cats at night

[muddygrl]

would it be cruel to keep Teddy in a bedroom by himself at night? I kind of hate to. But he knows that as his room anyway, with the litterbox and food in there. My husband gets up at 4 30 am to go to work. He is a major creature of habit. we are both worried that he'll trip over Teddy or forget about him and let him out or something.   Also he doesn't want Teddy getting on the bed.

 

[betsygee]

Has Teddy slept in that room alone before--does he have a comfy bed in there or one you can put in there for him?  He might be fine with being in there.  I'd test it out to see.  Where does he usually sleep?  Does he get the run of the house during the day?

 

[muddygrl]

Teddy is new to our home. We got him last Friday. So he's been in that room for a week without roaming the house. After his first vet visit we let him out to roam the house and explore. He does pretty good during the day but till last night we had not tried letting him out at night. Last night I let him stay out. He did ok, but I kept waking up too and hearing him. He got on the table and was rattling something around. The table is not something I want him on anyway but the noise was bothering me. So I put him back in "his" room. He scratched at the door for a while then stopped. He was super happy when I let him out when I woke up later. But if it's not cruel I think I'd rather have him "go to bed" in his room than roam the house like a night owl at night. we had cats growing up and they were always loose at night. One of mine then would sleep on my feet in bed. I don't mind that. But I worry about them bothering my husband in bed more than me. And also I am a much lighter sleeper now than I used to be.

 

[betsygee]

I don't think it's cruel if he gets used to being in his room and is okay with it.  Perhaps a night light in that room would help, or a radio with soothing music.  And maybe after he's been with you longer, gets used to the house and both of you, he'll be better with being out at night without disturbing you.  We have three cats who sleep in the 'cat room' at night and three who stay out.  The ones who stay out sometimes sleep with us, but they also have their favorite places to sleep around the house and in general, they don't bother us during the night.  

(Waking us up to get breakfast in the morning is a whole different story!)