My cat wont let me sleep

brennie369

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Hi all. I have a darling kitty that I love dearly, but she has this one issue that I need help with.

When I sleep at night, she incessantly paws & scratches at the blinds & I can't get her to stop! It's not the normal "let me get under them so I can sit in the window sill" pawwing. It's like obsessive-compulsive behavior, & it's only when I'm sleeping.

The head of the bed is up against the window. I tried moving the bed to the center of the room. She still does it. So I nailed a blanket all around the window. Now she climbs the blanket & still paws at the blinds through the blanket.

I tell her "no". It doesn't work. I yell. It doesn't work. I put her outside the room & close the door. This affords me about an hour of sleep, then she starts constantly pawwing & scratching on the door and at the doorknob, so I ket her in, worried that locking her out would cause more problems.

As SOON as she's back in, she's back at it. And she runs back & forth across the bed, meowing constantly while she's pawwing at the blinds.

We're in a two story & there's no other cats out there, plus she's spayed. She never freaks out like this during the day, or in any other window. Only the bedroom one and only when i am trying to sleep.

Anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? And what would be the best way for me to deal with it? I am seriously sleep deprived.

Oh & also ignoring it doesn't work. She keeps at it, not to mention the noise is like nails on a chalk board to me & I just can't ignore it, let alone sleep.

Thanks,
Brennie
 

mycherona

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My boy has been doing this recently as well. He used to do it just to get behind the blind to look out the window, but more recently he is just doing it to make noise and get me up, I think. I have been trying leaving the blind up about 10 inches or so, so that he can look outside...and that seems to help *most* of the time. He's only scratched at the blind once or twice since I started leaving it up a little bit. Usually he does this stuff around daybreak, and I know it's probably bad that I do this, but I feed him. Now, I know that feeding him is just reinforcing his "waking me up" behavior, but it is the only thing that has ever settled him and allowed me to go back to sleep. Ignoring doesn't work with him either. If one thing doesn't work, he makes noise with another thing, and he's even figured out how to paw the light switch just right to turn it on! So, I figured that getting up around 5:30 every morning to quickly feed him is better than attempting to sleep while ignoring all his noise every night. We have a routine, and I'm not sleep deprived...so I say, whatever works!
 
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brennie369

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Yeah now that you mention it, Paisley does this at the same time as well which is JUST before daybreak, at 5. Usually around 7 she calms down & wants to nuggle on the bed with me, but by that time I'm up!


I've actually thought that she's bored & wants me to wake up & play, because she is always near me when we're both awake. I'm her bud... she can't be without me for 8 hours
 

howard

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My cat likes to put her head on my feet so she knows where I am when I'm sleeping so she can wake me up every morning to feed her.
 

denali

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Both my cats are indoor cats and are sometimes let out in the totally enclosed backyard when I am home. My male cat would do this all the time in the past. I think it was more because he wanted me to wake up. He knew that him pawing at the blinds would annoy me and get me out of bed. So I would leave the blind up a bit for him to look out and then he'd start pawing at the one next to it. Once I left both of them up a bit he stopped. This spring however I have my blinds down at night b/c I had a break in during February so I am scared to leave my blinds up while I sleep. But now that it is spring time and the neighbourhood cats are roaming around outside my female cat wants to peer out when I turn the lights out at night to go to sleep and about 5am. She will paw at them until I open them up a bit for her to peer out. I figure it is better to give in then stay up all night with the constant pawing at the blinds. Cats are up while humans sleep and need a little bit of entertainment to get them through the night
My girl cat has boyfriends outside the window that she watches. Last summer she'd run from the living room window to the bedroom window watching the male cats outside. It was a riot to hear her little feet trotting on the hardwoods from one window to the next!!! I suppose once I start leaving the living room window blind up a tad she should be starting up her little trott soon enough
 
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