Anyone sleep with their bedroom doors shut?

melissah

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This is something as a family that we never did until we got cats. Our door is shut as well as my daughters. It feels kinda weird because I worry if there is a fire etc...

The first day we brought the first kitty home (she is 3 years old & has a bell on collar)she would not let us sleep. She would walk in and out of the room meowing, jump on the bed, off the bed etc. I finally took bell off around 2:00 am. Now we have two cats and I can tell in the morning when I get up that they have played all night...the living room is a wreck. lol.

I actually thought about letting our doors back open and taking the bells off to see how the react. I just can't afford not to sleep.

All I picture in my mind is one cat doing a zillion miles an hour into the bedroom, across our faces and out again


What do you all think? Anyone deal with this? My vet metioned that he had clients that shut their door because of the cats but in winter they could not because the wood burning stove needed to heat the house. So they put a screen door on their bedroom door so they could get heat in the room but no cat.
 

momofmany

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Cats can have the "midnight crazies", but I find that if you ignore them at night, they learn pretty quick to just snuggle by your side and sleep with you. I'm actually the opposite of you. I never left my door open until I got cats. I can't conceive of locking a cat out of the bedroom at night.
 

goldenkitty45

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Nope - cause the Oci boys usually sleep with us, so the bedroom door is open if they need to go downstairs to use the litter pan at night. Its only me, hubby and the 4-legged animals in the house - our kids are grown and on their own.

Added: I don't know if its an "Oci" thing or not, but both of the boys hate when you have a shut door - no matter where it is (bedroom, bathroom, basement). They will yell till you open it for them.
 

baloneysmom

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You could try it. Our cats pretty much play everywhere but our bedroom at night. I think to them its way more fun having a whole house rather then a smaller bedroom to zoom around in. I can say that Bugsy and Capone used to play on the beds but as they got older it stopped and now they only use the bedrooms to sleep with us at night.

Why don’t you try and leave your door open on the weekend or something, one day you can sleep in. Test the waters and see how they react. You never really know how they will react unless you try. Maybe put toys out in the living room, make sure there are no toys in your bedroom.

I’m sure someone will come along and give you more advice. Good luck!
 

kscatlady

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We leave our door open. Cammy can come and go as she pleases, she usually sleeps with us for a lot of the night. I have had to shut her out a few times when she was trying to get attention though.
 

twstychik

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We start the night with the door open but when ever I get up in the night (the first time) to go to the bathroom, I shut it when I come back to bed. If I don't one of them (*cough*Wickett*cough*) will inevitable wake me up during the night. It's never at the same time and it's never the same way, but if I close the door he happily (and quietly most of the time) sleeps on his box and waits for me to get up.
 

tamgirl99

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Well I guess I'm a complete oddball then as I sleep with the door shut, but the animals are all in the bedroom with me. I've always slept that way as I can't stand to have my bedroom door open. It just kind of creeps me out. Plus I have roommates and this way they don't disturb me if they're up when I'm asleep. Both of the litter boxes and their water are in the master bath which is open to my bedroom, so they have everything they need there.

The only problem I have at times with this arrangement is the cats wanting out in the mornings, or not wanting to come in when I'm ready for bed. With my little one, I have to entice her with a treat every night to come into the bedroom, but once there she goes straight to her bed and snoozes until my alarm goes off. My older cat will sometimes cry in the morning for food, but usually it doesn't last long. The dog stays on her bed until I get up.
 

jack31

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Bedroom door open--we taught Jack to sleep in our room at a young age--or rather we forced him to--we shut him in (with a litter box and bowls). But when we moved we opted for door open and 9 times out of 10 both he and Harley can be found in our room sleeping at night--one or both on the bed.

Jack actually used to sleep on my pillow at night, but no longer does--I miss it.

Leslie
 

strange_wings

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tamgirl - I bet the door habit would change eventually if you had your own place.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Added: I don't know if its an "Oci" thing or not, but both of the boys hate when you have a shut door - no matter where it is (bedroom, bathroom, basement). They will yell till you open it for them.
My Tomas is a plain of moggie DSH. He likes doors to be open and will complain and paw at them. He usually has more of a fit if I'm behind that door. I can't have any peace in this house.



An intense round of playtime with cats before bed can help get them to settle down and sleep. But as others have pointed out, ignoring them through the night and just getting them into the routine of sleeping helps.

My bedroom door is left open, and all three cats sleep with us at night.
 

ckblv

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I sleep with my bedroom door closed. The litter box is in my bedroom and Mercedes food is in my bathroom. Mercedes is a good girl, the first night I got her she meowed to get out of the bedroom in the night, I ignored her and she hasn't done that since. She knows when we go to bed the door is closed until morning. She and Jesse (one of my dogs) sleep with me.
Benji mostly sleeps with my Mother and Lucy sleeps wherever.

