- Joined
- Apr 16, 2014
- Messages
- 59
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Hi everyone,
Thanks in advance for your advice! Of my two 7-month-old kittens, one of them absolutely LOVES to chew on my hair at night. It's gotten to the point where he'll wake me up in the middle of the night trying to get at my hair, and the likelihood of sleep for the rest of my night is shot because I have to spend it constantly trying to hide my hair, hide under the covers, or push him away - only to have him come back. I live in a studio, so I can't lock him out of my bedroom, and my boyfriend doesn't like staying over now because Apollo keeps walking on him to get to my hair or he's the one awake and trying to keep Apollo out of my hair. On top of the unsustainable nightly routine for me, I also doubt it's healthy for him - once or twice now I've found him pooping out a strand of my (very long) hair. I now bun it up at night, but he'll get at absolutely anything he can, and will make such a mess that my hair - which never used to tangle - is always a rat's nest in the morning that takes forever to comb out.
I perused the forums, and it seemed like the only recommended options were (1) shutting the cat out of the bedroom, (2) wearing a shower cap/toque/hat to bed or (3) switching to an organic shampoo. I can't do (1), and I'd strongly prefer not to do (3) since I use a particular shampoo that balances well with my hair and have already gone through a variety of kinds that will normally end up leaving my hair dry or super oily. (2) starts seeming absurd; when my family had dogs, the rule was that the dogs were not the boss of the house, the humans were - although we obviously did change our schedules to accommodate our pups, there are certain steps (ex: never leaving the house for more than one hour at a time when the dog is a grown adult and perfectly capable of waiting for a walk) that are simply too restrictive and make the pet the human's jailer.
I absolutely love my cats, but this is really starting to become incredibly frustrating. Not to mention, I often fall asleep at work because I can't get a good night's rest, and haven't since this started 2 months ago or so. I'm hoping he'll grow out of it, but in the meantime, does anyone have ideas on how to train my cat to not chew my hair? I don't want to use a spritzer, since I hear that's pretty traumatic, and they are fairly good at clicker-training if there's a way to incorporate that into behavior modification. Alternatively, if switching shampoos is really the only option, what particular essential oils/scents do cats dislike? Can I just spray my hair with Bitter Apple for a month and see what happens?
Thanks in advance for your advice! Of my two 7-month-old kittens, one of them absolutely LOVES to chew on my hair at night. It's gotten to the point where he'll wake me up in the middle of the night trying to get at my hair, and the likelihood of sleep for the rest of my night is shot because I have to spend it constantly trying to hide my hair, hide under the covers, or push him away - only to have him come back. I live in a studio, so I can't lock him out of my bedroom, and my boyfriend doesn't like staying over now because Apollo keeps walking on him to get to my hair or he's the one awake and trying to keep Apollo out of my hair. On top of the unsustainable nightly routine for me, I also doubt it's healthy for him - once or twice now I've found him pooping out a strand of my (very long) hair. I now bun it up at night, but he'll get at absolutely anything he can, and will make such a mess that my hair - which never used to tangle - is always a rat's nest in the morning that takes forever to comb out.
I perused the forums, and it seemed like the only recommended options were (1) shutting the cat out of the bedroom, (2) wearing a shower cap/toque/hat to bed or (3) switching to an organic shampoo. I can't do (1), and I'd strongly prefer not to do (3) since I use a particular shampoo that balances well with my hair and have already gone through a variety of kinds that will normally end up leaving my hair dry or super oily. (2) starts seeming absurd; when my family had dogs, the rule was that the dogs were not the boss of the house, the humans were - although we obviously did change our schedules to accommodate our pups, there are certain steps (ex: never leaving the house for more than one hour at a time when the dog is a grown adult and perfectly capable of waiting for a walk) that are simply too restrictive and make the pet the human's jailer.
I absolutely love my cats, but this is really starting to become incredibly frustrating. Not to mention, I often fall asleep at work because I can't get a good night's rest, and haven't since this started 2 months ago or so. I'm hoping he'll grow out of it, but in the meantime, does anyone have ideas on how to train my cat to not chew my hair? I don't want to use a spritzer, since I hear that's pretty traumatic, and they are fairly good at clicker-training if there's a way to incorporate that into behavior modification. Alternatively, if switching shampoos is really the only option, what particular essential oils/scents do cats dislike? Can I just spray my hair with Bitter Apple for a month and see what happens?