Help! My kitty won''t let me sleep...

[sap483]

Calling all kitty parents. My darling little 11week old kitty won't let me sleep through the night. I was adamant about not letting him get into the habit of sleeping in our bed, but both FI and I always fall victim to his crying. So, in our bed he comes. While this alone isn't so bad when he's cute and cuddly and sleeping, he never wants to sleep when we do. He'll wake up several times in the middle of the night and start pouncing on me or climbing the drapes on the window behind our bed or biting FI's toes. How do I make him stop? I've tried playing with him extensively before bed to tire him out- it hasn't worked. I can't kick him out of room, b/c he will sit outside of the door scratching and crying until we let him in. The only good night of sleep I've gotten since we got him is when we went away to visit the in-laws. I'm guzzling espresso like it's water- please help!

 

[Cleopatra]

Oh Sap - I feel your pain....really really feel your pain...My little Cleo is now 8 months old - she''s the first cat I''ve ever owned. She used to constantly whine outside of our bedroom door at 5:30AM every morning.

Do you have an extra bedroom? Or try closing him in the bathroom (or where his litter box is) and throw in a few toys and let him go crazy in there....(just put that toilet seat down

)

Cleo has gotten better. She doesn''t sleep with us and she''s kicked out of the bedroom promptly at 10PM each night. If she whines at the door, we just ignore her and she gets bored and goes off and does her own thing.

I invested in an automatic feeder (Le Bistro). Cleo gets fed every morning at exactly 6AM....I don''t have to get up, and she doesn''t associate me with food anymore....so she doesn''t whine at me in the morning to get her breakfast.

I''m not sure if your kitty just wants to play or is hungry though....

 

[Steel]

Date: 11/27/2007 1:55:02 PM
Author:sap483
Calling all kitty parents. My darling little 11week old kitty won't let me sleep through the night. I was adamant about not letting him get into the habit of sleeping in our bed, but both FI and I always fall victim to his crying. So, in our bed he comes. While this alone isn't so bad when he's cute and cuddly and sleeping, he never wants to sleep when we do. He'll wake up several times in the middle of the night and start pouncing on me or climbing the drapes on the window behind our bed or biting FI's toes. How do I make him stop? I've tried playing with him extensively before bed to tire him out- it hasn't worked. I can't kick him out of room, b/c he will sit outside of the door scratching and crying until we let him in. The only good night of sleep I've gotten since we got him is when we went away to visit the in-laws. I'm guzzling espresso like it's water- please help!

mEOW MEaoW MeaOW MEAow MEaOw MeaOW MEAow

I have a FOOLPROOF cure. Wait 18 months, and he will grow out of it!

Sorry. I know that isn't too helpful.

Cats are wonderful and kittens are mini-wonderful’s full of mischief, beans and meaows just bursting to get out and cause havoc. I wouldn't have them any other way!

So the answer really is simple. You need to set your boundaries. If you want him in the bed at night accept that this is the course of events - you WILL lose sleep.

If sleep is a priority that night or if it is a priority every night put him in the farthest room from you that is comfy and safe for a kitty. Sleep with a comfy blanket or towel for a night or two so that it smells of the 2 of you and at night settle (shove

) kitty in that room (shut the door) with a scratching post, (non noisy) toys and your blanket. I put food and water down but that is your choice. That’s it.

I put the mitten (in my avatar) in the kitchen at night cause she is LOCO

at night and in the morning we are all cuddles; I had a good nights sleep and she is full of havoc for a new day. I admit though, when DH is away I have the cats in with me for company. Once in a while I cannot resist them, even if they are loco. Rattling this, banging that, crackling paper, shredding cardboard, tinkling perfume bottles, drinking my water from the bedside glass, jumping on my head, attacking my feet, scratching my bum and best of all cuddling up for a snooze

(well, for at least 45 seconds!

).

Cats! Love 'em.

Best of luck!

 

[AmberGretchen]

You basically have two options:

1. Let kitty keep sleeping with you. DH and I have always had our kitties sleep with us (although he was adamantly against it to begin with), and everyone has adjusted. If you''re going to do this, I HIGHLY recommend a spray bottle with water in it, placed on the bedside table. After a short period of time, you probably won''t need to do anything more than reach for the spray bottle when you want kitty to stop doing whatever he/she is doing.

2. Put your foot down on not sleeping with you. This will require fortitude, because the only way this will work is to IGNORE kitty. Absolutely no exceptions (except, of course, indications of medical distress of some kind from kitty). It may take a few weeks to sink in, but as soon as kitty realizes that no matter what kinds of noises he/she makes outside the door, there is NO ATTENTION WHATSOEVER forthcoming, he/she will find other sources of amusement.

On a separate but related note, 11 weeks is very young (think of a toddler or slightly older), and most cat behavior experts I know strongly suggest adopting two at that young age. Ours were infinitely less trouble because they always had a playmate and could amuse each other instead of bothering us or destroying stuff in the house. If its at all possible, you might want to seriously consider a playmate for your kitten.

