waking me up - solutions / hints?

generic war

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hey guys
Pandora my 5 month old kitten is usually pretty well behaved (for a kitten)
however she has decided that it is her duty to get me up and she will do everything in her power to get me up (mainly getting right up near my face and Licking it or pawing at it) she even does this on the weekends or when she wants me out of bed regardless of how long I've been asleep
She only does this when I am in bed and not if I am taking a few hours nap on the lounge.

I can't put her out and shut the bedroom door as when my older cat Mecha is being naughty at night we shut the door with her in the bedroom and thus she thinks when she is shut in she has done something wrong and gets very upset.


I have tried putting pandora in the bathroom but she meows SOOOO loudly that I end up getting up and letting her out and thus it starts again

I live in a 2 bedroom flat and all confinable rooms are right near my bedroom,

she also attacks my feet ALL night which hurts like crazy and drives me mad!.

does anyone have any solutions other than confining her outside the bedroom?

thanks
 

neely

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Originally Posted by generic war

hey guys
I have tried putting pandora in the bathroom but she meows SOOOO loudly that I end up getting up and letting her out and thus it starts again.
I can totally relate, i.e. Neely was an outdoor cat before we adopted her and very spunky too. We could not leave her in the bedroom with us as she would do everything in her power to get us up at night. We also put her in the bathroom with food/water bowls, toys and a cozy bed but to no avail. She literally would throw herself against the door and was so smart that she would jump up to the door knob. We tried playing with her before bed and gave her some food but that only calmed her down for a short time. A friend recommended ear plugs.
We lived like this for quite awhile and never got a full night's sleep.

For us the solution came when we had to have some major repair work done in our bathroom. She couldn't stay in there for a week and we had no choice but to put her in another bedroom. Fortunately we had that option and don't know why we didn't do it sooner. The room is untidy due to the litter box, hairballs from time to time, etc. but was worth it for a good night's sleep.
 

ut0pia

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you are lucky that putting her outside works for you!! If I put Jake outside he starts trying to open the door and makes the loudest noise or meows like crazy......Sorry I have no solutions for you, I'm sleep deprived due to Jake also.I love him anyway of course lol
 

strange_wings

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Kittens will grow out of it to some degree, though some will still bother you when they're cats.

If you want to be left alone, don't respond to it. Never get up and feed the cat or play with them - this is rewarding the behavior. Roll over and tuck your head under the covers or tuck the kitten in beside you.
 

merindah

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Our 6 month kitten will do this sometimes- especially around 1:30am. She'll meow and walk on us, lick our face etc. I read here to ignore her or she'll continue. I sometimes put her on the floor- even though she jumps back up.
Other tips I read on this site were to encourage a play session and feed a big meal before bed.

Libby also wants us to get out of bed as well, and once we're out of bed so runs off and does her own thing.. makes no sense.


Good luck!!
 

missymotus

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Originally Posted by generic war

She only does this when I am in bed and not if I am taking a few hours nap on the lounge.
Easily fixed then, only sleep on the lounge


Have a long play session before bed, followed by her wet food and that should help settle down.
 

mn086

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I have two kittens (approx 7 months old), they both sleep in a carry case most nights, if they are exhausted from playing outside all day, they sleep on the end of our bed. Anyway, every morning between 7am and 9am, Maggie starts her wake the human up thing, she scratches the inside of the carry case and miaows incessantly, I have done the ignore and turn over thing as I did not want her to think I woudl react to her every time she did this, however it has not worked one bit, I let her out and go back to bed and she either sleeps on the end of our bed, or plays around the bedroom until she wants to go out in the garden and then the miaowing starts again. She has no idea what "weekend" is so I haven't had a lie in since she was about 2 months old! Her adopted sister Tiger just sits in the carry case purring during all of this, and when she is let out she tends to get into bed with me and cuddle or sleep on my pillow. So, I have no tips, have tried allsorts, playing with them, feeding them up, keeping them out running around in the garden all day long but still once morning comes......miaow, scratch, miaow, scratch, miaow, scratch, as one user of this site says at the end of her posts - there is no snooze button on a cat that wants breakfast, I know what she means now!!
 

momofmany

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

If you want to be left alone, don't respond to it. Never get up and feed the cat or play with them - this is rewarding the behavior. Roll over and tuck your head under the covers or tuck the kitten in beside you.
ignore her. It will take a few times of her waking you up but you have to force yourself to keep your eyes shut and not respond to her.

