We can't sleep!! Mental cats.

mxtine

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I have 2 cats, Ashes (an older girl) and Cujo (a 10 month old boy).

I live in a 2 bedroom condo w/my boyfriend. We have to keep them separate because Cujo attacks Ashes (we've had him fixed; he may need kitty Prozac for his aggression but that's another thread...).

At night, we let Ashes sleep with us in the bedroom w/the door closed. Cujo has to be locked in the spare bedroom because he tries to open our door and it wakes us up. He's 12 lbs of pure muscle and the noise sounds like the house is coming down.

Ashes is cool most of the night. She has her pillow and sleeps...until about 3-4 am. She gets up to eat (crunch, crunch!), use her box (scratch, scratch!), and MEOW. She meows until we "invite" her back on the bed!! It drives us crazy. If we lock her out of the bedroom, she meows outside the door and uses my shag rug as a litterbox as retaliation for being locked out.

We tried putting Ashes in the spare bedroom overnight, but she gets very upset not being able to sleep with us. Then she pees in our room during the day...more retaliation.

It's driving both of us crazy. I need my sleep and get violently angry when I'm wakened by meows and the sound of a miniature panther breaking down the door. We can't sleep through the night AT ALL. Not even with all the sleeping pills we've taken.

I don't know how to deal with this. Is there a way to sedate them? Why are BOTH of my cats problem children?
 

jack31

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Cats are nocturnal. I'm not sure how to handle the situation with two cats. Feliway plug ins may help with the relationship between the two.

We have a 7 month old kitten who has been sleeping all the way through the night in our bedroom for about 3 months now. He doesn't get up until about 8 or 8:30 and even then plays quietly til mom and dad get up.

Leslie
 

white cat lover

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Cats don't have the ablity to retaliate. They're cats!

First off, with the going outside the box I'd get a vet check done, test the urine specifically for tha UTI for Ashes. She may appear healthy, but still have a UTI. (The meowing may be after she uses the LB, but I've had one that was meowing because it hurt soooo bad when she went to the litterbox because she had a UTI!) Is Ashes fixed?

Has Cujo ever had a vet check in the past 2 months? He's 10 months old, Ashes is older, he's probably too energetic for them. He's in his "holy terror" months, all you can do is deal with it, drugging him isn't the solution. Often older cats are not overly accepting of younger kittens, did you do a proper introduction when you brought Cujo home?

Just because they're being normal cats & active at night doesn't mean you can drug them or sedate them. You will have to come up with something that works for you. Have you tried playing with them both interactively for 15-30 minutes before bed?
 

audiocat

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

He's 10 months old, Ashes is older, he's probably too energetic for them. He's in his "holy terror" months, all you can do is deal with it, drugging him isn't the solution.
Forrest is almost 10 months and he is definitely being a "holy terror". In your experiece, can you give me an idea of about when you see this stage pass?
 

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I agree, no sedation please. Cats are noctural and they are most active at dusk. You are trying to change their natural behavior to accommodate your own. They can't really differentiate between playing time or sleeping time. They nap throughout the day anyway. If you really want to quiet them when you are about to tuck in, make sure you tire them by playing with them, or serving them their largest meal. Once they are tired or their tummy is really full, they'll less likely to be mental (also, a phrase which applies to human I think, cat's are not mental, they are just acting cats!)
 
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mxtine

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I wasn't seriously considering drugging them. I'm just frustrated.

I have to take Ashes to the vet for a checkup. I have no idea how old she is or if she's been fixed. My bf found her in a parking lot over a year ago (she's not feral though). She uses her box normally; it just seems she goes outside the box when she's mad at us.

Cujo has had a checkup - we had him fixed 3 weeks ago. He's very aggressive -- this is the one who put my boyfriend in the hospital for 4 days last month. I think he needs medication, so does our vet.

When we brought him home, he stayed in the spare bedroom for a week, with the door closed. Then we introduced him to Ashes, and they played! Later that week, he attacked her and we've had to keep them separated since. He still runs for her in attack mode if we try to re-introduce them.

We do play with them before going to bed, and make sure they are fed and watered. I've had cats all my life and never did they get crazy at night. I understand cats are nocturnal but I don't think I should have to suffer EVERY NIGHT because of them.
 

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Earplugs. Really good ones.

My two are under a year (we think), were street cats, and are (naturally) nocturnal.

I live in a studio. Before going to bed at night, I give them their nighttime snack. Then I find all their toys that they've scattered during the day, so they'll play with them, and not any little stuff I have sitting around on shelves/bookcases.

When I first got them, I used the earplugs. Now, I pretty much sleep through the night. Either they've settled into a routine, or I'm sleeping through it.

The earplugs are the really good kind that are soft and pliable.....rubbery. I swear, I couldn't hear a thing.

