Mimi Crying All Night Long

We had Mimi for about a week now. Predictably, every night between the hours of 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., he will meow his head off. That has caused quite a bit of sleep deprivation for Anton (my fiance) and I. Poor Mimi, moving to a new home after almost seventeen years must be rough for any cat. I feel that he is depressed and must be lonely for his previous home/owners. So I don't blame the cat for meowing. Still, my mood is not helped by the constant sleep deprivation and I been feeling just as cranky as the old cat.

Most experts recommend simply ignoring the cat and letting it meow all night long and soon the behavior will (hopefully) stop. Anton and I have been doing just that--mostly because none of us have the energy to get up at 3:00 a.m. to see why the cat is meowing so loudly. Other experts have also advised us to lock it in the bathroom. However, Anton and I do not have the heart to do so. It seems so cruel to lock a poor, elderly cat into a bathroom throughout the night. I wonder how long it will take before it can adjust and learn to be friends with my cat and us.

I am also quite worried about Mimi--he quite old for a cat and could very realistically die on us. I want her last moments to be pleasurable for him. I want him to explore the apartment and play with the cat tree, not hiding under the bed growling at anything alive near him. Hopefully with some more time, he will come out of his shell.