Nocturnal Kitten

We just brought Bubba Jr home last Friday but there seems to be a minor problem. Hes nocturnal. I sleep at night and my fiance sleeps during the day cuz of his nightshift job. But from the time between 3-wheneverI wake up Bubba is going nuts climbing on our heads, biting our noses, ears and just plain being a goofball but at the wrong time of day. We have had Hercules long enough that he knows the routine and has his own schedule down pat. He sleeps with David during the day, my side of the bed is actually his side, and at 1pm I let him out to go play around and then from 130ish-4 when I wake David up Herc sleeps with me while Im on the comp or watching tv. Bubba on the other hand refuses to leave Daves side unless Herc actually picks him up (like a mommy) and brings him over. I was going to use the trick that I did with my daughters when they were babies...Just try and keep him up till he cant stay up any longer. Unfortunatly theres nothing more addicting and stubborn that a sleeping kitten. Ive never had this problem before with cats they have always been up during the day and sleep at night...Im a little baffled...Anyone have experiance with getting their cats off a nocturnal schedule??!?!?!

Tyler

I'm afraid that this is in their nature, since they do most of their hunting after dusk and before dawn, so these are the times of day that they are most active. If left to their own devices they will sleep while the sun is up. I'm surprised that you've not experienced this before, although it is worse with kittens since they do not sleep for the long periods that an adult will.

The only thing you can do is play with him to tire him out before you want him to sleep, and hope that eventually he settles in to your routine!

I was just thinking after checking the other forums I post on for my puppy....Why cant cats be easy to train like dogs...But like some people think, cats are their own "people". They know what they want they let you know in their way what they want and theres no making them do anything they havent gotten their minds set to doing. They are independant creatures, have been and will always be. LOL...I guess thats why I love em so much. LOL...Ive already had to buy two new pillows exactly like my old one hoping that Hercules and Bruno will stop stealing my pillow but nope that doesnt work I just ended up with new pillows for myself and my boys fighting over a pillow..LOL. Atleast Bubba had the good sense to claim the pillow that noone uses...! But he did steal Hercules window spot...

You can train cats to an extent, but you have to bear in mind that they have different priorities to a dog, and that is the main difference. Dogs are interested in the heirarchy within their pack, and their responses to and interaction with other members of the pack. Cats on the other hand are attached to territory and routine. The best thing you can do is make a strict routine of feeding/playing at exact same times every day, and the kitten will, as he gets a little older, adjust to the times you are sleeping and will know when his playtime, dinner time, and bedtime are.

I haven't yet come up with a way to stop them hogging the pillow though, if you find one please let me know!

Originally Posted by Epona

The only thing you can do is play with him to tire him out before you want him to sleep, and hope that eventually he settles in to your routine!

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I agree completely, Diesel and Tucker are starting to settle a bit more at night but still tend to play alot while we're asleep. It's the nature of the beast After awhile you learn to sleep through it, or at least I did

Ive learned that since getting our dog Herc is the Alpha-Male. He kicks a 40+lbs dogs butt and carries the kitten around like hes the mommy...He gotta be the boss man. When Herc came to lay down with me 15 minutes ago everything was hunky-dory we were sitting reading our afternoon book with our afternoon coffee, a bowl of ice cream for Herc tho. Hes not a coffee drinker. Well for some reason Herc started scratching at the bed room door which is right across the doorway of my spare room with my comp in it. I let him back in and he came back about 5 minutes later with Bubba in his mouth, brought Bubba over and shared his ice cream. Herc must have a 6th sense because Dave said he was just about to yell for me to come get Bubba cuz he woke up and wanted to play...I think hes got some feline powers going on...LOL...*Ive noticed that if I get comfortable first and adjust my pillow my way Herc will get settled in right after me and then Bubba will settle. If I hog my pillow to myself both cats move to Daves side of the bed and share his pillow till Dave gets off work then its back to my pillow..LOL*

The happy news is that as he gets older the problem will diminish. I can't say for certain whether he'll give up entirely. His personality has a lot to do with it. I went through the same thing with one of my cats. Funny, I just wrote about it on my blog yesterday. You can read the article by clicking the link in my signature if you're interested. The article is titled, It's Four A.M. Why aren't you up yet?