I am facing something similar and am almost at my wits end. Since the loss of Stanley not quite 3 months ago, Pookey has done OK. His eating ebbs and flows, pretty good, but he looses his appetite about every 3-4 days so I give him a 1/4 to 1/2 Cyproheptadine tablet to stimulate his appetite and it seems to hold for another 3-4 days...



But, now the problem. I have not had more than 4 continuous hours of sleep in almost 3 months. First the loss of Stanley kept me up for a while and my irregular sleep might have set off bad habits with Pookey, but now, every morning between 2 and 4 AM, he starte meowing loudly and continously, non-stop.



I am hesitant as to what to do to stop him. I say NO loudly, clap my hands, slap magazines loudly (loud pop) against my hands and even have resorted to the old method from when he was a youngster of spraying him with water. The loud pop/magazine against hand slaps and water will run him from the room (oftentimes he is sitting near my bed meowing non-stop). But, he'll start meowing in that room. If I get up and squirt/pop again, he'll go under furniture and meow. I don't do it as regular as I'd like as it throws him off balance and his eating and getting back in balance is important with such a loss.



He will stop meowing if he is in bed with me. So, at 2AM, after saying no and his non-stop meowing, I'll lift him on bed with me and he stops after a bit. I try not to pet him too much so he sees it as fun time. It lasts and hour or two and then it starts again. The best I do is sleep soundly for about 4 hours before it starts most nights...



He starts out in bed with me and then wanders around about 2-4AM.



I have a long pet session and play session an hour or two before bed to calm him and get rid of energy. I think the problem is that he was used to roaming and playing with Stanley late at nights as he sleeps soundly during the day (and the minute I get up in the morning, he gets in bed and goes soundly to sleep).



I have to weigh his getting his balance back (which he finally seems to be doing) with my not getting any sleep and it isn't working.



If I shout him out of my room, it sounds like a fire engine wailing outside my door, not an option.



I'll keep working on it... Yawn... I was so exhausted today at work -- and I have a pretty high energy/stress job...
-----
Tammy and Pookey

(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)

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