WE need Sleep, Please Help.

anthonyd1 · Oct 18, 2007

7 Month Old Ninook and Samson are very good cats, both male. We got Samson for Nninook and for us b/c we thought that it would stop Ninook from waking us up every morning between 3 and 6am. He will cry at the bedroom door for hours until we let him in and then he will come in and hanfg out then leave. When Samson arrived he stopped for awhile but now continues to crave attention again. We are home From 6pm on and in bed by 9-10pm we give them alot of attention in the evenings and weekends. THis needs to stop. We have tried leaving the door open in the middle of the night. He will just get in our face and jump across our legs during different periods of the night.

Play with every piece of furniture in the bedroom. What do we do to stop this behavior.?? We need to get our rest.

yayi · Oct 18, 2007

Be consistent and patient. Keep Ninook and Samson out of the bedroom and do not let them in. Wear earplugs if you have to and be ready to have your door scratched so put some sort of temporary cover on it. Cats are very persistent animals specially if they know they can have their way in the end.
However, in time they will learn that once you enter your bedroom you are incommunicado and leave you alone.

tarasgirl06 · Oct 18, 2007

Well, experts say a good play session a short time before you go to bed will help tire your cats out -- maybe an hour before bed, and with an interactive "fishing pole" type toy such as DaBird, Feline Flyer, or similar; or a cat-safe laser pointer toy bought at a "pet" store. Personally, I love to have my cats sleep with me, so the door is always open. Try playing with them like this; and maybe other TCS members will have some more advice for you. Good luck! and may you all get good rest.

kittkatt · Oct 18, 2007

Originally Posted by Tarasgirl06

Personally, I love to have my cats sleep with me, so the door is always open.

I would suggest just leaving the door open: cats always want what they can't have.

If they think they can come in at any time, it probably won't bother them as much, and they'll eventually give up and leave you alone!

A good play session before bedtime is a good idea too. If you wear them out, they probably won't want to pester you during the night.

Geronimo was a "pest" when we first got him: he'd bug us half the night!

he outgrew his "neediness" in a couple of weeks, and now he doesn't bother us at all.

~KK~

renovia · Oct 18, 2007

Hey there,

You are the lucky owner of two normal cats!!!!! Yeah for you!

Like others said, a hard play session before bed and I've also heard that having a bit of wet food after the session is good too.

If you leave your door closed they might be lonely and just want to come in and see you.

You can try isolating them in a certain room with lots and lots of play things just for cats, to make the night fun for them.

This behavior is completely normal and DH and I have resolved ourselves to never actually sleeping in again.

We do our best to ignore them unless it is close to 6am, then we just get up and feed them and then go back to bed.

Our night is usually:

we go to bed
cats rumble around the house
we shut our door
it gets quiet
we open our door (we get up and use the bathroom alot in the night)
they come in to sleep
4am Luxor gets up
we shut him out
5am Stoli gets up
we shut him out
sometime between 4.55 and 6 Luxor wants us up.
Luckily DH gets up at 5 on the weekdays so he gets fed.

Be patient, be consistent. It really stinks for a while. They eventually grow out of it.
Others have suggested putting a vacuum in front of your shut door and run the plug under the door. Leave the vacuum turned 'on'. when the cat(s) meows, plug the vacuum in for 2 seconds then unplug it. go back to bed.

haven't had to resort to that though.

urbantigers · Oct 19, 2007

Originally Posted by Anthonyd1

He will cry at the bedroom door for hours until we let him in

That's your problem - he cries and you let him in. If you ignore him for a while first you are probably making it worse than if you responded immediately as you're giving him the message that a few cries wont work but if he persists and steps it up a bit his humans respond by opening the door! I agree with what others have said - be consistent. If you dont' want him in your bedroom, ignore him all the time even though that's difficult. He needs to learn that crying at the door will achieve nothing. Maybe you can put something against the door so that he can't get too close? Or can you shut him in another room so that there's more than one door between him and the bedroom?

