cat disturbing my sleep

Here's a hint.

Dump her. She doesn't like it that she can't control the cats; she won't like it if she can't control you.

Get rid of her,sounds like to me all she is worried about is ME ME ME ME ME

I don't like ultimatums, that is not fair to you or your cats.
Your cats were there first, she is the intruder. They and you and her need to find a routine to the day and learn to deal with eachother, getting pissed off and threatning to break up with you is not the way to go with this. If she won't be a part of the solution, she is part of the problem (sorry for being cliche)
So the cats wake up at 7am and tool around, guess what, it is what they do!
Is 7 so early she cant deal with it? What is her work schedule, if she works nights I can see being a little annoyed at being woken up.

Play with them hard before you go to bed to tire them out. Teach yourself and your fiancee to ignore them completely if they disturb you overnight. If you give into them, they'll just continue doing what they are doing. And if this behavior started to happen once your fiancee moved in, they are still adjusting to her presence and things should settle down to their old routine.

I married a man who didn't like cats and made demands of me that forced me to change how I cared for them and did demand that I rehome one of my cats. The marriage lasted 2 years and I would have given anything to get my cat back. The "do this or else" with the cats was just a symptom of bigger problems with our relationship. My current husband of 20 years also didn't like cats at first, but he and I worked out a compromise and there are no ultimatums in our marriage. Just think about this long and hard and figure out if this is just the tip of the iceberg.

If by sleep.... you mean sex, close the door. Everyone needs their private time. The cats will scratch at the door, "What is the world is going on in there???" LOL. Ignore it, and continue on.
If you keep giving the cats, and your girlfriend, positive reinforcement on all their bad behavior, nothing will work out.

I hate to judge other people based on just a message board, but it sounds to me like there are other issues going on here, and it is not the cats. Sorry for going all Dr Phil here, but there seems to be something wrong. No one leaves because cats run through the room.

Do you have a cat tree or a scratching post to divert them? In front of a window, it is cat TV. Also lots of spots to jump and play without disrupting the house.

Hi. Sounds serious!

I agree with the idea of playing with them before bedtime. Tucker them out and you'll get a more peaceful night's sleep! On the topic of them keeping you awake in general though, well, they're cats! My boyfriend and I have long accepted that our kitty cat is in and out the bed all night, snuggles right between us (the warmest place!) and regularly wakes me by chewing my hair whilst purring loudly in my ear! If your gf can't deal with these things and you really love animals, well, you have to wonder what other restrictions are going to crop up in your relationship later?

Asking someone to 'get rid' of their pets or else is selfish and cruel. explain to her how you feel about your animals and see what she says. It may just be an eye opener.

Gotta say Jeff not really liking your atitude here either. I am leaving the thread before I yell at you.

WOW, why is it ridiculous for you to say "lets break up" but its not ridiculous for her to say it to you?
Thats sweet of you to realize it is ridiculous but unfortunately, she doesnt feel the same way about you.

You know in life, not everything is perfect, but you make compromises and come up with solutions for many many situations. And not all of them are the solutions that you wish they were. But for someone to demand that you get rid of anything that you love because they dont like it, as the solution, you need to look at very carefully.

Yor cats being calm now that shes gone, should tell you something. Animals are intuiative.

Would she really dump you over the cats? Food for thought my friend.I bet when you two live together 100% of the time things will settle into a nice routine.Good luck!

Just to double-check the psychological ramifications, is there any chance YOU are tired of the cats and are using the girlfriend as an excuse to get rid of them?

Cats for the most part are nuctural animals. Most cats for the most part adapt to the human's schedule when they are inside, but they will get up and play and do what cats do at night. Honestly you need to close the door and ignore them if you want to keep them out of the room at night. After a few nights and 15-20 mins of scratching they will give up.

As for waking you up at 7am, they are probably hungry. Mine wake me up at that time if they ate all the dry I left out for the night at that time. Do you leave a bit of dry out at night, if not maybe try that.

As for the jumping on you at night, well again they are cats not people. They have no idea that this is not a fun game for you. My face has been a launch pad, speed bump, landing pad its not fun being woke that way but they don't know any better. Its like having a small child that never really grows up.

