Felines running on my head at 6 am..

Dear TCS,

You know the phrase "my cats walk all over me".. well, it should change to "my cats RUN all over me".

So, Picasso has gotten in the habit of running across my head (literally) at 6 am while I am sleeping, followed closely by a 16.5 lb blubber of Monet also running across my head (literally). They won't stop, unless I lock Picasso out of the room.

I'd hate to lock her out of the room all night or use Ssscat to keep her out since she's really good all night, except when 6 am rolls around and somehow she sneaks coffee into her system and spazzes out.

Any suggestions on how to break this habit of her's? Monet is really good until I get up, but Picasso's energy entices him to join her in the race. Now I yell at them, doesn't stop (duh). I push Picasso off the bed.. no dice. And I abruptly get up, but chasing Picasso down is a game to her, so I doubt grabbing her after a few chases and tossing her out of the room helps any! lol. Waiting till she outgrows this could take a long time or never!

any suggestions appreciated!

~Wanting to sleep till 8 am.

I have no suggestions but wanted to tell you that I feel your pain.
I have a kitten that was orphaned and bottle fed by me since he was two weeks old. As soon as he learned to climb the bed, he got into the habit of climbing onto the bed and walking across my face, batting at my face, rubbing his nose against my face or trying to nurse off my nose, whenever he is hungry. So if he gets hungry at night and decided he doesnt want the dry food htat is left out for him, he wake me up in any of the above mentioned ways until I give him some wet food. And then sometimes he still does all those things, because he is now up and ready to play and doesn't know why his mom isn't ready to play with him. Some days I just laugh and give in, other days I just throw toys from the bed all over the floor so he will hopefully get into pplaying with one and let me fall back asleep. I keep a lot of toys on the bedroom floor and a cat tree in the bedroom for those times.

toys, that's actually a good idea. I will remember to fill the bedroom with more toys and stash some under my pillow for such occasion

Waking early is good for the soul! Sometimes you have to adjust your schedule to meet the needs of the kitty.

I'm sure they're just hungry, especially Cassie. Do you play hard with them and feed them just before bedtime? Sometimes that helps.

Nah, its not a "I'm Hungry!" wakeup call. She's just full of kitten energy and just wants to play and does not quite realize that running on Meowmy's head is a no-no! They know their feeding schedule now. lol. If I am not up by 8, THEN they will demand me to wake up! They have their bowl of dry food and I do see her snack on it during the night so she shouldn't be too terribly hungry!

6 am is just too early to be up!! aahhh!!

I have a 5:30 furry alarm clock too... Although Holland doesn't run across my head, she sits on my shoulder, kneads my arms, pats my face, headbutts my hand, and any other thing she can think of to annoy me.

I always keep toys for her in my room, and sometimes that helps, the only other thing I've had success with is ignoring her. Sometimes she will get the message, sometimes not. When I reach the end of my rope, I finally just get up and feed her. No, I'm not her slave, why do you ask?

Yep - have the same (about) issue - sometimes I'm more patient than others and he doesn't get pitched off the bed. ugh, I'm so bad.

OMG I long for the days when it was 6am! Mine wake me at 4am. I love having them sleep with me, love it, but they have recently been taken to chasing after each other at 4am. Over my body. I actually make a "humph" noise as they decompress the air out of my lungs....followed by the sound of meowing and banging of kitty bodies all on the floor as the wrestle each other. For some reason mama's room is the place to party....

I had to do it....I have to close my door now because I need sleep so desperately. My youngest would meow for close to two hours for the first few weeks when i'd shut him out. So I waited till they woke me and then shoo them all out of the room. But constantly getting woken up was taking a toll on me so I finally had to do it BEFORE i went bed. I would let him cry for a little while then open the door and ask him if he was going to quiet down. Then hold him while I walked him around the house (yes, like a baby ). He eventually got to being okay with the door closed and I am getting some much needed sleep.

I feel for you!

Originally Posted by fifi1puss

OMG I long for the days when it was 6am!

Mine wake me at 4am. I love having them sleep with me, love it, but they have recently been taken to chasing after each other at 4am. Over my body. I actually make a "humph" noise as they decompress the air out of my lungs....followed by the sound of meowing and banging of kitty bodies all on the floor as the wrestle each other.

For some reason mama's room is the place to party....

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I am really glad that plenty of people here shares my pain, though I did LOL at this post since I can certainly relate to each detail!!

I have a possible solution, although it may not be what you are hoping for! I foster cats for the local animal shelter. When my own cat Iggy was a kitten, he was sooooo persistently annoying at night. Since I've had a couple of foster kitties, no more 4 hour face licking/biting sessions! More cats are the only solution LOL

I just live with it. It's usually in the 4:00-5:00am range, so I just get up and put out some kibble in the kitchen, and close the door behind me while they're eating. I get the last hour or two of sleep in peace. It's very funny when they hear the sounds of me getting up. They all sit at the door and wait. So, every morning as soon as I open the bedroom door, I have four cats sitting and staring at me!

haha, getting more cats is an impossible! I just got Picasso a few weeks ago and 2 kitties are my max!!

I guess I will have to wait it out, lol. at least I can usually fall back to sleep after I get up!

My kitties are always liveliest at dusk and dawn.

When they were kittens, they would still want to run across me usually jumping as hard as they could off my body or fly under the sheets or scratch my feet... gave em the boot every time they did. Either that worked, or they grew out of it, so that's what I'd recommend.

When they chilled out, they were allowed back in, and Wesley and Buttercup both went right back to sleeping in the bed, but don't bother me. Buttercup woke me up for lunch though my licking the top of my hand raw today... ugh!

Buddy went through an awful phase picking at my bedroom door at 6am. Took almost a week but I ignored him and he eventually gave up. Parker is pretty good. I allow him in the room since he actually sleeps, instead of get into everything...but he wakes me up after no less than 7 hours. He doesn't always touch me to wake me though. He stands over my face and stares in my eyes. Wakes me every time without fail...and as soon as my eyes are open, he snuggles with me.

Maybe you could just evict the kitties for the night until they learn that you need to sleep...in peace. Its hard when you want them to snuggle at night but getting woken up the same time, every night can get frustrating for some people.

Kitten zoomies!

My 4 year old Jade still does it, and I sleep in a loft bed, so the whole bed shakes when she jumps on and off the bed.

My two wake me up by running across me chasing each other or by sticking their faces right in mine. They have gotten better about it though. I actually got to sleep until 7 am this morning. A few days ago they kept waking me up all night.

Simba wakes us up at 4:40 AM and whoever is most harassed usually gives him breakfast. (He headbutts, purrs, nudges, kisses, massages, you name it, until we meet his demands!)

We are thinking of adding another cat to our family after Simba has been with us at least a year.
Next summer maybe?

But that may just mean 2 alarm clocks instead of one!
Oh the things we do for love...

Our cat waits untill he hears the clock radio come on at 6.00 am, then rushes up the stairs, leaps onto the bed, and begins to lick, purr, pummel and pester until he gets his breakfast.
If we change the clock alarm, he changes his schedule accordingly!
(I think that we are very lucky, after reading some of the other posts!)