Other things to try are giving him a good workout before bed to tire him out then something to eat. Do you leave food down overnight? You could try leaving food in an auto feeder for about 5am in case he's wanting food. If you're in bed by 9-10pm and he's waking you up about 4am or sometimes later, you are expecting him to be quiet for quite a long time considering he's still a kitten. After 6 hours or so he's probably all rested up and ready to go. He should get better as he gets older.

I do sympathise with the lack of sleep as I have a nearly 2 year old who is hyper at night and after having sleepless nights for a year and a half I'm finally managing to get 6 hours a night before he wakes up (courtesy of the dark mornings I think!).

epona · Oct 19, 2007

When we first got Sonic he would wake us every morning at 6am wanting to play. Pawing at our faces, going under the covers and pawing at our hands, and dropping toys on our faces. We 'battened down the hatches' and were consistent about it - blankets over our heads, just completely ignoring him. I'm not going to pretend it was easy lying awake on a Sunday morning with the covers tight over our heads and a small but determined kitten trying to dig his way in and jumping up and down on us - but it did work.

After about 2 weeks he eventually resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to get any interaction with us until WE decided to get up, and he started sleeping later too. Nowadays I can wake up at 10am on a Sunday with Radar curled up on the chair next to the bed, and Sonic curled up in bed - both of them asleep. No attempts to wake us up. I think another thing that helps is if you don't feed them straight away after getting up - if you do, they associate you getting up with them getting food, and they may try to bring it forward by an hour by getting you up earlier! So don't let them link the two events.

strange_wings · Oct 19, 2007

We have a big window with window seat behind our bed, which we've covered with blinds, a blanket, and dark curtains - otherwise the room would be extremely hot (south window). However, I've made it so the cats can get in it but still keep the light out of the room.

Why am I mentioning this? Because it is the boys favorite hang out spot and the only way they have figured out to get to it is to take the short cut, across us in bed. We're used to being ran over, stood on, tails and cat butts in our faces, etc. It's amazing what you can learn to sleep through.

And that's my only suggestion. Leave the door open and let the 'newness' of what they may consider a new play area to wear off. You'll still be bothered but likely less than you are now, and you can always try the snuggle method - Cat runs over you and you reach out and tuck them up to you for a nap. If he doesn't like it he'll leave you alone, for a little while.

renovia · Oct 19, 2007

"I think another thing that helps is if you don't feed them straight away after getting up - if you do, they associate you getting up with them getting food, and they may try to bring it forward by an hour by getting you up earlier! So don't let them link the two events."

Oh my GOD that is BRILLIANT!~

raggiekitty · Oct 19, 2007

"I think another thing that helps is if you don't feed them straight away after getting up - if you do, they associate you getting up with them getting food, and they may try to bring it forward by an hour by getting you up earlier! So don't let them link the two events."

Oh my GOD that is BRILLIANT!~

Yes it is! It just so happens that this morning I decided to wait a while to feed Zoe (just because I've been feeding her twice in a short time before I go to work and the first morning meal she takes a few bites and wastes the rest, so I decided she could wait a while...have one meal...and hopefully I won't be throwing it away!).
But this just makes soooo much sense to not let them associate getting us up with food! How simple and yes BRILLIANT!

mezlo · Oct 19, 2007

Originally Posted by Anthonyd1

7 Month Old Ninook and Samson are very good cats, both male. We got Samson for Nninook and for us b/c we thought that it would stop Ninook from waking us up every morning between 3 and 6am. He will cry at the bedroom door for hours until we let him in and then he will come in and hanfg out then leave. When Samson arrived he stopped for awhile but now continues to crave attention again. We are home From 6pm on and in bed by 9-10pm we give them alot of attention in the evenings and weekends. THis needs to stop. We have tried leaving the door open in the middle of the night. He will just get in our face and jump across our legs during different periods of the night.

