Help..odd behavior problem

[foxytowgrl11]

Background

My little Monster is a neutered domestic short hair about 1 year old.

My daughter found him and his 2 female littermates in a dumpster when they were around 3 days old.(eyes were not open yet and opened about 7 days later) I bottle fed all three kittens and still have them today. The girls will occasionally engage in the problem behavior but only when I am awake and actually cuddling them.

Problem

Monster loves his mommy, but he has a bad habit I can not seem to fix. Monster likes to knead in my hair, usually the top and sides of my head with sharp claws in the scalp, in the middle of the night, several times a night.It not only wakes me up but it also hurts. My head is full of little tiny scratches.

I cannot lock him out of the room as there is no door.

I do not want to hurt or scare him

It wakes me from a sound sleep so a spray bottle would not work (he stops when I move)

Any ideas are greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Welcome to TCS! 

For a short term fix, perhaps trimming his claws or trying Soft Paws out?  They are nail caps that you basically glue on.  

One of my mother's cats likes to sleep in her arms and kneads her armpit; leaving it sore the next day.  It eventually got to the point where she just didn't let him lay between her body and arm anymore.  It's hard to keep redirecting them while you are supposed to be sleeping!  I'm curious what others might have to say.  It might help my Mother too!

 

[foxytowgrl11]

Thanks..I have considered the Soft Paws things as a solution. I was concerned that kitties would just sharpen through them???? I am def gonna try it though!!!! I will let you know if it works.
 

 

[tizzlah]

This is why I shut Leo out of our room at night, he just goes for my hair! Its rather annoying. But he also goes for it if I wear it down.

 

[tammyp]

It is a cute thing tho - he thinks you are his mommy and is kneading you just like he would have to make mom-cat's milk flow (the behaviour continues, being associated with 'good enjoyable things', which is why you see cats knead).

Try to programme your sleeping self to emit a distressed/hurt mommy-cat sound when he wakes you with this behaviour.  I have heard it worked in a similar situation.

Our cat is really smart, but we can attest to a 3 day turnaround when modifying behaviour that is not good for when we want to sleep.  Its not the same behaviour as in your situation, but we do use sounds to modify it, and it works - plus a sound is pretty easy to do even if you are more asleep than awake!

You may need to associate the sound with getting shut out of the room if the sound by itself doesn't work.  It will take a few nights of getting up to shut cat out (immediately as you make the sound), but if he is anything like ours, where the bedroom is paradise, its a heavy punishment.