My boyfriend, on the other hand is a different case. He stayed over last Saturday night and was really grouchy in the morning. Hmmmm...didn't sleep a wink, it seems. He says, "Those cats really play at night, don't they. And one of them is really anal about scratching in the litter box." Wow. He heard everything. I said, "Well, they're nocturnal." He said, "Oh, yeah. That hit me about 3:00 AM.......nocturnal."
 

white cat lover

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He's still got male cat hormones, he's probably attacking Ashes because it's likely she's not spayed.

You need to get her fixed. It can 2 months for male cat hormones to leave the body.
 
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mxtine

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Okay. Anti-Cat shopping list:
-Da Bird
-Meat baby food
-Feliway Plug-ins
-Earplugs


I'll report back if/when I see some improvements. I will be taking Ashes in for a checkup, most likely next week when the bf gets paid.
 

luvmy2cats

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

Cats don't have the ablity to retaliate. They're cats!
I beg to differ Natalie.
Everytime I shut Popsie out of my room to get some sleep he does something naughty.
 

callista

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Consider perhaps trying to keep them awake in the daytime--that might flip their natural schedules around. Human night workers do it all the time; why not cats?
 

tako

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Hi mxtine

Originally Posted by mxtine

I have 2 cats, Ashes (an older girl) and Cujo (a 10 month old boy).

It's driving both of us crazy. I need my sleep and get violently angry when I'm wakened by meows and the sound of a miniature panther breaking down the door. We can't sleep through the night AT ALL. Not even with all the sleeping pills we've taken.

I don't know how to deal with this. Is there a way to sedate them? Why are BOTH of my cats problem children?
You seem to have a situation that will require Professional help.
There is a friend of mine in Texas that have been working with Cats for a long time. You can find her URL if you follow my signature URL.

Good Luck and be patient. Cats can show jealowsy in that way. Just try to think as if you were a cat.
 

butzie

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Originally Posted by mxtine

Okay. Anti-Cat shopping list:
-Da Bird
-Meat baby food
-Feliway Plug-ins
-Earplugs


I'll report back if/when I see some improvements. I will be taking Ashes in for a checkup, most likely next week when the bf gets paid.
Okay, I admit it. I have been in denial because I have no idea what Feliway Plug-ins are and I didn't want to sound stupid for asking. RIP Brownie was mellow and never complained . Butzie just fit right in when we got her home from the shelter. She just complains when she wants food or to go out at night. First is okay, second is never.

Anyway, if anyone needs earplugs, I recommend Doc's Proplugs.
 

brokenheart

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Maybe you could try letting Ashes sleep with you as usual but then putting her in the other room if she starts making a racket around 4 a.m. Hopefully, she'll eventually get the connection that waking you up means going in the other room, but she won't be having to spend the whole night there. take "her" pillow with her when you change rooms. What with her being a cat, though, YOU guys may have to do the moving to the other room in the middle of the night.


Worth a try, maybe?
 
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mxtine

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^^We've done that, but sometimes when we wake up to move the cat (along with her food and litterbox), we can't go back to sleep. For some reason though, it hasn't taught her to keep quiet.

I've had success with earplugs. You can't hear a war going on with those things...We're able to sleep again.
 

brokenheart

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How old is Ashes? As someone mentioned here or elsewhere on the board, as they get older they seem to adapt to their humans' sleep patterns more. That's definitely happened with my guys. There's always that first cold morning in the fall, though, where they still go batshit crazy!
 

audiocat

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Originally Posted by Brokenheart

How old is Ashes? As someone mentioned here or elsewhere on the board, as they get older they seem to adapt to their humans' sleep patterns more. That's definitely happened with my guys. There's always that first cold morning in the fall, though, where they still go batshit crazy!
Just curious how old were your kitties when they started sleeping through the night? Forest is almost 10 months and he is still waking up around 4:30am. Lilly, who is 4 years sleeps the whole night with us and she too is annoyed by Forrest. I've tried to ignore him, but when he wakes up he talks incessantly, shakes the potted palms, rattles the wood shutters, chews my hair...and a variety of other things to keep me awake.

I'm hoping he will grow out of this very soon. I've not had one complete night of sleep since we adopted him.
I really miss that sleep!
 

brokenheart

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Originally Posted by AudioCat

Just curious how old were your kitties when they started sleeping through the night? Forest is almost 10 months and he is still waking up around 4:30am. Lilly, who is 4 years sleeps the whole night with us and she too is annoyed by Forrest. I've tried to ignore him, but when he wakes up he talks incessantly, shakes the potted palms, rattles the wood shutters, chews my hair...and a variety of other things to keep me awake.

I'm hoping he will grow out of this very soon. I've not had one complete night of sleep since we adopted him.
I really miss that sleep!
I honestly don't remember. All my cats were grown when I got them. The first was a year and a half.He was never too terrible, except when the weather would suddenly get cold and he'd get the dawn zooms, or when I naively fed him his favorite food in the morning so that he started waking me up at 4 a.m. by opening my eye with his paw.

The second one was estimated to be a year old when I got him, but he was very skittish the first year and a half, so he wasn't looking for attention from me at all.

The third was already about 5 when I got him.
 
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