Do your cats have bedtime rituals?

jcat

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I think I've created a monster, , because what started out as a little joke has become an absolute "must".

A couple of years ago, I started saying, "Nighty night, sleep tight, wake up bright, don't let the bed bugs bite!" to Jamie when he curled up in bed with us at night.

Now he expects it, and pokes me and meows and won't settle down until he hears at least, "Don't let the bed bugs bite!"

Do you cats expect something particular before turning in for the night?
 

trillcat

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Yep! I say "Give to me kissies!" and make a smoochy sound, and she gives me a kiss and heads off to whever she plans to sleep.
 

rosiemac

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Awwwwww


The girls just jump on the bed to settle down with a " Night night babies " and a scritch, but Jack walks back and forth across the pillows purring and nosing my hand to scritch him.

Firstly, Jack does this every time i go upstairs into the bedroom no matter if it's bedtime or not

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Picture051.flv

I usually have to say "Lie down baby boy" which he does, and lies against my head and puts his paws around my wrist, or sometimes i get a foot in my face
 

yosemite

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Definitely! Bijou jumps on the bed, walks across the top of my pillow, over to John's pillow and back to mine. He lays basically on top of my head with his side pressed against my face (makes breathing rather difficult for me). Then when I've settled he needs to lick my neck in the exact spot he used to suckle when he was a baby (he will not lick the other side of my neck), then he'll lay beside me with his head on my pillow facing me and I cover him up to his neck. He always has to have the lick on my neck before he'll settle.
 

rapunzel47

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Oh, yes. Usually my last thing before bed is to check in here briefly, and when I'm done, I get up and say to Cindy, snoozing ten feet away, "Time for bed?" at which she gets up, turns 180° (so her butt is facing me) for pickup. We then have a good cuddle and she "gets a ride" upstairs. Then we "go find Daddy to say goodnight" if he's not already in the bedroom, and she collects scritches from him, and "holds the bed down" while Mummy goes and closes up for the night. When I come back to the bedroom, it's my turn to deliver the scritches, then I'm allowed to perform my bedtime ablutions, but must deliver another round of scritches before getting into bed, and usually have to ask, "Can Mummy come in?" before she'll make room for me to get under the covers. If Daddy is still vertical, he gets to deliver more scritches and eventually, Cindy will find a couple of legs -- not necessarily belonging to the same body -- to snuggle down between.
 

rosiemac

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Originally Posted by rapunzel47

I get up and say to Cindy, snoozing ten feet away, "Time for bed?"
I just have to say "Bedtime" as well when i flick the t.v. off with the remote, Then Rosie jumps up on the cat tree when i go over to switch the t.v. off properly, because she gets a couple of treats as we go upstairs
 

clpeters23

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I tell Moose it's "time to go to sleep" and he will run and jump on the bed. When I get in he will drape himself over my ankles for awhile, but only if I have the covers on. Then he either gets off on his own or I nudge him off then he will lay down next to my head and sleep there all night.
If it's cold out he will worm his way under the covers and sleep next to me.
 

valanhb

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This is such a cute thread!
I love these stories!!

Not everyone has got their own nightly ritual, but some do. So with 5 cats, this is what we go through every night.

The cats really pay no mind to what I'm doing before bed, except for Ginger. That's because Ginger is my bathroom buddy and helps me get ready in the morning and at night. She sits on the counter above the toilet and gets lovin's and sometimes she wants a drink from my water glass before I take my pills (both morning and night).

When Daddy gets ready to go downstairs, that's when the rituals begin!

He always comes in the bedroom to collect the glass from the night before to take down to the kitchen. Ophelia SCREAMS at him at the top of her little lungs because he may have forgotten that his Baby Doll lives on top of the bed.
(Not likely since he's home all day since he's unemployed at the moment, and goes in to see her regularly.) So he gives her some scritches and then goes downstairs.

At that point there's a herd of cats following him. Not sure why...only one (maybe two) have a shot of getting anything from him down there. Daddy gets himself his nightly glass of milk and cookies or toast or sandwich or whatever food he feels like. You see where this is going right? Annie sometimes gets her milk downstairs, but lately she has decided that splashing in the milk on her perch is more fun than drinking it.
Cleaning up milk off the floor and cart (her perch is the top of a former microwave cart that is now used for storage) does not make Daddy's evening complete, so he's been skipping this part lately. If Ginger Cookie is looking very cute and hasn't gotten in trouble in the last few hours, she gets some milk downstairs too.

