Kittens are adorable little feisty balls of fur, but they can be difficult while adjusting to a new home. In this article, we will give you a few tips and tricks about how to stop a kitten from crying at night
How to Stop a Kitten From Crying at Night
When you bring a new kitten home, they may have some trouble getting used to their new surroundings.
When you think about it, your kitten was used to sleeping with their littermates, warm and cozy with their mother not too far away.
1. Kitten Friendly Space
Invest in turning your space into a kitten friendly relaxation zone. If you do not want your kitten crying throughout the night there are multiple items that could help. Stuffed animals that warm, have a heart beat, and purr exist for this exact reason.
A toy of this nature was designed to mimic that comforting sound and feeling of sleeping with their littermates or mother, and can soothe them when they are feeling anxious.
Scratching posts, cat trees and cat friendly shelves are great ways to ensure that your kitten has plenty of area to run, play, and occupy their time. Another tip is to always have a clean and easily accessible litter box.
You can make your space a kitten paradise with just a few added touches. Like investing in perches, installing toys and scratching posts to occupy your kitten, and even having multiple comfortable areas that encourage rest and relaxation.
2. Food and Water
Ensuring that your kitten has access to food and water throughout the night is another way you can stop a kitten from crying at night. Kittens have very odd feeding patterns, especially if they have recently been weaned from their mother.
Access to food throughout the night makes your kitten less likely to wake you up with crying for food. You can also try hiding their favorite treats around the area that they will be spending the night in.
By doing this, you are encouraging your kitten to use their sense of smell to track down those tasty treats. There are also food and treat dispensing machines that are available for purchase at any pet supply store.
Investing in a fun water fountain can help, as well as having multiple bowls available with fresh and clean drinking water.
3. Toys
Investing in fun and distracting toys is another great way to stop your kitten from crying at night. Kittens are active and adventurous, and do not enjoy staying still for very long at this young age.
Providing your kitten with ample toys is a great way for them to occupy their time without waking you up at night. There are plenty of fun and interactive toys that are available for kittens that spark their prey drive, and encourage them to exercise their body and mind.
Playing into your kittens natural instincts is a really good way to encourage them to entertain themselves. If your kitten is really crying to the point where you cannot sleep at night, you can try playing with them for a little while at a random point throughout the night.
There are toys available that do not require much work on an owners part. Laser pointers and automated play mats are great ways that you can play with your kitten without actually playing with your kitten.
4. Audio / Visual Distractions
Leaving a television or radio on in the area that your kitten resides in overnight provides a distraction for your kittens, but also lets them feel like they are not alone.
You can play fish tank and bird videos, but make sure whatever you are streaming these videos from is secure so your kitten does not get excited and knock over a television.
There are also a variety of toys available that are screen-like and feature cat-friendly visuals. Certain types of music, like classical and upbeat music is also known to entertain and calm felines.
Placing a perch in an area that your kitten can observe a large space at once could be the trick, as some kittens prefer to be up high and out of the way from predators, and a high perching place may be the visual distraction that works best for them.
5. Play During the Day
If you really want to tire your kitten out so they are exhausted come night time, we recommend playing with your kitten frequently throughout the day. As mentioned previously, kittens are very high energy and inquisitive creatures who love exploring.
You can appeal to their prey drive by playing with string toys, but also investing in motorized mouse toys that your kitten can chase and play with. Cat trees are a really fun and exciting piece of furniture that were created for cats to explore and enjoy on their own.
They come in a variety of set ups, if your kitten enjoys climbing and perching, you can invest in a taller cat tree with toy attachments. If your kitten enjoys being on the ground more than climbing, there are tunnels you can purchase at any pet store that encourage your kitten to play on their own.
Tunnels can be noisy at times, so if you are looking for a quiet way for your cat to entertain themselves, a cat tree would be the way to go.
As previously mentioned, there are also perches designed for cats to comfortably rest on, and you can even get one that is designed to attach to a window if your kitten likes to watch the birds and squirrels.
6. Mental Stimulation
Mental stimulation is a great way for your kitten to entertain themselves, and can help to stop a kitten from crying at night.
If you are interested in this option, there are feline safe scents that you can spray around the area your kitten resides in at night, play relaxing music or rainforest sounds, hide treats, and invest in toys that stimulate a kitten’s prey drive, such as a scratching post.
If your kitten is around 6 months old, they may enjoy catnip! Catnip is safe for kittens under 6 months old, but they may not be able to feel the effects. Catnip can make your kitten sleepy, but it can also make them extremely hyper, so we do recommend testing this method during the day before using it at night.
Changing the toys that they play with regularly can really help boost mental stimulation, as well as changing up and areas that they have perches or resting places.
This will make your cat feel as if they have been gifted with a brand new space to explore, when you really only moved it a few feet away from its original starting place.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed tip an tricks about how to stop a kitten from crying at night.
Keep in mind that bringing a kitten into a new home is a process that can take longer for some than others, so being patient with your kitten is the best thing for you both. Kittens are curious and love to explore, so remember that playing into their instincts can really help to alleviate any crying at night.
