Hi,
I'm new to this and my user name is my German Shepherd Kiva who lived to 13. I hope this isn't too long and thank you for reading it. Anyway, I adopted a very young kitten from a shelter a month ago, and although his tag said he was 9 weeks old at the time, I now realize he was more like 5 or 6 weeks old. Even now, a month later, other 9 week old kittens are bigger than he is. (Although he is growing like a weed now!)
He is so sweet and gets tons of love every day from myself and my 3 teenagers. I work from home so he is not alone during the day very much. He's definitely the prince of our household. But the problem is he won't let me sleep. And I need to because I am the single working mom of three, plus I have an auto-immune problem that acts up when I'm not sleeping. Our kitty, Javier (so romantic, my daughter named him), wants to suck on my neck all night. I understand why, and in the beginning let him because he was so tiny and I felt so sorry for him. I even tried getting a kitty bottle, but he wouldn't suck on the nipple even after dipping in it milk. But now, I can't take it anymore so am just not letting him. I wear scarves around my neck, and turtlenecks, etc. He gets frustrated, but is easily distracted during the day. He just jumps off and goes to play.
But at night, when I'm in bed, he roots around madly trying to find a way inside my neck coverings and when he finally does sleep, he wants to get in there right under my neck stretched out alongside the pillow so I can't move without waking him up and starting the process all over again. Sometimes he will start to suck one of my fingers that I am using to cover my neck on top of the fabric. He's relentless!
I know he wants to get as close to possible and I love him so much, but I need to sleep! So I've been putting him in our bathroom at night with a fuzzy bed, his food and water, a litter box etc. When I'm not around and he's sleepy, he sucks on the edges of his bed. I even tried putting his fuzzy bed on my bed thinking that would work, but it didn't. I wish so much that he could sleep with me, I had a cat previously for 18 years who slept with me every night under the covers curled up next to my stomach. But Javier wants to sleep either across my face, under my neck, or sucking on it - purring like mad. I also tried getting another kitten (twice), but it didn't work because they fought so much, and I don't have the physical space or emotional energy to keep them separate for a week, or however long it will take. Thank goodness I was able to give them back to their original families both times. So I don't even want to try that again.
I have considered putting lemon juice on my neck or something he would hate. But I don't want him to find all of me distasteful! Am I cruel for leaving him in the bathroom all night? He doesn't meow anymore, I actually think he might sleep most of the night in his little bed. But in the morning, he is frantic, wanting to suck more than ever. I try to distract him by showing him what's outside the window, feeding him, etc. But he runs back to me for his "morning suck." Which I'm not allowing. He is SO intent.
What if he doesn't outgrow this? I hate the idea of keeping him in the bathroom for the rest of his life. And, if I let him have the whole house, he meows and bangs on my door or the door of my kids who also need their sleep. We even tried to put a kiddy door across the bottom of the stairs that we used at one time for our dog, but it has holes in it and he crawled right over it. HELP! And thanks so much for reading all this.
Kiva 13
I'm new to this and my user name is my German Shepherd Kiva who lived to 13. I hope this isn't too long and thank you for reading it. Anyway, I adopted a very young kitten from a shelter a month ago, and although his tag said he was 9 weeks old at the time, I now realize he was more like 5 or 6 weeks old. Even now, a month later, other 9 week old kittens are bigger than he is. (Although he is growing like a weed now!)
He is so sweet and gets tons of love every day from myself and my 3 teenagers. I work from home so he is not alone during the day very much. He's definitely the prince of our household. But the problem is he won't let me sleep. And I need to because I am the single working mom of three, plus I have an auto-immune problem that acts up when I'm not sleeping. Our kitty, Javier (so romantic, my daughter named him), wants to suck on my neck all night. I understand why, and in the beginning let him because he was so tiny and I felt so sorry for him. I even tried getting a kitty bottle, but he wouldn't suck on the nipple even after dipping in it milk. But now, I can't take it anymore so am just not letting him. I wear scarves around my neck, and turtlenecks, etc. He gets frustrated, but is easily distracted during the day. He just jumps off and goes to play.
But at night, when I'm in bed, he roots around madly trying to find a way inside my neck coverings and when he finally does sleep, he wants to get in there right under my neck stretched out alongside the pillow so I can't move without waking him up and starting the process all over again. Sometimes he will start to suck one of my fingers that I am using to cover my neck on top of the fabric. He's relentless!
I know he wants to get as close to possible and I love him so much, but I need to sleep! So I've been putting him in our bathroom at night with a fuzzy bed, his food and water, a litter box etc. When I'm not around and he's sleepy, he sucks on the edges of his bed. I even tried putting his fuzzy bed on my bed thinking that would work, but it didn't. I wish so much that he could sleep with me, I had a cat previously for 18 years who slept with me every night under the covers curled up next to my stomach. But Javier wants to sleep either across my face, under my neck, or sucking on it - purring like mad. I also tried getting another kitten (twice), but it didn't work because they fought so much, and I don't have the physical space or emotional energy to keep them separate for a week, or however long it will take. Thank goodness I was able to give them back to their original families both times. So I don't even want to try that again.
I have considered putting lemon juice on my neck or something he would hate. But I don't want him to find all of me distasteful! Am I cruel for leaving him in the bathroom all night? He doesn't meow anymore, I actually think he might sleep most of the night in his little bed. But in the morning, he is frantic, wanting to suck more than ever. I try to distract him by showing him what's outside the window, feeding him, etc. But he runs back to me for his "morning suck." Which I'm not allowing. He is SO intent.
What if he doesn't outgrow this? I hate the idea of keeping him in the bathroom for the rest of his life. And, if I let him have the whole house, he meows and bangs on my door or the door of my kids who also need their sleep. We even tried to put a kiddy door across the bottom of the stairs that we used at one time for our dog, but it has holes in it and he crawled right over it. HELP! And thanks so much for reading all this.
Kiva 13