Then he comes upstairs and the herd follows. He puts the glass on top of the bed for Ophelia, but he has to call her over and scritch her before she will drink. Then he puts the glass in the cubby for Mojo. Then if Annie didn't get any downstairs, she gets her drink. Then Trent and Ginger if they decided they want any. None of them get much, and thankfully none of them are lactose intolerant unless he leaves it for them to drink too long. He doesn't have to scoop litter, and I don't think I could talk him out of this ritual he has with them!


Still with me?


Now it's time for Meowmy. After Daddy has had his snack and is ready to relax, Mojo will come for her first round of nuzzles for the night - she'll wake me up for nuzzles a couple times a night if she's in a lovey mood. Like Bijou, she likes to lick the side of my neck, but she puts her paws around my neck like a hug and kneads.
(We make sure her claws stay trimmed!) She is a totally blissed out kitty when she does this, it's so sweet. Daddy isn't always thrilled about this, though, since she must lay perpendicular to me which means her butt is in his face. So when she's had her time, she moves up to the pillow above my head. Annie may or may not come up and lay on Daddy for some snuggles during this time. Then Trent comes up and has to be coaxed up to lay between us so he gets his snuggles from both of us (he acts like he doesn't want to every darn night, but loves it when it gets there.
). At any point in this, unless Annie is there (major jealousy between Daddy's two girls!), Ophelia may decide that she MUST come down and get real Daddy snuggles and then he must make room for her on his side of the bed and turn his back to me so they can have their "private" snuggle time.
She is SO possessive of him!!

Then after all of this, and a good 45 minutes later, we might be able to go to sleep.
Oh no, they don't run the household or anything!
 

mismaris777

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Well, I say a general "good night" to all of them when I start turning off lights and stuff at bedtime, then I go to my room and Taylor always follows me. I tell her, "well get up here then!" when she goes to jump up, as she likes some encouragement and then immediate praise (CH kitty). And if she misses the tall bed, falls, I tell her to get her big old butt up here and try again lol. She loves that. As she jumps up, she announces she's jumping up, then once she finally is up, she meows at me until I fluff up her own personal pillow next to my head, then I have to pat on it a few times and say "well lay your big old butt over down here!" and she lies down there, then looks at me and hits me until she gets her bedtime kiss on the forehead and a hug. She's definitely a personality all her own, I tell ya!
 

stephanietx

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My kitties know that when I turn off the TV, it's time for bed. Then we get a wee bit of crunchies (their 'night night snack'), then we head to the bathroom. Callie jumps up on the counter to get a drink of water from the sink before I brush my teeth. Hannah waits in the hallway. Then we go to the bedroom and have brush time. They lay down in their beds and I brush them. I tell them "night night", give them a kiss, and turn off the light. They'll stay there all night and then jump up on the bed when the alarm clock goes off in the morning!
 

yayi

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Sure! Mine is a simple ritual. I just say "Going to sleep now". Joji or Ni or both rush to my bedroom door and wait for me. The rest watch and start to settle down. In my room, Joji/Ni jump on my bed, wait till I come out of the bathroom, give them each their good night kiss and that's it.
 

missymotus

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Mine is simple too, we have a good play session then when I say 'bedtime' they run to their food dishes and wait for dinner.

They eat while I read in bed, then find their spots under the covers
 

arlyn

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Baby needs 15 minutes of lying on my chest (why the biggest cat in the house??) while I scratch her chin and coo at her.
Jade sits to my left while bowing her head to get the top of her head/back of her neck scratched.
Spaz lies on the spare illow next to my head, purrs, gives kisses (eyelids, corners of mouth) and drools everywhere.

After 15 minutes, Jade leaves, gets on my desk chair, Spaz goes to curl up in the laundry basket and Baby goes and lays at the foot of the bed in very weird positions.
 

dusty's mom

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Dusty will lay on the bed while we are watching TV, but when I turn over on my right side with my right hand under the pillow, she will come up and snuggle next to me with her head on my elbow. She's ready for bed!
 

flisssweetpea

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Here I was thinking....a bedtime ritual....well, the babies just come to bed. Then, I started thinking about what we have to do before the babies come to bed and realised we do have a bedtime ritual


It starts off with Lily and Tolly telling us that it's bedtime when they wake up from their all-day nap to tell us they're tired and ready for bed.
We always close the living room door at night, to save the sofa from marauding claws and this is when the games start. Tolly is easy meat, just call "Fish Fish" and he comes running out of the living room. Lily is a different matter, she has this little game where she'll run behind the sofa and make us catch her
She loves it - it becomes a game of outwitting each other by blocking entrances or exits with cushions and giving us the slip.