Play with every piece of furniture in the bedroom. What do we do to stop this behavior.?? We need to get our rest.

I'm going through almost exactly the same thing with Junior (8 mo) except that he sleeps on my bed with me. I keep pretty much the same hours you do and Junior is up and about between 4-6am. What makes it worse is whenever I move during the night, Junior sits down on top of me and won't leave until I pet him for a few minutes. It doesn't matter how often I push him off or which way I turn, he will persist until I've given him some attention. He also insists on sticking his butt in my face.

I like the suggestion to not feed him right after I get up. However, I'm a light sleeper and it's usually Junior making noise outside the bedroom that wakes me up, not anything Junior does directly towards me.

Mez

anthonyd1 · Oct 19, 2007

I am also a very light sleeper. I like the idea of not feeding them right away in the morning. It makes total sense. Feeding then should be the last thing we do before leaving house. I also love the vacuum idea, b/c it is the one thing they don't really like in the house. It just seems that ninook just wants to come in and be pet. Not eat

sohni · Oct 19, 2007

Originally Posted by Epona

I think another thing that helps is if you don't feed them straight away after getting up - if you do, they associate you getting up with them getting food, and they may try to bring it forward by an hour by getting you up earlier! So don't let them link the two events.

I learned this one when I fostered a greyhound for a year and a half. Of all the dogs I have even had, this one was the most stuck on schedules. I had always fed the animals when I got up, but sometimes I'd sleep later and it wouldn't be a problem. Not so with Arrow, if he didn't get his food at the exact hour he got it the day before, he'd raise the roof. So I started feeding them at different times after I got up, but never right away.

Sohni isn't too bad about food, but if he comes in and tries to lay on top of my head in the morning, then I know he's trying to tell me something. This morning he started earlier than usual.

yosemite · Oct 19, 2007

Originally Posted by Anthonyd1

I also love the vacuum idea, b/c it is the one thing they don't really like in the house. It just seems that ninook just wants to come in and be pet. Not eat

Well, you must meet Bijou. Bijou LOVES to be vacuumed. He'll roll around to make sure you get all parts.

Back on topic, you've been given some good advice. They are like children - if you give them attention even for bad behaviour they know they are still getting attention.

renovia · Oct 19, 2007

how did you do that? Your vacuum must not have a really obnoxious sound.

jenc511 · Oct 19, 2007

Lucy thinks the alarm clock is the dinner bell. It has forced me to wake up earlier, since I refuse to be a slave to her belly, so I make her wait between half an hour and an hour after the alarm goes off before feeding her. It hasn't worked, so I doubt I'm much help. She swats our legs and bites our calves as soon as we're out of bed. She tries to herd us down the hallway to the kitchen, and it's like we're the most cruel cat people alive if we venture into the kitchen without feeding her. She goes so far as to puff up, race around, attack Connie, and just generally act like a lunatic until we feed her. I don't want to wake up any earlier, so I've just decided to ignore her antics. If she tries to wake me up too early, she gets unceremoniously dumped outside the bedroom door, and the door is slammed in her face. We end up doing that about once a week, but at least it's not every day. Right? Sigh.

cococat · Oct 19, 2007

I feel your pain and mine is an adult, an active kitty who lives to eat all of the time and can be quite bossy and talky

It does get better, ignore annoying behavior the best you can, don't reward bad behavior (food is a reward, letting kitty into the room is a reward, etc.).

WE need Sleep, Please Help.

anthonyd1

TCS Member

Thread starter

yayi

TCS Member

tarasgirl06

TCS Member

kittkatt

TCS Member

renovia

TCS Member

urbantigers

TCS Member

epona

TCS Member

strange_wings

TCS Member

renovia

TCS Member

raggiekitty

TCS Member

mezlo

TCS Member

anthonyd1

TCS Member

Thread starter

sohni

TCS Member

yosemite

TCS Member

renovia

TCS Member

jenc511

TCS Member

cococat

TCS Member

Latest Posts

Connect with us