Cat People - Help!

[Cleopatra]

Ok - I have a kitten - well - she is almost 6 months old - and I''ve had her for about 3 and 1/2 months. I adopted her from a rescue shelter and she is the first cat I''ve ever had. I don''t know if I''m "raising" her correctly because I''ve only had dogs my entire life - so I''m ready for some frank advice.
Cleo loves attention, and I give it to her all the time. When night comes, she curls up with FI and I and we are more than happy to cuddle. She falls asleep and everything is fine until around 12:00 when she wakes up and wants to play - so we kick her out of the room and let her do her own thing and she eventually falls asleep in her little cat bed in the living room.
But around 5:00, she comes to the door and meows like crazy (let me in let me in!!!) - I have an automatic feeder that drops food around 5:30 and when it does drop the food, she doesn''t run to it and get excited like most cats, so i know she''s not meowing for food - it''s for the attention.
How can I get Cleo to sleep/at least let US sleep? Any suggestions or anyone went through the same thing?
I''m not at my breaking point or anything - i love her to death and will deal with this, but i need to try something! Should we not let her sleep with us? Should we close the door when we go to bed?
Thanks to all you experts in advance!

 

[Cleopatra]

And just for reference....Here is little Cleo swatting at the camera neck cord...as you can see, she''s a baaaaad kitty - ha

 

[Lorelei]

I have raised many kittens to adulthood, and I tend to find around 6 months is a crazy age for them, they are into everything and play play play all the time, unless they are sleeping and eating! This behaviour will wear off in time, so firstly, try to enjoy the fun of watching her learn about the world while you can, as she won't do this forever ( unlikely!) Cats are crepuscular which means they are most active at dawn and dusk, perhaps I would not let her sleep with you for the time being and try to ignore her crying to be let in, it may take a few days but the crying should stop if you persevere. Other than that, you could try having a good game with her in the evening to see if that settles her down so she will spend the night quietly with you, but bear in mind this is a natural phase of her development and she will calm down once she gets a little older probably.

Also she is stinkin' cute!!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Aww, so cute! I adopted one of my cats (Binks) at 4-5 months and he was pretty crazy. I discovered that putting him in the bathroom at night with water, food, a few toys, and his cat bed worked great. He could do his own thing early in the morning and he wasn''t crying at my door (or jumping on my bed-I lived in a astudio at the time). Eventually he learned that when he went in the bathroom it was bed time.

 

[Cleopatra]

Thank you both Hudson and Lorelei

! I really needed someone to tell me to stop letting Cleo sleep with us. FI just adores this little kitty and won''t hear of letting her sleep alone and that I''m cold and cruel for even suggesting that the cat sleep outside of our room! ha! I keep saying that if she sleeps outside, maybe she will break the connection that our room is HER room.

I just feel so bad when I hear those pathetic little meows at our door - she even knows how to crackle her voice to make it seem as though she is desperate for our love

It just breaks my heart! Ha! SHe sure does have us wrapped around her little paws.

And you know how it is - Picture this: 5AM - you want to get all you can out of those few extra minutes of sleep - but the cats is meowing like a freighttrain. Do you try to ignore her and realize that sleep is futile and will never happen, or do you give in, open the door and get a few more minutes of peaceful sleep despite the cat sitting on your face waiting for you to play....It''s just so darn tough! I need to come up with a solution....thanks for the advice girls!

 

[Lorelei]

Hehehe...you are welcome! I well know how upsetting those pitiful croaky and frantic wails can be to cat parents!!

I know you will work it out, nothing stopping you from trying each method for a few days until you find the right one, but remember she is still a playful baby and will calm down in time!

 

[lovelee]

Awww, I remember when my baby was that little. Now he''s a big fat boy. Well maybe not that fat, but big nonetheless.

Anyways, I had the same problem when he got to that age. I tried kicking him out of the room but I just couldn''t stomach it.
Plus, snuggling with him at night was really more for my sake than his.

So what I did that worked pretty well was not letting him sleep during the day.
It did kind of break my heart to keep waking a sleepy tired kitty, but by the time that bedtime rolled around, he was so sleepy, that after about a week, he wasn''t a problem at all. If he did get up at night and come and poke at me, lick me, or butt heads with me to wake me for a play session, I would just pretend to stay asleep. After about a month of trying to wake me up at night, he finally got the message. Now when he wants to play at night, he just goes to the living room and does his own thing. Then, he lays at the foot of my bed watching for me to open my eyes, and as soon as I do, it''s game over. Then we have our mandatory 15-30 minute morning cuddle session.

