Help!! Night Time Activity is Driving Me Crazy

I have four cats, and I love them all! Annoying behavior has not been a problem (I have been blessed with four of the best cats!) However, I have a friend who has been sharing her cat woes with me, and I thought I would ask the forum for help.

Apparantly she has a cat who is very active at night. She use to leave her bedroom door open, but the kitty likes to play on her head all night! So, she began closing the door, but kitty then scratches at the door all night long. She tried sticky paws, but it didn't work. Her boyfriend has told her he refuses the stay the night when he has to get up for work in the morning because the kitty's night time activities keep him awake.

She got this kitty from the humane society and he is a great cat, with the exception of his door scratching. She is thinking about returning him to the pound and I am attempting to talk her out of it. Does anyone have ideas on what she can do to keep kitty away from her door at night????

I appreciate all ideas and suggestions.

Kim

Mom to Gucci, Simon, Armani, and Versace

What kind of a designer is Simon? never heard of him

Sorry, couldn't resist

Anyway, good for you for helping your friend.
Please advise her against returning this cat for this very common cat behaviour.
How does she know the next cat won't be the same.

Your cats likely have lots of playtime with you and each other throughout the day.

But cats are nocturnal so being kept up at night is common.

This was also a big problem when me and BF adopted Lovey who is almost 2 years old.

He is still a big playful boy. My BF was about to pull his hair out as every night Lovey would bang around and play in the bedroom and if we kept him out, would scratch at the door and meow.

What solved this problem was serious interactive playtime before bed with a laser or fishing pole toy or Da Bird..Something the cat can chase and pounce for 15-20 mins that really wears him out.

A bit of nice warmed canned food after play acts as a reward and also promotes kitties to sleep...

Lovey does still wake us up in the a.m quite early (at about 6:30-7:00) but I am a morning person and just get up with him.
No need for me to ever set an alarm again

If he is especially active and comes to wake me up too too early, I put him in the bathroom for an hour or so. (with his litterbox) and get some more sleep...

If these ideas don't work, (but they should), she can try putting kitty in another part of the house away from the bedroom.. I wouldn't keep mine in a small room like a bathroom for the entire night however..

I also wait 15 minutes before feeding him when I get up to ensure he doesn't connect me waking up with being fed.

I hope your friend rethinks her decision and implements some or all of these ideas.

She can make it work! Let us know!

Cheers

How long did she try something before figuring it did not work? That is needed info....I hope she doesn't take him back over this ...that would be sad.

We have a nuerotic cat that does a lot of odd things...she would meow outside the bedroom door for almost an hour. But I knew she could not sleep with us because should attack our heads all night. It took about 4 months of ignoring the meows..but she totally stopped and no longer does it.

The kitten could also be lonely. I noticed when we got Char playmates, he isn't bothersome at all now. They play with each other all night and we get rest unless they decide the bed is a fun playground. But that doesn't happen often. We also don't close any of the bedroom doors so if they want to be in the same room, they can be.

someone on this site had a similar issue and they were advised to put the vacuum outside the door with the switch turned 'on', but run the cord into the room and everytime they scratch the door, plug in the vacuum for a second. after you do this a few times, they wont scratch on the door anymore for fear the vacuum will make noise.
hope it helps.

My kitten did this and we ended up putting her in the spare bedroom with her bed, food ,toys and litter. She never cried even from the first time when put in this room but if we leave her out for the night she is really unhappy for some reason. Maybe its just too big a space for her.

I hope she doesnt give him up as I agree with Loveysmummy that the next one could do the very same thing.

my kitten often gives us all a "wake up call" in the morning. She used to meow at my mom's door after she went to bed, but I found a good long playtime before bed helps her stop this. Cant really do anything about the kitty alarm clock though, but it doesnt matter because she does ti afte rmy alrm goes off anyways O_O soemtimes she does it fi i wake up at like 5:30 a half hour before I ahve to actually get up and I move. SHe will bel ike OMg! You are awake! EE!! Play with me! Pet me! LOVE ME! and then she will go to my mom's door and meow cute, but annoying since i always need that last half hour of sleep xD

Thank you to all who have responded! I am going to send your advice on to my friend. I don't think she will give up on the cat, I think she is just very frustrated. I will keep you all posted on her progress.

FelineMom

Tell your friend to enjoy it now....as they get older they get very independant!!! And they might not want to play or sleep with her at night. She should tell her boyfriend that it's only a baby kitten, and the boyfriend needs to grow up.

Ha ha so cute, my kitten does that too.. THis is what she should do.. She should play with her cat for like half an hour before she goes to sleep.. and leav some toys out for the cat to play with .. So true as cats get older the get more independent and basically boring! Right now my kitten follows me everywhere but i kno that soon that is gonna be all over