Cat Jumps on My Hip at Night

onemeg

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Help! My boyfriend and I have lived together for four years, and we each have a cat that usually sleeps with us on the bed at night. The problem is that his cat, Nia, wakes me up repeatedly during the night by jumping up onto the bed directly onto my hip (I sleep on my side), and then hopping over to James to curl up with him. If I'm facing the outside of the bed, she'll jump up onto my knee, and walk or hop up that leg to my him, and similarly hop over to James. It's like I'm a diving board or something! There's plenty of room on both sides of the bed, and at the foot as well. She's started doing this nightly, sometimes even twice in a night, it wakes me up not to mention it can be painful, and it's REALLY getting old fast! What should I do???

Another thing with her is that she kneads before she goes to sleep. usually on James but sometimes on me. This really wouldn't be a problem but she's a bit overzealous about it, and sometimes she does it two or three times throughout the night and it wakes me up. 5am is one of her favorite times to jump up on my hip, hop over to James and start kneading on him. :/ ANYway...the jumping up directly onto me is what I really need advice about. What can I do to get her to jump up on the bed via some other route?

Thanks for any help!
 

rosiemac

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My two do that as well and i'd say the only way you could put a stop to it is to not let the cat into your room.

It doesn't bother me that Sophie lies on my shoulder and Rosie on my thigh, well apart from when i need to turn over and Rosie seems to jump off in a huff because i've disturbed her!
in fact i love that they want to be close to me like that because a lot of people don't have that with their cats
 

valanhb

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We have a bookcase headboard, about 6 1/2 feet tall, and Trent likes to launch off of us at night to jump to the top. And he walks like an elephant to begin with, I've never seen a cat so heavy on his feet! We've pretty much learned to sleep through it. It's not so bad from the hip, but when he launches off of our stomachs, that's when it is really uncomfortable.

I don't know what to tell you about stopping her from jumping on you, we really didn't consider trying to stop Trent from doing that. Just wanted to let you know that someone out there does understand!
 
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onemeg

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Thanks for the replies
Actually I do like to have the cats sleep with us at night, and MY cat would never put up with being shut out! (Nor would I want her to be). Of course, she's not the one jumping on me, and shutting out just one cat wouldn't be acceptable to either the cats, nor my boyfriend
I just don't understand because she doesn't jump on him that way, only me. Really makes no sense to me as she is his cat, sleeps with him, follows him around all day etc, and really doesn't have much to do with me except use me as a jumping board at night. If anyone has any suggestions as to how to train her not to do this, I'd really love to hear them

-Meg
 

marge

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Originally Posted by rosiemac

My two do that as well and i'd say the only way you could put a stop to it is to not let the cat into your room.

It doesn't bother me that Sophie lies on my shoulder and Rosie on my thigh, well apart from when i need to turn over and Rosie seems to jump off in a huff because i've disturbed her!
in fact i love that they want to be close to me like that because a lot of people don't have that with their cats
My cat looks irritated at me too when I want to turn over.
I find it so funny. He jumps up really startled.
 

yosemite

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I'd suggest trading sides of the bed with him!

Bijou sleeps with me and he's a heavy boy but he just puts his head on my pillow or between my chin and shoulder and breathes into my face! He also needs to suckle and knead my face and neck while doing so. I'm pretty much used to it by now and don't mind much except when it's a reminder to clip his nails. So far I have avoided holes in my face from his claws, but his feet and claws are very thick and strong now.

Hopefully you'll get so used to it that it won't wake you after awhile.
 

cessena

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The first few weeks Shinobi lived with me she would sleep between my legs. But after being rudely awakend every morning by my foot she stopped. It makes me sad, but there just isn't enough room in the bed. :-( I'd love to be rudely awakened by kneading kitties if it meant she was sleeping with me.
 
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onemeg

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Hi All, thanks for all the responses
Switching sides of the bed with my guy might just be a good idea to try! Thing is, there's plenty of (unoccupied) room all around the bed where she could jump up, but for some reason my hip is the way to go :p I will definitely give switching sides a try though, if James will agree to it. Anyway my kitty, Abbey, usually sleeps at or on my feet, or up in front of my chest, and Nia sleeps either on James in some random spot or curled up around him somewhere.
Well the jumping up on my hip thing is relatively new behavior, and nothing has changed for a year or so, so I'm just trying to figure it out. Take care All!
-Meg
 

mamacat

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The thing I've noticed about cats is that even if there's tons of room for them to go around you, they prefer to march right over you. I don't know why. Maybe it's just that they want to take the most direct route, and they don't consider a sleeping human being to be an obstacle. Nathan tramples all over me at night and Nedicks usually plops herself down with force on some part of my body right at the moment when I'm about to fall asleep.
There's nothing I can to do to stop them (accept lock them out of the bedroom, and nobody would be happy about that), so I've kind of just learned to live with it. Weirdly, they only do it to me, not my bf. I'm so loved.
So I feel your frustration--but I have no advice.
 
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