My kitten, Binx, has begun climbing into my bed at night and pawing at my feet, arms, and hands, as well as leaping around in bed and clawing at the blankets. I don't want to discourage him from being close to me, but I can't sleep at night because he keeps pawing at me and waking me up. He's also begun to use his claws sometimes when he does this. it doesn't seem as if he wants to hurt me, more just that he is playing and doesn't know quite how sharp his claws are. Last night though, he took a swipe at my face and scratched my lip. After that I was sick of the pawing and I took my blankets into my living room and slept on the couch there while Binx was in the bedroom with the door shut. I have a couple of questions:
1) is what he is doing with his paws playful behavior? He'll start pawing without claws and then gradually move them out, like he's testing the waters to see when I'll react. I thought perhaps he was trying to wake me up to play, but when I do sit up he usually runs off. Is this something I need to be wary of so that he doesn't get used to being allowed to scratch people, or will he grow out of the scratching?
2) I try to play with him to tire him out before bed, but it hasn't changed much so far. Do you have any tips for switching over a very nocturnal cat to a more daytime based schedule?
3) Since he claws at my bed so much, does that indicate that I should have more options for him for scratching? He has a small scratching thing (one of those s shaped ones) as well as a cat tree that's carpeted (I don't know if cats usually scratch at those), but he still comes up and scratches at my blankets a lot. I'm not worried about him ruining them (they're fairly inexpensive) so much as the sound it makes and the fact that if I happen to be under the blankets at the time he sometimes ends up scratching me.
Any advice y'all have -- about what aggressive kittens vs. playful kittens look like, and how to deal with scratching blankets, and maybe more importantly, how I might be able to get some sleep -- would be greatly appreciated.
1) is what he is doing with his paws playful behavior? He'll start pawing without claws and then gradually move them out, like he's testing the waters to see when I'll react. I thought perhaps he was trying to wake me up to play, but when I do sit up he usually runs off. Is this something I need to be wary of so that he doesn't get used to being allowed to scratch people, or will he grow out of the scratching?
2) I try to play with him to tire him out before bed, but it hasn't changed much so far. Do you have any tips for switching over a very nocturnal cat to a more daytime based schedule?
3) Since he claws at my bed so much, does that indicate that I should have more options for him for scratching? He has a small scratching thing (one of those s shaped ones) as well as a cat tree that's carpeted (I don't know if cats usually scratch at those), but he still comes up and scratches at my blankets a lot. I'm not worried about him ruining them (they're fairly inexpensive) so much as the sound it makes and the fact that if I happen to be under the blankets at the time he sometimes ends up scratching me.
Any advice y'all have -- about what aggressive kittens vs. playful kittens look like, and how to deal with scratching blankets, and maybe more importantly, how I might be able to get some sleep -- would be greatly appreciated.