Hi, all. I hope you can give me some help. Quick backstory; I have 2 cats. Fred, a 5 year old orange tabby, and Ralph an 8 month old kitten. I adopted Ralph when he was 4 months old, Fred I’ve had for 4 years. Ralph is a very busy kitten, there’s not many moments where he isn’t moving. He does not snuggle, he does not like to be held, he likes being the more traditional cat. Fred is pretty much the opposite. He grooms me, he sleeps on my pillow, and is always in my lap.
Ralph and Fred have a very platonic relationship. There’s no mutual grooming, there’s no cuddling. There is sleeping in the bed together, being on different levels of the cat tree together, playing chase and eating together. However, Ralph doesn’t know when to stop playing. He wakes up with my husband at around 4:30am. From the time hubby leaves at 5:15 to about 7:30, all I hear is Fred screaming, hissing, growling and running through the house. Fred sleeps until about 10am, I know he just isn’t in the mood at 5am. I’m not sure what Ralph is doing to get such a reaction from Fred, when I get up all activity stops. I don’t think he is physically hurting him, Fred doesn’t have any wounds. I’ve tried locking Ralph in our bathroom for 10 minutes when it gets like this, but he’s caught on. Now he runs from me and by the time I can catch him he’s forgotten what’s happened.
So, what do I do? Do I lock Ralph up at night and let him out when I get up? Or have my husband put him up when he gets up in the morning? I work nights, I just cannot be up with Ralph in the morning. He has plenty of toys that he can play with, he eats a big dinner at night and he does get up in the middle of the night at some point and have about an hour of romping and then comes back to bed. I have used Feliway but haven’t noticed a difference.
Does anyone have any advice? I’m willing to do anything. I just need some sleep!
Ralph and Fred have a very platonic relationship. There’s no mutual grooming, there’s no cuddling. There is sleeping in the bed together, being on different levels of the cat tree together, playing chase and eating together. However, Ralph doesn’t know when to stop playing. He wakes up with my husband at around 4:30am. From the time hubby leaves at 5:15 to about 7:30, all I hear is Fred screaming, hissing, growling and running through the house. Fred sleeps until about 10am, I know he just isn’t in the mood at 5am. I’m not sure what Ralph is doing to get such a reaction from Fred, when I get up all activity stops. I don’t think he is physically hurting him, Fred doesn’t have any wounds. I’ve tried locking Ralph in our bathroom for 10 minutes when it gets like this, but he’s caught on. Now he runs from me and by the time I can catch him he’s forgotten what’s happened.
So, what do I do? Do I lock Ralph up at night and let him out when I get up? Or have my husband put him up when he gets up in the morning? I work nights, I just cannot be up with Ralph in the morning. He has plenty of toys that he can play with, he eats a big dinner at night and he does get up in the middle of the night at some point and have about an hour of romping and then comes back to bed. I have used Feliway but haven’t noticed a difference.
Does anyone have any advice? I’m willing to do anything. I just need some sleep!