 

[Haven]

Oh, Cleopatra, she is adorable!

Everyone is absolutley right, she is in her crazy wildcat stage right now, and her behavior sounds completely normal for a kitty her age.

You know what we do when our kittens seem starved for attention? We adopt siblings for them! I wish I could say I'm kidding, but I'm not--FI adopted one cat close to two years ago, Vince, and he need constant attention and interaction. He was literally driving FI crazy, so we did a lot of research and dug up all of these studies about how felines aren't the loners that people think they are, and they need companions, so we went and found our little Manny to give Vince a brother (and Manny was just too darn cute, he HAD to come home with us Well, wouldn't you know it? We ended up meeting a teeny tiny guy (in my avatar) about a month after we adopted Manny and it was love at first sight, so FI adopted Geddy to make three boys. I have two little old ladies myself, so when we get married it is going to be a madhouse!

Anyway, I'm not really suggesting you adopt a second kitty, but there are a lot of little furbabies out there who need homes . . .

 

[Haven]

Errr . . . double post. Sorry.

 

[VegasAngel]

Cute kitty.

My cat is 5 & still does the meowing at the door crap. She squishes her face right under the door & does this ridiculously annoying cry. I squirt her with a water gun

- I dont even open the door I just aim it at the space under the door.

 

[sumbride]

My kitten is also about 6 months old. He woke me up at 3:30 am by purring so loud in my ear and trying to snuggle. And then he dropped his toy on my face. I sort of pushed him away and he left me alone.

When cats want to play they go to the source... and in that case it''s you... and they can''t tell time or know that the middle of the night is for sleeping. I went through the same thing with Lucy, but she was about 1 and a half when I adopted her... but it was a delayed kittenhood for her. In your case, you need to give him another source. Make sure he has other toys to play with elsewhere. And if that doesn''t work, ear plugs do.

good luck!

 

[Cleopatra]

LOL Vegas! Sounds JUST like the solution that FI suggested we try - only problem is - I''m the one who wakes up with the meowing and not him - and I don''t have good aim!

 

[Steel]

I have had the pleasure of raising 3 lunatic kittens and am sorry to say there comes a short time when sleeping with mummy and daddy is not an option. But I do not shut the kitten out, I choose a room far away from the bedroom, usually the kitchen and lock them in all night. He or she cam meaoooooooooow all night long to no effect.

Choose your cat night bedroom based on proximity to your bedroom, if he or she likes rattley toys put down a mat so they do not wake you up with play. Put lots of toys and a nice scratchy post down.

Our youngest ''mitten'' is in the ''in between stage'' at about 3 months. She sleeps with us till about 3am ish then goes to join Henry in the kitchen for frolics and wailing. Hubbie and I sleep like logs!

Ps. Mitten likes an ''inside out'' soft dressing gown as her special sleepy night time bed. Allowed really only at ight when she is fecked out of our bedroom. It is special and we like to think it comforts her. She especially likes the seams. So perhaps buy a very soft blanket to put down for bedtime?

Pps. Ohhh Ohhh, put the blanket or towel whatever in your bed for a night or two and it will have ''eau de mommy and daddy''. Awh Bless.

 

[FireGoddess]

They are kind of spastic at that age.

I do what I can in terms of trying to tire them out before I go to bed - really play with the wand toy and get the kitty running and jumping all over the house so that they''re kinda conked out and will sleep more. However, at 5 am she may just be looking for more play or companionship. I try to leave toys out that are interesting for them to play with on their own (toys that have treats they need to work for inside, etc).

 

[sumbride]

Also, you may want to put some toys away at night based on the noise quotient. Jack loses his bell toys at night. They have to go to sleep and only "wake-up" when we do. he pouts for a second but then is on to something else. With Lucy, all fishing-wand style toys were locked in the linen closet at night because I got tired of having them brought to me while I was asleep.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Kittens are MONSTERS! I kept telling my husband that I''d only adopt adult cats after seeing my first cat in action. But, of course, he came home with a few kittens and now we love them. When they use to claw at the door, we would splash a cup of water on them. lol They hated that!

Now they''re a year and a half old and the water didn''t doing any lasting harm to their cuddling level. Now they sleep (most of the time) through the night on our beds.