How to Know If Your Kitten will Cry at Night

Your kitten will cry at night if:

Kittens feel lonely and afraid at night, especially if they are newly adopted. Your kitten also cries if it:

  • Is hungry
  • Finds a dirty litter box
  • Feels cold
  • Wants to play

Keep your kitten warm, feed it before bedtime, and play with it during the day to encourage it to sleep at night.

You are happy to be the owner of a newly adopted kitten, but you might be worried how you will cope if it starts to cry at night.

This article will tell you if a kitten will cry at night, and what you can do about it. Keep reading to know how to make your kitten comfortable at night, and minimize loud vocalization.

 

Kittens Cry If They Have A Need Should Be Met

It’s almost inevitable that your kitten will cry at night, during their first few nights after you bring them home.

Your kitten feels lonely because it has just been separated from its mom and littermates. A new environment with new scents and an unfamiliar territory can be just too much to handle for your kitten.

All these are legit reasons to make your kitten cry at night. Other reasons why your kitten could cry at night are because it is hungry, thirsty, cold, or just wants to play.

As you can see, these are not serious reasons to make you worried, because there is always something you can do to comfort your kitten.

I am going to explain in detail below, how you can ensure your kitten has a good night’s rest. When it starts crying at night, wake up to see what is bothering it, and how you can help it.

Nighttime vocalization is a sign they have a need must be met. Once you figure out what’s bothering your kitty, it will be easier to calm it.

 

What to do When Kitten Cries at Night

The only way to ensure your kitten won’t wake you up with loud meowing is to provide them with comfortable surroundings.

 

Here is what you can do:

1. Place it in a warm bed

A warm cozy cat bed makes your kitten feel safe and relaxed, so it is less likely to cry so much. While still with its mother, your kitten used to get the warmth it needs under her shelter.

It is now your job to make sure they stay warm when it’s time to sleep. Throw lots of blankets on your kitten’s bed, and place it somewhere there is minimal human traffic, which can be another source of stress to a newly adopted kitten.

It’s also good if the bed has high sides to provide extra warmth to your little one. If you don’t want to spend a fortune buying a cat bed, you can use a large crate to keep your furry friend warm at night.

If your kitty is still so young, you can put a warm water bottle on its bed. Don’t use boiling water, and make sure the bottle is covered tightly.

 

2. Clean its litter tray

We may know cats as being fussy when it comes to using their litter tray, but kittens respond quickly to litter tray training, as long as it is clean and placed in the right location.

Your kitten may cry at night because its litter tray is dirty or missing from its usual spot. Ensure the litterbox is clean before you go to sleep.

Here are a few pointers as far as kitten litter tray is concerned:

  • Place the litter tray in a quiet corner away from noise.
  • Clean the tray regularly.
  • Make sure it is the right size; a tray with high sides is too big for your kitten to get in.
  • Avoid placing the litter tray next to your kitty’s water or food bowl.

 

3. Provide essentials like food and water

If your kitten cries in the middle of the night, it could be letting you know that it is hungry or thirsty. Your kitten is growing and needs adequate food to sustain its growth and high activity levels. Its weight may double or triple during the first few weeks.

Feed your kitten specially formulated kitten food until they reach 1 year. This ensures they get complete and balanced nutrition to make them full.

Don’t forget to provide it with a bowl of fresh drinking water. It’s the secret to a healthy cat of any age.

If you are feeding your kitten both dry and canned food, you can feed it twice a day. If its meal consists of dry food only, feed it 4 times a day.

Feed your kitten later in the evening to help it feel more satisfied throughout the night and into the morning.

 

4. Play and affection before bedtime

Kittens are energetic creatures and crying at night may be a sign that your kitty is bored. As crepuscular creatures, your kitty is active at dawn and dusk. So, as you go to sleep, your kitten finds this as the perfect time to play.

If you did not play with it during the day, your kitten cries out of boredom, so they are more likely to wake you up so that you can play. Some cat owners say that their kittens play with their feet at night while meowing.

If this is the case, provide lots of mental stimulation to your kitten during the day. Especially if you always leave your kitten alone, it needs lots of interaction for it to be exhausted at the end of the day. Crying at night indicates under-stimulation and boredom.

Spend a few minutes each day playing with your kitten during the day till it gets exhausted. At night, your little one will not have the energy to play, and thus sleep soundly.

Grab a laser, wand, or ball and get ready for some action. It’s also good to show affection to your kitty, which makes it feel relaxed and able to sleep peacefully at night.

Rub it in places it likes, such as under the chin, or give it a back massage using your hands or a soft brush. All this can be a rewarding and fun experience for you, and your kitty.

 

5. Have your kitten checked by a vet

If you are sure your kitty is well fed, warm, and stimulated, and yet it is still crying, you should go for a vet checkup to rule out any medical condition.

Kittens can also experience mild sicknesses, which can be irritating to them. Teething, for example, can make a kitten uncomfortable, and it may cry throughout the night.

 

Positive Reinforcement to Discourage Night Crying

Our feline friends are pretty intelligent creatures, and they are quick to learn what works for them and what doesn’t. Sometimes you may feel sorry for your little one, and therefore go to check on it each time it cries.

This nighttime meowing soon becomes a habit because your kitten has learned that this behavior always gets it the attention they want.  

If you wake up in the middle of the night to check up on your kitty, you are unintentionally reinforcing the behavior. Train your kitten that nighttime is a quiet period for sleep.

As long as you have already provided your furry friend with its necessities, don’t reward the crying habit.

Your kitty soon learns that its demands are not met when meowing at night.

 

Establish Routines

Cats like routines because that way they feel relaxed and secure. Establish a routine for feeding time, play and sleep. Once your kitten gets used to these established patterns, you can avoid situations that upset or stress it.

Be careful when changing the housing arrangement. Change can cause distress to your kitty, and is one of the reasons why your kitten cries at night.

 

Don’t Sleep with your Kitten on the Bed

Sleeping with your new kitten might seem inviting, but think again. Your kitten’s small body might slip under the covers risking suffocation. You can also injure it as you turn around during your sleep.

Bringing your kitten to bed might also make it difficult to train it routines later. When you decide to get it out of your room to its bed, your kitty will resist doing so.

As we have seen, cats are creatures of routine and habits. It’s difficult for your pet to understand why you are kicking it out of your room when before, you were comfortable with it staying there.

Another reason why sleeping with your kitten on the bed is a bad idea, is the risk of parasite and flea transmission.

 

Writer: Flora Ojow

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