How to Get a Cat to Sleep at Night?

It’s been a long day and it’s time for you to get some rest. You’ve had your tea, watched a couple episodes of your favorite show, and now it’s time to sleep, but now your cat is wide awake and active.

Your cat might be meowing and disturbing you, or even clawing at your door while you try to get to sleep. It’s a problem, but one that does have some solutions.

Ignore It

The first thing you should try to do if your cat is not sleeping at night and keeping you awake is to ignore them. Cats are no different than children in the sense that if they realize that they can get your attention during the night, they will keep doing it.

If you continuously get up to see what your cat is doing and why they’re not asleep, they will realize this. They know that it can get your attention by disturbing you.

Therefore, just like with kids, use the “let them cry” method. Eventually, once your cat gets the picture and realizes that you’re not going to come running every time they meow, they might just give up altogether.

Don’t Forget Playtime

One of the main reasons why your cat might keep you up at night is because they did not receive enough attention during the day, or they did not get enough playtime in, and now they want affection and need to burn off some energy. Your cat might just not be tired, and they might need some quality time with you.

Therefore, to get your cat to sleep at night, you want to spend a good hour playing with them before bedtime, or at least interacting with them, petting them, and just generally paying attention to them.

If you manage to satisfy the cat’s need for play and affection, and you manage to get the cat to burn off some energy in the process, they’re going to be much more willing to sleep when it comes time to do so.

Hunger

Another reason why your cat might not be sleeping is because they are hungry. The best way to avoid this from occurring is to ensure that you maintain a strict feeding schedule. Cats are creatures of routine and they quickly get used to doing things a certain way at certain times.

Therefore, to ensure that your cat is not hungry in the middle of the night, feed them a meal later in the evening. This should prevent the cat from waking you up out of hunger until it comes time for breakfast in the morning. More important than when you feed the cat is that you maintain a strict routine.

Make Sure the Litterbox is Clean

Something that cats really hate is having to do their business in a dirty litterbox. If you fail to maintain a clean litterbox and it is full of waste when bedtime hits, your cat may not be sleeping because they’re looking for a place to go to the bathroom, a place other than a smelly and dirty litterbox. Cleaning the litterbox before bedtime may help with getting the cat to sleep.

A Good Perch or Bed

Cats like to be able to survey their surroundings and look down from above, while also being comfortable. Getting your cat a soft perch to sleep on top of during the night could be enough to get your cat to stop bothering you while you’re trying to rest.

Conclusion

Something else to keep in mind is that cats are somewhat nocturnal, and they like to hunt at night. After all, there is a reason why they have eyes designed to see in the night. Simply put, there may not be all that much you can do to get your cat to sleep at night.