One of my cats gets up too early. Suggetions?

[AllisonUK]

My 3 year old cat Heidi gets up at 3am and insists on getting into our room. We've tried playing with her before we go to be to make her tired. We try locking the door but she scratches at it constantly until we let her in. We both work and come home to two very sleepy cats. Our other 3 year old is the purrfect pussy. Not demanding at all yet extremely loveable. I need to get some unbroken sleep and short of getting sleeping tablets from the Vet I don't know what to do. Has anyone any suggestions?

Yours, a very tired kitty lover from England.

[Pam]

AllisonUK....You are not alone!! I think everyone who is owned by a cat has experienced loss of sleep! If you browse through some of the previous posts, such as a topic started a few months ago (link below), you will see how some of us have dealt with this. My cat, Andy, still tries to wake me up early occasionally but it has lessened somewhat lately. I am usually quite successful just banning him from my room if it gets too bad. My other cat, Trevor, is a "door thumper" so it's sort of hard to ignore him. Here's hoping you get some relief soon, but I just wanted you to know I sympathize!
http://petoftheday.com/talk/Forum9/HTML/000026.html

[Troy]

Pam, I have just read the topic you mentioned and I was amazed at the fact people seemed to be assuming cats are day creatures! 4 Feline house was the first to aknowledge that cats are nocturnal - dawn and dusk are prime hunting times for our feline friends.

Fortunately mine love sleeping and can freely come and go from my bedroom as they please - this stops me going crazy as one of them knows how to open doors (depending on the handle) and they both have a yeoowwl that not only wakes me but I'm sure the neighbours stir as well

Allison I assume that Heidi is an indoor cat that is not allowed in your bedroom at night?
How long has Heidi been doing this and does he ever give up or do you find that you have to get up to stop him? You could try getting up as soon as you hear her and growl her followed by locking her in the laundry for the rest of the night. She will learn quickly to associate her midnight calls on your room with being stuck in the washhouse for the rest of the night very quickly. This may be a nuisance to start with but will probably be worth the effort.

I must say that I would stongly encourage any method above sleeping tablets as they do not provide an animal (or human) proper rest due to the fact sedatives deprive the brain of REM during sleep which is what rests our brain. You would probably find you'd end up with a very tetchy animal with a drug addiction...

Let us know how it goes, and good luck!

[AllisonUK]

Troy I must admit that my comment about sleeping tablets was really meant as a joke and I do actually agree with you. I know that cats are generally nocturnal creatures but I will admit that my two babies are my first cats as I had a dog before. I got them when they were a few weeks old from the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). I have recently moved and been here 6 months now but at my old place Heidi had the odd hiccup at night but was generally a good girl. Can new surroundings have contributed to her change in behaviour? I know that the garden here is not as big as our other and that the neighbourhood has quite a number of cats but both Heidi and Serena don't seem too keen to go out during the day unless Paul or I are in the garden. Serena used to spend most of her time in the garden during the day at the old house and doesn't do that now although the weather has been quite cold so I can understand her reluctance. Advice via this website is ever so helpful. I been reading the historic information for a few days now and have got some really good tips.

[Troy]

Sorry about the sleeping tablet misunderstanding...although I have actually heard of some cases where people do this to their pets, and worse to their children!

I have moved several times with my two cats and have had relatively good luck. They both love exploring the outside world and spend a lot of time outside during the night. They do tend to come inside if the weather is bad, fruit-bats are around, or one of the big neighbourhood toms is on the lurk. Boredom and bad weather are the two main reasons that they will actually annoy me during the night - thankfully, since I have returned from the UK the latter is not usually a problem.

It may also be the Heidi is getting used to the neighbourhood or simply has a problem with one of the other cats - Does she get into fights or show signs of actually being scared of the other cats?

[AllisonUK]

The cat flap I was using has a magnetic device on it but at the beginning they were having difficulty getting in so I taped down the mechanism that prevented other cats getting in. One morning I went down stairs to find that a cat had got in but because the cat flap was set at in only (went to bed with one of the cats still out you see) There was quite a commotion but we eventually shepherded it out.

The magnets now work so this situation has not repeated itself. (My girls were coming though at too high an angle for the magnet to work.)

The only other situation was a couple of weeks ago when Heidi was chased in by another cat and now needs the light on in the garden before she ventures out.

By the way, tried the growling trick last night as Heidi was trying to get in the wardrobe and off she ran. She returned in the middle of the night and joined Serena on my bed and we all slept soundly until about 6am when it was me that got up.

Thanks for the help, Regards, Allison

[This message has been edited by AllisonUK (edited January 15, 2001).]

[thelmalu99]

Hi, Allison
Just thought I'd share my morning stories with you.
My Charlie loves to wake me in the morning (or in the middle of the night-it makes no difference to him) by "stealing" my pillow from me. He will just plop his little butt right down on my head and make himself comfortable. So, I decide to let him have that pillow and take the other one for myself. Before I know it, he's on top of my head again! When he finally decides to settle down, he puts his head next to mine on the pillow and ever so gently puts his little paw on my cheek, touches my nose with his, and goes to sleep. I have no idea where he learned to Eskimo-kiss like that, but it's the sweetest thing. He knows I can't stay mad after that!

[Martin]

Alison,
One of my cats, Black gets in between my feet and goes to sleep, the other, Red, gets his face as close to mine as he can and then goes to sleep, often lying on my chest with his chin resting on mine! I think he likes the heat from my breath. I don't mind what either of them do, but its sometimes a bit of a shock when I wake up with Red peering at me!

[AllisonUK]

Just thought I'd give you an update. Troy's idea of growling has worked a treat and I haven't had to do anything but that. Once I growl Heidi either curls up on the end of the bed and goes to sleep or goes off to her cradle for the night. She does pop in now and again to check I'm OK though.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Yours, a very rested kitty owner.

[Troy]

...I'm glad you are well rested

[jcohick]

Allison,
My husband is a very light sleeper. My cat Sammy is also a 3AM riser. He would howl and walk on our heads wanting us to get up. Our dog Willow sleeps like a log at the foot of the bed, but she is big and we don't have room for our feet. After many sleepless nights, I finally gave up and tossed Sammy out into the garage. Then I felt sorry for him and put our dog Willow in the garage with him. Of course, I spent 30 minutes or so making them an amazingly comfortable warm bed and getting food, water and a litter pan set up. After a week or so, they started waiting together at the garage door to go to bed. They love it. When I wake up in the morning and open the garage door, they are snuggled together in their bed and usually don't want to get up. It is amazing. Of course, we live in Virginia Beach where the weather is very moderate. It rarely gets below the 40's even in the wintertime.

We sleep very well now and so do they.