I had a pair of long term fosters that did that to me when I first got them. When I found them a home, their new owners called me and said they were keeping them up at night. Mostly climbing on their chests, licking their faces, and wouldn't stop until they woke up and petted them.

I told them to ignore them. The husband did so and the cats left him alone. The wife didn't and they learned to only bug her at night. Once she realized that she should simply keep her eyes close and her hands away from them, they stopped in a few days.

It's always worth a try!
 

moonietunes

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I have the same problem and I am going a little crazy! I adopted a 2-year-old neutered male cat from a shelter about 6 months ago. He is a very affectionate cat, but he's needy and always has to be in the same room with me, and he sleeps on the end of my bed. He curls up and goes to sleep just fine as long as I play with him in the evenings to wear him out. The peace & quiet lasts until about 5 am when he starts meowing and jumping around, wanting me to get up get up get up!

All the advice I have read says that the only way to cure this behavior is to ignore him. So I bought earplugs. But when I don't respond to his meowing, he becomes destructive and starts clawing my bed and attacking the window blinds. One morning I discovered he had chewed completely through the electrical cord to my bedside lamp (luckily I had turned it off with the wall switch the night before!) So now I throw him out of the bedroom and shut the door. But he sits outside and meows so loudly that I can hear it through the earplugs!

I think the problem is that he knows if he meows long enough ... i.e., until 6:45 am... I will get up and feed him. Because that is when I get up to go to work. So I can't exactly lie in bed all day waiting for him to stop meowing before I get up.

So I am sort of at my wit's end now! I dearly love this cat -- he is a real sweetheart and very spunky and friendly. But I love my sleep too.
 

strange_wings

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moonietunes - Is he an only cat? If so and he's as energetic and needy as you say another young male cat of similar age or even a little younger may be a good idea.
When a cat is the only cat in the home, or with another cat who won't socialize with them they turn to us to fulfill that need. As we've all learn, 5am is just too early for this.



Also, another little hint for everyone on here. If you don't want you cat giving you one of the most shocking wake ups ever... don't leave a water glass on your night stand the night before.
 

momofmany

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

Also, another little hint for everyone on here. If you don't want you cat giving you one of the most shocking wake ups ever... don't leave a water glass on your night stand the night before.
I'll second that advice, particularly if it is ice water.
 

lawguy

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Ally and Ollie have been keeping me up almost every night. They chase each other on my bad, Ollie likes to jump on my face or come purring right up to my face in the middle of the night.

It's a disaster.

I have no idea what to do.
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by LawGuy

Ally and Ollie have been keeping me up almost every night. They chase each other on my bad, Ollie likes to jump on my face or come purring right up to my face in the middle of the night.

It's a disaster.

I have no idea what to do.
Do you keep them in the bedroom at night? iirc you were keeping Ally in your room more due to family.

Get a comforter that's thick enough to hide under? Hows the cat furniture coming along? More/some of that might help. You simply need to provide them with space that's more interesting than your bed.
 

poppy0109

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Poppy wakes me up a few times in the early morning, repositioning himself on me to go back to sleep...he likes to sleep in my bent arm. Then around 4:30-5:00am he gets up and wants to start playing. It never fails, I always need to pee then...so I go pee and then I put his blanket that he always sleeps on in the hallway by the bedroom door and close the door. He's meowed a few times but I completely ignored him and he stops. Then when I get up at 6:30am and open the door, he's laying there in his bed/blanket.

When I had Monti
, I did about the same thing. When he would wake me up before it was time for me to get up, I would close him out of the bedroom. He was more vocal and would meow more but after I ignored him a whole bunch of times (it took months), he started to understand that I was getting up when I wanted to not when he wanted me to. It took about 3 years until I didn't have to kick him out of the bedroom anymore. When he woke up, he wouldn't wake me up at all. I think he would even get in and out of bed without somehow waking me. He slept at the end of the bed.