Then, we have to give all of the kitties their pre-bedtime treat. Tolly loves to have bits of freeze-dried fish thrown down the stairs and he tries to catch them in his jaws (daft but true).

When we get into bed, Lily sends Tolly off on guard duty - no joke, he has to sit by the back door until she decides he's guarded us for long enough. If he comes back to early, she sends him away again. He usually sits and watches Addie asleep in the conservatory.

Lily waits until the light goes off and then has to come up for her "pad" session, she kneads daddy and then me. While she is kneading one of us, she has to stand on the other. She is in total heaven and purrs up a storm. This goes on for about 20 minutes (yes, we have to keep her claws clipped too). After kneading she lies on my shoulder for a while, with her soft tummy against my face and ear purring away.


By this time, Tolly is allowed to come to bed and settles down between me and daddy. He likes to lie on my robe which he has to knead for a while first - so it has to be spread out. The outer side has to be upward otherwise I've done it wrong


At this point, Lily moves down to the bottom of the bed and drapes herself across my ankles. Then....and only then....we're allowed to go to sleep.

Until......Lily gets lonely in the night, and she wants another "pad" session. If we don't wake up to uncover a bare bit of shoulder for her to pad, she stands on our faces until we do


I don't know where they get the impression that they're the bosses round here
 

samhainborn

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Bedtime ritual? Heh. As soon as I get in bed and cover up, Prissy starts pawing at the blanket asking me to lift it up so she can get under it. I don't know why, because she never stays there for long anymore. Maybe she's just checking for monsters? Or I wonder if she's doing it because she's looking for my hubby who's deployed? hmm. Anyway, after her search mission under the covers, she ends up laying on my pillow right against my head. Never mind the fact that there are about 20 pillows on the bed. Only the one I'M using is a good enough perch. She'll end up stealing it by the end of the night. If she doesn't pull her ninja pillow thief routine, then shehas to rest on whatever part of my is highest, depending on how I'm sleeping. This means that If I roll from my back to my side, she moves from my chest to perching on the side of my hip. Ugh.

And the 4 older kittens all pile in bed with me, squeezing themselves into whatever places they can find to make me too warm and unable to move. At least Loudmouth is sleeping in the other room with HER new litter for now. There's nothing like having a 25 pound pregnant cat decide she's going to lay down on top of you. Trust me, when they're THAT gravid, it doesn't matter where they perch, they're HeAvY.
 

KittenKrazy

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Yup, though more my ritual than theirs......just before I get ready for bed, the kits get fed, .....unless I was "forced" to feed them while cooking supper so's I can get it done....

then I head for the bathroom to wash up for the night, and come back through the house with a bit of loving and "good night *insert cat here*" until I get to the bedroom.....I think I'm going to have to do something about changing this, because I haven't been able to get through the house without breaking down since Babycakes passed away.......* sigh*
 

persi & alley

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Originally Posted by jcat

I think I've created a monster, , because what started out as a little joke has become an absolute "must".

A couple of years ago, I started saying, "Nighty night, sleep tight, wake up bright, don't let the bed bugs bite!" to Jamie when he curled up in bed with us at night.

Now he expects it, and pokes me and meows and won't settle down until he hears at least, "Don't let the bed bugs bite!"

Do you cats expect something particular before turning in for the night?
In my case, they expect a good fight to see who is going to sleep where. And yes it is a nightly ritual that they invented, but nobody ever gets hurt although they have been know to fling each other entirely out of bed!
 

tierre0

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Yes my three do. When I say to them "come on guys it's sleepy time."
Sassy will go in the bedroom and curl up beside my pillow which is where he will stay most of the night. Linus has to be petted for at least 10-15 minutes then he will settle down on the bottom of the bed for awhile but generally leaves sometime during the night. Pixie gets in her basket and sleeps there for awhile but usually comes into bed around 2 and will sleep with me for awhile then finishes the night behind the couch.

Of course the wake up ritual is always the same I usually wake up with all three of them tearing around the house like banshee's or all three sitting on the side of the bed staring at me willing me to wake up.
 
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