Cat starting to get very clingy

I have two 18 wk old kittens who are both very affectionate. The brother is laid back whilst his sister has always been a bit excitable. They used to be very good and go to sleep all night in the kitchen until I emerged in the morning to let them out. However, in the last couple of weeks the little girl has been scratching madly at the door and crying loudly at about 5am. I have put spray on the door to stop her doing this but she still persists until I let her out and then she just clings to me and wants lots of cuddles. It's getting quite bad in the day too. She's always followed me around but she cries a lot now and needs cuddles throughout the day.

Any ideas why and how to stop it? Thanks

The best solution is to let them in the bedroom with you, affectionate cats do like to sleep next to or on their humans. I know kittens can be a pain with waking you to play at first, but if you are consistent and don't give into their demands they will learn to sleep later, or go play with each other instead.

Of course if they don't sleep in your room because they set off allergies that is understandable and hopefully someone will be able to give some advice - I would think that the same applies and if you don't give into them by opening the door they will eventually give up trying.

I would have to ask why you keep them out of your bedroom at night to begin with? Some people do so because the kitten/s or cats may or do keep them up or wake them up through out the night. In most cases they simply need more play time and affection and closing them out of the room often provokes and causes other behavior issues such as scratching, meowing, destruction........what ever it takes for them to get your attention! It has been my experience that female kittens often need or look for more attentive, physical interaction from the "mom", being you. At the same time this opens up the irreplaceable bond, atleast that I share with my Maia, as well as in the past with Sweety and Pandi RIP, love them both! Many people think having 2 cats is best for the cats, they appease one another. This is not always true, most need that individual attention from us, the provider or "mom".......

Originally Posted by cheylink

I would have to ask why you keep them out of your bedroom at night to begin with? Some people do so because the kitten/s or cats may or do keep them up or wake them up through out the night. In most cases they simply need more play time and affection and closing them out of the room often provokes and causes other behavior issues such as scratching, meowing, destruction........what ever it takes for them to get your attention! It has been my experience that female kittens often need or look for more attentive, physical interaction from the "mom", being you. At the same time this opens up the irreplaceable bond, atleast that I share with my Maia, as well as in the past with Sweety and Pandi

RIP, love them both! Many people think having 2 cats is best for the cats, they appease one another. This is not always true, most need that individual attention from us, the provider or "mom".......

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I believe the bedroom is for humans. Also I am asthmatic. It is not possible for me to sleep with my cats...and I wouldn't want to.

Hey this is suposed to be a friendly site, as long as cats have happy loving homes, we should not judge if a person should be allowed to keep cats!

I am allergic, and I have a cat, i want more but hubby says no although my alergicness is not as bad as it was when we first got him

My cat his a year old and we have had him about a month and a half, he is not clingy, but he doesn't like to be shut in one room or confined, We let him have the run of the apartment, to start with he meowed out side our door, so during the day I let him in to explore the bedroom. you could try that, if she meows to get in to the bedroom while you are sleeping you could try the vacuum cleaner trick, where you have it out side your bedroom with the switch turned on, so that if she meows to try and come in you put the power cord in the socket and the vacuum will turn on, so she associates the scary noise with the meowing and scratching at the carpet. (I read about this idea on here somewhere)

We actually now let mellow in the bedroom with us, to start with he was a pain sniffing faces climbing on things, and meowing really loudly, so when ever he did that instead of talking to him or touching him we used a spray bottle filled with watter, and aimed it towards him (not directly at him), he now sleeps on our bed in the morning after about 5am and he doesn't wake us up, oh and by his choice he sleeps by our feet.

I'm one of those folks that think you are exceptionally lucky to have an affectionate kitty. Some people would be happy to trade kitties with you.

I cannot sleep without my kitty cuddled in with me so I can't relate but I do understand that having allergies doesn't mean you can't love your kitties.

Have your kitties been neutered yet? Is it possible she could be coming into heat? I believe you said she is 18 weeks - 4.5 months.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I'm one of those folks that think you are exceptionally lucky to have an affectionate kitty. Some people would be happy to trade kitties with you.

I cannot sleep without my kitty cuddled in with me so I can't relate but I do understand that having allergies doesn't mean you can't love your kitties.

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I think I drive Maia nuts sometimes trying to get her to sleep with me! Definitely a partnership, she calls for me, I call for her.......

Originally Posted by lozza73

I have two 18 wk old kittens who are both very affectionate. The brother is laid back whilst his sister has always been a bit excitable. They used to be very good and go to sleep all night in the kitchen until I emerged in the morning to let them out. However, in the last couple of weeks the little girl has been scratching madly at the door and crying loudly at about 5am. I have put spray on the door to stop her doing this but she still persists until I let her out and then she just clings to me and wants lots of cuddles. It's getting quite bad in the day too. She's always followed me around but she cries a lot now and needs cuddles throughout the day.

Any ideas why and how to stop it? Thanks

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I know it might be difficult and you might be in for a couple of early awakenings but as someone else said, if you ignore her she'll eventually get the message that waking up time isn't until you're ready! I only let Harry sleep in the room with me at the weekends as he just wakes me way too early otherwise but even at that, he has learned not to disturb me until I wake up. He'll try nuzzling etc but only until he knows I've reached my threshold!

It's entirely your choice not to have the cats sleep in with you; I know plenty of cat owners who believe the cat should have a separate sleeping area to humans.

Originally Posted by lozza73

Also I am asthmatic. It is not possible for me to sleep with my cats...and I wouldn't want to.

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How bad is your asthma? My husband has mild asthma and allergies (luckily not allergic to cats), he has to take several medications a day and use his rescue inhaler some. However the cats' fur has never bothered him when they snuggle up.
There are several things you can do to cut down on shedding and cat danger if that is a problem for you at all - a quick search in the care and grooming section could provide you with plenty of tips.

As for the cats being in the bedroom, 98% of the time ours are sleeping on the floor or the foot of the bed. If you were to put something taller than the bed in the room, such as a cat tree they'd likely spend more time on it.


From the kittens' point of view, they don't know where they mother is and merely want comforting. It's something the girl kitten may very well outgrow in a few months as the need to be with "mommy" all the time lessens.

Oliver and I are just the opposite - I can't go to bed a night without him curled up with me (it's hard if I go somewhere overnight without him... need his or the bf's body next to me, haha)... my bedroom door gets shut at night cuz I'm back living with my parents right now and my mom's kind of allergic, so we don't want to risk Ollie hopping in their bed at night... anyhow, about 5am or so every morning, he usually gets up to poo and eat (litter box, food and water are all in my room as well as elsewhere in the house) then he usually wants out... so he scratches and scratches at the door, sometimes I can just ignore him and he'll stop, sometimes I get up and spray some feliway on the door and he stops and sometimes I just give up and let him out... have you tried using a plug in feliway where the kitties sleep?? Or maybe try "putting them to bed" at night (ie: designating a room that's theirs with food, water, litter, toys, and beds and thats where they go to sleep - not sure if they'd see it as a punishment though,,, thoughts?) Do they have toys available to play with in their area while you're sleeping? Are they used to getting fed first thing in the morning?