Hello, me and my partner have had our cat for 3 years now. Our cat is very timid and scared of everyone and everything, so she doesnt go out much. Well i say 'much' bt the furthest she goes is basically in our back garden for 5 mins once in a blue moon. So basically shes an indoor cat. Through the day she has the full house to herself whilst we are at work. Since day 1 of having her, she has slept in our bedroom, either under the bed or on the bottom of our bed near our feet. Now i am due to have our first baby in literally days so about 3 months ago we decided to let the cat sleep downstairs. We thought by now she would have got used to being downstairs by herself but she hasnt. We close the sitting room door so she cant follow us but all night she scratches the door and cries to get out. Its not like im locking her in one tiny room, she actually has the whole bottom floor of the house to run around/sleep/eat in. Im just after some advice how i can make her stop crying and scratching at the door before our baby arrives. I would love to have just one undisturbed nights sleep before little one is here. Thanks

Hi, I'm really surprised after three months that she hasn't settled downstairs, I would say be persistant and ignore her and she will get used to the routine and accept it. But it sounds like you have and she hasn't.

You could try putting a feliway plug in in the living room - not a bad idea anyway when a big change is expected. I would make her a bed with a heat pad in it, maybe leave a radio on low so she hears talking in the background and never react to her cries or scratching. You could try lots of playing with her and wearing her out when are around so she is tired at bedtime.

If all else fails you could try a dog crate at night, with bed litter tray and food and water in it, but she might still make her disatisfaction known.

The timing is wrong with your little one on the way, but another cat/kitten might have helped so she had company.

My very timid cat adapted well to the birth of my babies, but I did have another cat for company. I expect you will need to keep reassuring her with lots of cuddles in the day, but she needs to accept that she is downstairs at night now.

All the best for your imminent arrival.

Put a tea towel or something in your bed tonight and lay on that, then tomorrow you can put that in her bed/sleeping place downstairs so she has your familiar and comforting scent on something. Id suggest then having another one in your bed so you can replace it in a few days with a newly scented one.

You may find that helps a lot.
Do you feed her before bed? I notice that my kitten generally has a good feed then sleeps well on a full tum overnight.

Congratulations and all the best with the baby.

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