Plus, in case of fire, it is safer to sleep with your bedroom door closed, ask any fireman.
 

lostmary

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I just started to let Smokey out of the back bedroom at night. The first night she just slept on one of the dining room chairs. I think she may have come into the bedroom because there was one of her toys in the closet. Last night, or more correctly 4 am, she was trying to get into the bed on DH side. Poor DH has to get up at 4.30 to go to work. I got up and as soon as she saw me she started to run around the house, into her bedroom in the back of the house, out to the front, all over. If I wasn't so sleepy it would have been really funny. I finally got her and brought her to bed to sleep. She stayed maybe 5 min, then was off the bed and back into her bedroom in the back. I'm hoping tonight will be a little better. She seems ok with staying in the back bedroom with the door closed, so I may go back to that plan. I have 3 dogs that sleep in the bedroom, but she is so much faster then they are.

Mary
 

tamgirl99

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

tamgirl - I bet the door habit would change eventually if you had your own place.
It actually is my own place.
I've owned my house for over 6 years and even when I don't have a roommate, my bedroom door is shut and locked. It's too creepy to keep open at night. I feel safer knowing there's at least two locked doors between me and the outside...except the windows of course, but thankfully I have an alarm system for that as well.
 

forensic

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I sleep with my door closed. Did when I had my own place too, I like the dark, cozy, safe feeling it gives me. I'd be happy sleeping in a box!


The cats don't complain. They have each other for company at night and they usually get fed right before bed so they're sleepy.

However, if I don't get up on their schedule, Hennessy will open my door (it doesn't latch all the way and he knows the trick to bopping it open).
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by tamgirl99

It actually is my own place.
I've owned my house for over 6 years and even when I don't have a roommate, my bedroom door is shut and locked. It's too creepy to keep open at night. I feel safer knowing there's at least two locked doors between me and the outside...except the windows of course, but thankfully I have an alarm system for that as well.
O/T But as a kid did it creep you out to have to door open, too? Sometimes in my dad's house I would feel that way and had to shut the door - but that house was creepy.


I can't keep my door shut, as I said - one hates shut doors. And he and Sherman together are rather rambunctious. I don't want that duo forced to stay in my room all night. With out some occasional space between the three of them I'd end up with a kitty misunderstanding fight in the middle of the bed.
 

cheylink

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I have always had cats in my life and never, ever kept them out of my bedroom. When I had roommates I created a cat door for my kitty or kept them in my room with me at night. For example if Maia was closed out of the room I was sleeping in, she would be extremely upset and probably panic. There are times she may get the night crazies, but if I tell her to chill out she does. She may attempt to wake me for food before my alarm, but it's always gentle, sniff my face or walk over me and curl up next to me......I would much rather wake up to this then someone snoring or car alarms
!
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by cheylink

She may attempt to wake me for food before my alarm, but it's always gentle, sniff my face or walk over me and curl up next to me......I would much rather wake up to this then someone snoring or car alarms
!
You're lucky.
Tomas will sometimes stand on my head and Sherman will try to lay on my face (he's all fur...).
 

dwmeowmix

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Most of the time I do, used to all the time until Waco started YOWLING all day and all night. I don't know what his deal is. We are dealing with a bad ear infection but it shouldn't be painful anymore. He yowls to go out, yowls to come in, yowls to get fed, walks around the house yowling just to hear himself talk... :p So, when he starts acting up I either close my bedroom door and use earplugs or close him in another room for the night and still use earplugs (he's VERY loud). My other kitties sleep with me so for the most part I try to leave my bedroom door open for their nightly sojourns...but Yota seems to be content just sleeping on my face....
 

tamgirl99

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Originally Posted by DWMeowMix

Most of the time I do, used to all the time until Waco started YOWLING all day and all night. I don't know what his deal is. We are dealing with a bad ear infection but it shouldn't be painful anymore. He yowls to go out, yowls to come in, yowls to get fed, walks around the house yowling just to hear himself talk... :p So, when he starts acting up I either close my bedroom door and use earplugs or close him in another room for the night and still use earplugs (he's VERY loud). My other kitties sleep with me so for the most part I try to leave my bedroom door open for their nightly sojourns...but Yota seems to be content just sleeping on my face....
If Waco hasn't been checked out at the vet's lately, you might want to have him checked. My 11 year old started doing this and it turned out her bladder was full of stones and she was crying out from the pain. Now that she's had surgery and is on the road to recovery, the crying has stopped. She would walk around the house from room to room crying like she was looking for something. So now I will know that something is really wrong if she starts doing that again. Just something I wanted to throw out since I assumed it was just random behavior as well.
 

tamgirl99

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

You're lucky.
Tomas will sometimes stand on my head and Sherman will try to lay on my face (he's all fur...).
My little one screams right in my ear when I've slept too long and she's hungry.
She's an aby so she has a raspy little voice. Normally it's extremely cute sounding, but not when it comes in the form of a blast to the ear while I'm asleep!
 

pushylady

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We sleep with our bedroom door shut and the cats shut in their bedroom. Otherwise we wouldn't sleep at all.

I would love to have the door open so that Pushy could sleep with us. He's a good boy, but because Wiggies is such a PITA we have to lock them both up to get any peace. And BTW, "just ignoring" him just does not work.
 
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