide adequate litter for your cat

Unlike dogs, cats do not like to nap at ground level, even if they are offered comfortable beds in baskets on the floor. They like to take refuge in hiding places and occupy corners where they can hide for uninterrupted rest.

Your cat should be able to have different sleeping areas in the house, but away from the litter box, food, and water. For anxious or fearful cats, offer additional hiding opportunities with igloo beds or beds with high edges.

A suitable cat bed or heating pad may be needed when temperature regulation decreases with age or during illness/recovery. In our comprehensive guide, we unravel the cat behavior mysteries related to litter box scratching. Explore the reasons behind this peculiar habit and discover effective strategies for managing and improving your cat’s litter box behavior.

If your cat insists on sleeping in your room, place a soft toy, blanket, or scented shirt near his bed.

Respect the importance of the cat’s scent and pheromones.

Cats use a variety of olfactory and chemical signals (pheromones) to communicate with their peers and evaluate their environment.

Use a feline synthetic pheromone product, such as Feliway, in the rooms where your cat spends most of her time and when moving to a new environment. This can help increase your feeling of security.

Avoid cleaning scarred areas on your cat’s face, provide plenty of horizontal or vertical scratching objects, and scatter dry catnip to attract her.

Establish a sanctuary room and a series of routines from the first day your kitten joins the family.

Most cat owners believe that kittens need to be around them at night, especially when they first arrive. This can create an unfavorable pattern for late-night play, excitement, and a complete lack of sleep!

Cats are inherently active at dawn and dusk, although your kitty can learn to adapt her sleeping patterns to your lifestyle. There is nothing wrong with leaving a kitten in a cozy, warm, and safe environment until you wake up in the morning, as long as the room meets basic needs, including a comfortable bed to ensure a restful night’s sleep.

Interactive and hunting games should be part of the daily routine, especially before bed.

Appropriate play should mimic the sequence of predatory behavior and involve:

• Look
• Stalking
• prey hunting
• Chittering
• Leap
• Prey in the mouth
• Dam management
• death bite

Cat toys like DaBird Where Cat Catcher are the most tactile and the most stimulating. Establish a weekly enrichment schedule of new things and experiences to help your cat calm down and avoid midnight attacks or energy surges at inappropriate times.

Don’t be your cat’s only source of food!

Hide food in different places around the house or near new objects so your cat can “hunt” for food. Use the Doc & Phoebe Indoor Hunting Cat Feeder to increase the difficulty of foraging and improve investigative skills.

Create homemade food puzzles using egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, or cardboard boxes. Another challenge after dark is a cat treat dispensing balls with a hole that dispenses dry food.

In addition to puzzle feeders, throw food around the house to help forage while developing problem-solving skills.

Use technologies like programmed automatic food dispensers to distribute your cats’ food throughout the day and distribute food first thing in the morning while you sleep.

cat enclosure

Provide outdoor access where possible, by purchasing or building a specially designed outdoor enclosure, or provide access through a secure garden to eliminate inappropriate play or predation and homing reactions.

clicker training

Clicker training, especially for an indoor cat, will give him something exciting to do besides eat and nap, and will make him more interested in you. You’ll even be able to see a side of your cat that you’ve never seen before, which will also impress your family and friends. Above all, it will cause significant changes in your cat’s attitude and daily habits, reducing his need for constant attention.

Hire a cat sitter

If you work long hours and your cat is kept indoors, hire a cat sitter a few days a week to spend time with your furry friend playing, learning new tricks doing tricks, or walking on a  leash.

Arrange home visits according to your cat’s circadian rhythm. Most cats are crepuscular (especially those with free access to the outdoors), but some cats are diurnal (ours, for example). Pet cats can adapt their pace of activity to the owner’s presence and lifestyle during the day.

Teach your cat to shut up

If your cat has a tendency to howl (loud noises, howling), your cat may have learned at some point that if he vocalizes, you will provide him with food or attention. This type of meowing is a learned behavior. You will need to train your cat by ignoring this behavior when it occurs and offering rewards when it is calm (this can take a little time and a lot of patience).

cat massage

Cats who enjoy being handled and petted will benefit from a Relax Therapeutic Massage before bed to help them relax and fall asleep.

Conclusion

Cats usually adapt their mode of activity to the presence of humans. However, some individuals exhibit nocturnal activity that is problematic for owners.

Cat owners will need to determine what natural or social needs are unmet, address the problem, or accept the reality that their cat’s biological clock will not align with theirs and adjust to preferences.

If your cat’s sleep problem is too much to deal with and you have tried everything, contact a cat behaviorist or applied animal behaviorist in your area because teaching your cat to sleep through the night is necessary.