cat waking us up at night

We have two sweet cats ages 3 and 4 years. They are in the habit of meowing at us at most any hour of the night to have us get up and open doors (to go out). Is there any way to break this habit? There's no such thing as sleeping through the night around here. I feel like I have two babies!! Any ideas?

Have you thought about providing litter for them to use just at night. A friend has indoor/outdoor cats, and she has litter trays just for the nights. Another option might be to put a cat flap in the door, so they can come and go as they please.

I am afraid I am a very heavy sleeper. My cats tear around like lunatics in the middle of the night, and it doesn't bother me.

Thanks, Adele, for your reply. My two kitties have two indoor litter boxes (kept clean) available to them. The problem is that they are indoor/outdoor cats. I attempted to make them indoor cats which worked during the first two years but the older one was forever bent on getting out no matter what! Most of the time, at night, they just feel like going out. The pet door is the best solution. I got a little frightened about that when I read a recent article in our local newspaper...it was about a racoon getting in through a pet door and nibbling a little boys toes!! Ugh! I guess I can't win in this situation. Maybe kitty sleeping pills?!?! Just kidding. Thanks!

I have the same problem, my cat EVERY MORNING at 4:00am is awake and wants me to be awake.. she meows, walks all over me - anything she can to wake me up.

If I put her in the hallway, she will sit at the door and scratch it UNTIL I OPEN IT. One time I let her sit there to see if she would eventually go away - well , she didn't. She sat there from 4:00am to 7:00 am when I got up for work. Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep that night.

I have recently installed a kitty door to my garage and put her food and litter in the garage. After she gets used to using the kitty door, I plan to at night when she's bugging me, put her in the garage and then will block the kitty door so she can't get through. This way she doesn't bug me (I will put a bed out there for her).

Not sure if this is the best solution, but it's the only one I could come up with. Hope this helps.

So far so good....

Hubby and I have trained Danielle to stay off the bed with a loud NO and a spritz of water. Only had to do it a few times. She is SUCH a good kitty coo coo widdle woo coo........

Hope it lasts :LOL:

We had the exact same problem with Roxane and Mishka they both insist on sleeping with us on our bed ,but usually around 2.00am Roxane decides she wants out.
or they both decide its rumble time. this was an impossible situation for me as I am a nurse and work shift work.
At any rate we solved the problem. we leave our bedroom door open and let them run through the rest of the house.
The price pretty cheap, just our privacy lol..heck lost that with Roxane a long time ago, she still insists on escorting me to the bathroom, lol
hope this helps
Tish

oops almost forgot ,do not close your bedroom door or little paws will be under it and you will be serenaded to all night long.

Cats are notorious for waking their owners up at oh-dark-thirty. If you wish to stop this, there are several steps to take.

The cat may simply be hungry and demanding its food. By feeding it when it wakes you up at an ungodly hour, you are simply reinforcing its behavior. If this is why it's waking you up, you can handle this either by filling the bowl just before you go to sleep so it will not be empty in the morning, or by ignoring the cat's wakeups
and feeding it at the exact same time convenient to you every morning. The cat will adjust fairly quickly to the second.

If it is trying to play, there are again several tactics you can try. If you make a practice of tiring it out with play just before bedtime, you can reduce its calls for play at dawn. What works in some cases is to hiss gently at the cat. You can also try shutting it out of the bedroom. If it pounds on the door, put it in a bathroom until you
wake up.

In persistent cases, try the vacuum cleaner, eater of noisy kitties. Go to bed, leaving him out in the hall. Position the vacuum cleaner next to the door, inside it. Plug the vacuum in, and arrange things so you can switch the vacuum on from your bed (eg, wire a switch into an extension cord). Wait for the scratching and wailing at the door. Turn the vacuum cleaner on. If cat comes back, turn it on again. The cat will eventually decide to stop bothering you in the morning.