 

[zoebartlett]

I was also going to suggest getting a playmate for the kitty. We did that and it was the best thing in the world. We got our female kitten just 2 months before we got our male kitten (they're from different litters). We felt bad leaving her alone by herself when we weren't home. It was a brief adjustment period...a whopping one hour maybe. They're both a year old now and they're great together.

I'm sorry you're not getting any sleep! I have no other advice except to echo what AmberGrechen wrote.

 

[anchor31]

FI and I had that problem. If we closed the door, one of our cats would start meowing her throat out 2-4 times a night. If we let the door open, she wouldn''t let us sleep. We tried ignoring her, but it didn''t work. We wanted to try to spray her with water, but when she heard us get up, she''d go hide.

So we decided to let the door open for a while an see what happens, while warning our naughty furball that we would have to give her away if she didn''t let us sleep. We were seriously considering it... We couldn''t sleep properly because of her and our performances at school/work were greatly impaired. Plus, I don''t think the neighbours appreciated it more than we did...

At firt she was all excited to be allowed in the room, so she''d jump on us and stuff, but after a week or so, the novelty wore off and she started settling between our legs or better yet, on a school bag on the floor. I can''t use that bag anymore, but hey, it''s worth being able to sleep at night!

She is a little naughty on occasion, but it''s been over a month now and we sleep just fine!

Good luck!

 

[sap483]

Thanks for all of the good advice ladies. The kitty has had some stomach issues the last few days (took him to the vet today- boy was it an experience), so I''m going to wait until he''s feeling better before I try anything. He was a bit better last night and fell asleep pretty quicky and stayed asleep most of the night. He did wake up once and cry and then again pretty close to the time FI wakes up, but overall it wasn''t as bad as it had been. We have thought about getting him a playmate. My only concern with that is that I have some cat allergies. I''m afraid that with two cats it won''t be manageable. It''s not out of the question, but I really need to think about it.

 

[misysu2]

I don''t think you can expect kitty to sleep the whole night. In scientific terms, they''re cathemeral animals, which means that they''re neither nocturnal or day-time animals-- they sleep in spurts, night and day, which is why kitties are always depicted as such lazy animals (sleeping through the day).

What may work is if you give kitty a space of her own. Get a cozy cat bed, line it with something that smells like you, and put it on the floor either in your room or in a different room, with some of her toys. Try to coax, train her to sleep in her bed. My cat loved his bed for a while, then got tired of it. They even make beds with cat nip lined in it! Maybe your kitty will love it like mine and get tired of it right around the 18 mo mark!

 

[Lorelei]

At 11 weeks he is still a baby and he will naturally spend a lot of time playing! He will grow out of it eventually. I also echo AG''s advice that a playmate might be a good idea!

 

[sap483]

Hi Miysu, thanks for your reply! Kitty owns not one but two cat beds- really cozy ones too. I bought him one (it''s round, made out of a material that feels slightly suede like, and has a round removable cushion in the middle) the day we got him, and of course he only used it to pounce on. I tried moving him into it whenever he would fall asleep elsewhere to get him in that habit, but he would immediately wake up, move back to where he was and fall back asleep. So we thought maybe it was that particular bed, and got him a different kind (this one''s deeper and stiffer on the outside but is lined really well with a cozy with a sherpa like fabric). He doesn''t like this bed either.

I don''t expect him to sleep through the entire night- I''m just wishing that he could find something else (preferable outside of our room) to amuse him when he does wake up.

 

[misysu2]

Aww, sap, since she already has a bed, I think the answer''s clear-- she just wants to sleep by her mommy!! Haha! Don''t worry too much about it. You may have some less than sleepful nights, but she will hopefully grow out of this phase soon. Maybe if you keep your door open, she''ll be more comfortable knowing she can go eat and play but still get to you in the night when she wants to see you. Especially as she gets a little older, more independent, and more comfortable in the house.

 

[tberube]

OH NO! Sap, you''ve already scr*wed yourself! You have already taught the little guy that if he cries and scratches, he will be answered. The key is to teach the little baby with consistency. We don''t let our guy in the room with us at night either, and if he cries he doesn''t get let in so he knows it''s futile. Sometimes he still cries, though. When he does, we use our second line of defense: we''re lucky enough to have doors downstairs that close off the kitchen/livingroom area from the stairwell so there''s two boundaries. Then if he knows he''s not close to us (e.g. only one doorway away) he usually doesn''t cry. See, the whole point is if he doesn''t know there''s a game to be played, he won''t try. It''s not that he''s lonely, he just knows that''s the way it goes.

If at all possible, try locking him farther away from your bedroom at night, so you don''t hear him crying and therefore aren''t forced to answer him.

 

[marvel]

Is your kitty something like this.