So, maybe it takes a few years for the cats to make our routine part of their routine...or to understand they need to let the humans sleep
...that is, if you train them consistently.
 

catnurse22

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I had this issue with Harvey when he was younger. Unfortunately, NOTHING helped. But, happily at 7 mos he is FINALLY starting to outgrow it. He settles right down at the end of the bed and sleeps through the night. He doesn't start his "Momma wake up! *lick, lick, bite, lick, make biscuits*" until around 6 or 7 in the morning. And usually if I fed him he'll leave me alone until I get up.
 

lawguy

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Do you keep them in the bedroom at night? iirc you were keeping Ally in your room more due to family.
Yep. Both of them are in my room all the time unless I take them to another room and watch them.

I'll have my solution when I move to my new apartment. They get the living room, kitchen, and bathroom at night. I get the bedroom - door closed.

I haven't gone cat furniture crazy yet. It would cost too much to ship. The problem is more that they run around chasing each other at night, knocking stuff off the desk and bathroom counter and sometimes come zipping across my bed running on me as they go. Ollie has a thing about jumping on my face at night just because he can. I don't know why.
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by LawGuy

Yep. Both of them are in my room all the time unless I take them to another room and watch them.

I'll have my solution when I move to my new apartment. They get the living room, kitchen, and bathroom at night. I get the bedroom - door closed.

I haven't gone cat furniture crazy yet. It would cost too much to ship. The problem is more that they run around chasing each other at night, knocking stuff off the desk and bathroom counter and sometimes come zipping across my bed running on me as they go. Ollie has a thing about jumping on my face at night just because he can. I don't know why.
For now you can make something out of boxes for them to play in, as has been suggested before.
Keep other surfaces clean. As for jumping on your face, my Tomas did that as a kitten, too. I'd hiss at him every time he ran across my head (there was no need for him to do so, he could have easily went around), and if I could catch him fast enough he would be shoved off the bed and onto the floor.
I suggested before, cover you head.
Hopefully you'll be able to move soon enough.
 

tigger_2801

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Jasper was always very good as a kitten, if there was a lot of noise in the street outside he would be restless (including jumping off the wardrobe onto me in the middle of the night because our neighbours were rowing outside) and often I would be woken up on Sunday morning with him flicking his toy mouse down the stairs and thundering down after it (over and over and over again to the point were the neighbours complained about the noise...Jasper has always been a very big cat). But usually if he was free to roam he left me alone during the night. Eventually though I had to start shutting him out, as he kept bringing me little "presents" (several hundred mice, a large koi karp and a live frog one sunday morning).
De however was a different story. She will walk over the bed all night and demand fuss and attention. In the beginning I would fuss her for a while in the hope she would be satisfied and go away again...we soon realised De could NEVER get enough fuss and so this would go on for ages several times a night. We tried shutting her out but that meant she would scream and shred the carpets (rented house...very expensive habit lol) so we had to let her in. Then I saw something on Supernanny that works quite well!
When she jumps on the bed, she gets no fuss, no words or anything she just gets picked up and put on the floor. It takes a few attempts but eventually she gives up and goes to bug Jasper instead. In the morning when I'm already awake, I find keeping my hands inside the covers helps (then she just sits on me). She usually now only does it when we're having a lie in and she's hungry, so we put down plenty of dry food the night before.
 

jcat

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Those having trouble with a cat waking them up very early for breakfast could try using an automatic feeder with a timer. Some are for dry food only, while others can be used for wet (with cold packs) or dry.

I've been using one for Jamie, who likes to eat at 5 a.m., for the past few years, and it has been the solution to his waking me up at dawn, no matter what day of the week.
 

theterribleduo

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Alright I'll add by two cents to this, my cat Skunk..well jeez he'll do anything to wake me up..

1. usually there's an occasion where he will cry loudly at 5am - 6am that he wants out and will not be silent until he's been seen to

2. Then there's the time he put his head in my hair to cuddle at night and cried frantically in the morning because he was stuck

3. I have had my nose nibbled on

4. ..the crashing sound of that precious statue..good morning..

5. and finally when one awakes to wet toes and looks down to find your cat is licking on them and watching you with those beedy little eyes.

So yes my dear friends..I to have been where you are ^_^
 
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