Ok... this is just a little advice from an oldtimer. My first husband hated my horse, (ok my horse hated him too ) he said for me to get rid of her or he would leave. bye bye...actually, I made the mistake of getting rid of my horse, I cried for over a week, and at that point, I knew that the wrong one went. then it was something else he didn't like. then something else, you get the hint. Well, he's gone, my horse was gone, my cat was gone, everything, including friends that he didn't like. Good outcome. My current hubby and I have been married almost 33 years. He commutes almost 2 hrs each way to work, just so I can have my horses and animals in my back yard. Yes, we now have indoor cats and they do come into be with us in the middle of the night. Dear hubby has to get up at 4.30am to be at work on time, and even in his sleep, he can reach his hand out to stroke the cats when they come in. He's sending me on an Alaskan cruise, (already booked) with my best friend, and he's staying back to take care of the animals. that is a long standing love, not demanding that if something is an inconvience and we don't change it, that the other will threaten to leave. We are here for each other and to make adjustments WITH each other..not demands. Just give it a little thought. What will she do when the kids wake her up every couple of hours and she doesn't get sleep. (kids do that you know...especially babies..they don't have any respect for parents sleep or even taking a bath time.)

Not lecturing, just wanting you to think things thru with your brain...

If you "give up" your cats to a shelter there is a good chance that for them this could result in death as a worst case scenario, or months in a shelter in a possible best case scenario.

If you had children from a previous relationship and your girlfriend said that she wanted you to send them to boarding school or to live with relatives, would you do so?

Of course you wouldn't!

These cats are your babies.

My cats like to wake me up by meowing at my door at 6:50 sharp. My alarm is set for 7:10 on work days and I like to sleep till about 8 on the weekends. One solution that has worked to stop the meowing (once it starts, I haven't figured how to prevent it from starting) is by turning on a small fan directed at the door. I have a sliding door so I crack it open by an in inch or two. First, it drowns out the meowing and after awhile the cats bugger off. And one of them can be pretty persistent. I noticed that however long it takes, once they give up, they really do give up and I can get out of bed whenever I want. Though the latest I roll out is usually before 9am on the weekends. For your situation, you'll probably have to leave it on as white noise throughout the night until the cats are trained to stay out of the bedroom.

Not sure how it will work to retrain your cats as I have always kept my doors closed at night so it's what my cats are used to. I've only in the last couple of days even allowed my cats into my bedroom period. Hopefully this won't confuse them. So far, they have not bothered me at bedtime.

Like the advice given already, we used to have one good play session late at night for 25-40 minutes, depending on my schedule. This week I'm trying a new approach of playing with them 10-15 minutes before dinner and then 15-20 before bedtime. Then I get ready for bed, give them their nighttime snack and I run off to my room and turn off the lights before they figure it out They know what's going on though, sometimes I'm slow to actually get into bed and am pottering around my room and I can see one of the kitties peering through the crack of the door.

Can you also retrain your cats to stay awake for most of the day so they will be tired at night? My cats stay awake and active from early morning to about the mid-afternoon. Then they sleep heavily in the late afternoon/early evening. They also have a post-dinner nap. All in all, I figure they sleep about 8 hours during the day/early evening. And since cats usually sleep about 16-18 hours, I figure my cats must get alot of sleep during the night.

Long post, but I would rather see you try to work with the situation than give up the cats. Plus, I don't want to tell you to give up someone you're considering for marriage either.

I just wanted to say I am sorry someone is giving you an ultimatum with the animals you love. I would NEVER waltz into his life do that to the love of my life, out of respect for him and out of respect for living animals. He would also never do that to me.

Animals we acquire together require a talk and permission and making sure everyone is on board, but animals we had before marriage is another issue.

There is a bigger issue here. And it isn't the cats being cats. I really hope you can solve this and welcome to the site. I can tell you care about your cats, otherwise you wouldn't be here.

If she's this bossy and controlling as a girlfriend, what will she be like as a WIFE?

I have two kitties. When my adult granddaughter moved in with me I infomed her about the cats habits, They like to sit on a bookcase looking out her bedroom window, the couch, etc. and she needs to accomodate them She says the cats rule the house and I love them more than her. She's right, they do rule the house but I love her but the cats were here first and need to be able to not be bored during the day while we are at work. I should mention she doesn't like cats too much, but they are here to stay and be spoiled. Hopefully some day she'll marry and leave she's 23, and my cats will stay.