New Cat Wakes Me Up in the Night

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I am having a bit of a problem with my new cat, Olivia. She will not let me sleep! She enjoys sleeping on the bed with me, but insists 2-3 times a night that I pet her. Specifically, she likes her ears and neck petted/scratched and is *very* insistent about it. She will go as far as sticking her head face-first into my hand so that I won’t mistake her intentions. She also does this during waking hours, so it is not an exclusively nighttime behavior.

A little background: I adopted her from the local shelter earlier this month. She had been there about a month, and the only info they had on her was that she was a local “stray”. They said that she was approximately 13 months old, although she is rather small and kitten-like, so I think she may be a bit younger.

 I may have been a bit premature in adopting her, as when I got her I was winding up a house-sitting gig, but I knew that I would have a new place that allowed pets after the homeowners returned, so I went for it. The shelter had a “Cinco de Meow” adoption event where all cats were $5 on May 5, so I couldn’t beat the price. Unfortunately, the homeowners came home a week earlier than I expected, so I had to find a temporary home until my new place was available for me to move into. All in all, she went through 3 moves in 2 weeks before we got to our “forever” home.  This may have been a bit traumatic for her, since she not only had to adjust to several new places in a short amount of time, she also had to get to know me.

For the first few days after bringing her home from the shelter, she hid under the bed. She would explore at night while I was in bed, using the litter box and getting food & water, as well as when I left for the day to go to work. I was finally able to coax her out with a toy-on-a-stick one evening, and she was a bit surprised when she first came out to catch the toy, and saw me there!  Each successive move has been better, and this last move she felt comfortable enough by the first evening that she was willing to come out of hiding and explore while I was awake.

She really is a good cat. I have not encountered any litter box issues, and she seems to be eating and drinking normally. The more time we spend together, the more friendly she has become.  I have enjoyed and encouraged her affection, but this one issue has got to stop. I have tried ignoring her, but as I say, she is quite insistent. After I pet her for a bit, often I can rub her belly and calm her down enough that I can go back to sleep.

One concern I have is that perhaps she has an issue with her ears, such as fleas or mites, or with her neck. However, I have not encountered any fleas, and gave her ears and neck a good check last night and it they are healthy looking without tell-tale black spots from mites or redness from irritation. Could there be another physical issue that causes her to insist that her neck and ears are scratched?

Thanks for reading this, and I look forward to any suggestions you may have.

John.

I'm laughing as I write this as you are describing my cat, Nilah.  She makes no bones about the fact that I should scratch under her chin, her head and her ears, anywhere, anytime.  They like it because it feels good!  It's actually a good sign.. she trusts you and and wants your attention.

When it happens during the day I usually give in.  At night I started saying 'you've got to be kidding Nilah', and would pull the bedclothes over my head.  Initially she would paw at the sheets and be quite insistent.  Eventually she learned that it just wasn't going to happen at night, and hopefully Olivia will too.  You could leave her out of the bedroom, but I get the feeling that isn't something you want to do.

This really is one of those little joys of having a cat companion...