My cat keeps me awake at night. What can I do to get him to sleep?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Male | neutered | 1 year and 6 months old
My cat is keeping me up at night. Any suggestions? scratches, meows, and attacks our other cat. I play with him before bed. Vet says healthy.
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on November 7th, 2016
Unfortunately, this is a very common problem - it's normal for cats to be awake and active during the night, since they are nocturnal animals. There are a few things you can do to help. First, try and provide something for Bixby to do at night while you're sleeping - I really like food puzzle toys for this purpose, like a Kibble Nibble or Eggcersizer. You can pick up his food bowl a few hours before bed, and give him the toy with kibble in it at bedtime. He will need to roll it around to get bits of food to fall out, one piece at a time, which should help to keep him occupied with something fairly quiet during the night. You can also try giving him a natural calming supplement like Composure before bed to see if this helps. Finally, I would recommend closing your bedroom door to keep him out of your room at night, and using a white noise machine or something similar to help block out any noise from other parts of the house so that you can sleep.
2Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on September 11th, 2017
Cats are naturally nocturnal, so we have to remember that Louie is doing something that is normal for him. He likely has been used to being outside hunting at night, so I think your best option will be to figure out how to allow him to "hunt" inside at night. You may have to get creative with how you do this. My first suggestion would be to have him "hunt" for his food at night. Here is a great product that can help you teach him to do that. https://docandphoebe.com If you currently leave food out for him, start to transition him to meal feeding, then using that product. I think it could work great for him. You could also try using feeding/treat balls during the day, but they are louder and may not work as well when you are sleeping. I would also look at this website for some ideas to stimulate him. https://indoorpet.osu.edu/cats I hope that helps! Good luck! Thanks for using PetCoach.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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