Can San Jose cat’s internal clock be reset so she’ll sleep at evening?

Dear JOAN: I not long ago adopted a cat, Sugar. She is my to start with cat, although I’d had puppies for many several years. I appreciate cats and considered it would be awesome to have a person soon after I dropped my past pet.

So far it is been fairly very good. She is affectionate and uses her litter box. She likes to sit in the window and watch the birds.

The only dilemma I seriously have is that she sleeps most of the working day and then is up at night time. She prowls about and occasionally will make a large amount of noise, which wakes me up. Is there nearly anything I can do to switch it all around so that she stays awake during the day and sleeps at night time?

Alicia G., San Jose

Pricey ALICIA: Have you tried out switching her decaf morning coffee to thoroughly caffeinated?

Though cats are not true nocturnal animals, they are crepuscular, indicating they are most energetic at dusk and dawn. Cats snooze 12 to 16 hrs a day, and simply because they retained a ton of their untamed means and instincts, they like to prowl by means of the darkness and hunt.

Preserving Sugar fast paced through the working day, enjoying with you or interactive toys, will imply fewer sleep in the day and far more at evening.

Correct in advance of bedtime, do a minimal searching with your cat, delivering toys that Sugar can stalk and chase, these kinds of as a toy mouse on the conclusion of a string, which you can drag close to or dangle in front of her.

I experienced a cat that appreciated to stalk me at night time, which was a minimal disconcerting, but we turned it into a match we the two appreciated.

If she’s creating a good deal of noise actively playing with her toys, place the loud ones up at night time and pull out the comfortable, tranquil types.

Dear JOAN: I have a query about ants. Is there any way to get rid of them when they invade a 3rd-flooring apartment, devoid of killing them?

Gail Ghose, San Carlos

Expensive GAIL: If you have a hand vacuum, you can suck them up and deposit them outdoor. Then spread talc or cinnamon at the places where they’re coming in, making a barrier they will not want to cross.

Dear JOAN: This is in reaction to your request for quirky features of cats. My new-to-me, geriatric kitty (16 several years aged, we imagine) a short while ago has begun a new activity. It will involve waiting around in a widespread area to be chased to the bedroom, in which he enjoys to bounce up on to the mattress to be petted.

When he very first began performing this a couple months ago, he would hold out to make absolutely sure that I was subsequent him, and I would try to capture his tail. He would meow and grunt like he was so satisfied, then meow again, if the petting stopped much too soon. Now he understands I will chase him, and it can be so significantly entertaining involving stomach rubs and plenty of scritches.

An additional quirky trait is for him to use his appropriate paw to gently tap me when he feels he’s not receiving sufficient consideration or when he wants attention to be all on him. When he to start with did this, I experienced my again turned to him. He tapped me on my back again a few situations in brief succession, like a knock at the doorway, as if to say “Hey, you are not having to pay interest to me!” Useless to say, it was really efficient.

Alice C., Los Altos