# Help me, I need my Cat's to let me sleep!



## Themis (Dec 18, 2009)

My Devil-Kittens used to wake us up each morning by scratching and miaowing outside our bedroom door. So now we shut them in the spare room, which is pretty much their room with all of their stuff in. However, this hasn't stopped them from waking us/me (mainly me) up at all hours and it's getting a little too much now. Yesterday it was 6am and today it was 5am so as a result I am really struggling at work today. This must be what it's like to have kids!

The door doesn't close properly so we have a little hook and catch ouside to keep them from getting out. However, this means that they can bang the door, which makes a hell of a racket at 5am I can tell you! We have tried planing the door to make it fit in the frame but it didn't help. They also miaow like they are being tortured. 

I have tried ignoring them but they don't seem to give up, and I just can't sleep through the noise. I'm also getting worried that our downstairs neighbours will be disturbed by it.

Does anybody have any ideas? They are not hungry or thirsty. They just seem to want to get us up. I can't even get annoyed with them because once I do let them out they purr like mad and act all pleased to see me and are just too cute to be mad at.

Oh, and letting them sleep in with us is not an option. They pounce on us, purr in our ears, lick our faces, fight on the end of the bed etc etc.


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2010)

Maybe try black out blinds at the windows as it's the sun coming up that starts them off, but I can sympathise mine have decided that 5am is the time to go crazy mad :scared:


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## Themis (Dec 18, 2009)

That I can do! I had thought it was the sunnier mornings but at 5am this morning it wasn't that bright at all. They must just know!


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## Maistaff (Dec 27, 2009)

Hi There 

I have had this issue with my kitten who is al ittle over 6 months old. 

She has this thing for waking me up at 4am by sucking my hair, kneeding and purring in my face and worst of all licking my nose !!! She also likes to bully my three dogs by doing the same to them :eek6: but the dogs now just get up and move of simply ignore her 

Like you i tried to shut her out but no matter where i put her in the house she goes crazy.

However to be honest the best thing i have found and it has taken a few weeks to work is simply to ignore her. Yes she still wakes me up but i get an extra hour these days so i am up at 5am which isn't bad as i get up at that time anyway to walk my dogs. 

I simply when she starts pick her up and place her on the floor. I am consistant and keep at it and she does give up. A few weeks ago it would take the entire hour but now it only takes me to pick her up and put her down and she stops and goes away to amuze herself.

I know all cats are different but the simple ignore and refuse to give in has worked or is at least working with my girl 

Good luck


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

Themis, I was wondering how quickly the novelty of being in the same room with you at night will wear off and you will get some sleep. 

I am just wondering whether keeping them in a separate room at night will make them even more determined to be with you when you sleep.

When we first had our kittens they were very much the same like yours. They would playfight at the bottom of the bed, they would want cuddles etc. But we just ignored them and now they just sleep either on the bed or in a pad by the bed and only start to want attention the minute we stir.


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## NEW2CATS (Aug 28, 2009)

my cats are put in a seperate room at night too
they tend to miaow and cry at the door anytime between 5am and 6am.
though this is better than the 3am to 4am they were waking me when they slept in my room!!
i try to ignore them up until 6am when i have to get up anyway but like you i live in a flat and i get worried the cats will wake the neighbours. after a while they do usually stop if they realise you are not getting up for them, even if they do start up again 10 minutes later.

ps
i have blackout curtains and it doesnt make a difference!!


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

If anyone knows how to stop this then let me know!! I have had cats all my life & they have ALL done this. I too now have black out curtains but it makes no difference! 
When I used to get up at 7am they would wake me at 6am .... now I get up at 5.15am so they start around 4.30am 
I've tried ignoring them, shouting at them, stroking them.... everything. They just want us to get up & get their breakfast & if we don't they bully us in to submission! It's always been this way with every cat I've ever had


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## Milly22 (Sep 15, 2008)

Is there nowhere else you can put them? 

Mine all sleep downstairs, I do hear them running around and occasionally Poppy attempts to open the door but its not too bad. I have a little room off the kitchen for my boy wich I have to put a bin against as he is clever and jumps up to reach the handle to get through to the girls!


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## Themis (Dec 18, 2009)

4.30am this morning!!! 

There isn't anywhere else I could leave them really. We live in a flat so any room they were in we would still be able to hear them and the room they are currently in is all set up to be 'safe' for them. Ie. nothing they can break or hurt themselves on. I look forward to the day we get a house and I can leave them downstairs. 

Right now they are the only Cats who have their own bedsit in Central London.

My OH stopped them this morning by spraying water through the crack under the door. I am actually thinking of covering the door in tinfoil or some of those sticky anti-scratch strips to see if that deters them.


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## miholove (Dec 28, 2009)

if you're feeding them dry food, maybe you can try automatic cat feeder? i never had them but i think there is something for wet food as well.. my cats were like that too when they were kittens.


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## Themis (Dec 18, 2009)

I feed raw, but they are not hungry anyway. They aren't interested in eating until later in the morningnusually.

They have let me sleep until past 8 the last two mornings though which is a result.


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## jomary-austin (Apr 9, 2009)

I think you may just have to wait until they grow out of it, and they will I promise. 

To be honest I would definitely not shut them in anywhere as in my experience cats and closed doors are not a good combination, its like a red rag to a bull, they just can't bear it and always want to be on the other side of it. My cat is two and he hates it when I go into the bathroom and shut the door, he sits outside bawling like a big girls blouse, but if I let him in with me he's fine (Yes, I know how it sounds....... ).

Its possible that if you let them in with you they will eventually settle down and possible also that you may well get used to it yourself and sleep through all the chaos. It's better than having to listen to them shrieking and trying to bash the door down as that is a horrendous racket. Depends on your sleeping habits though, when Cash was little he would wake me up at silly o'clock bouncing about the bed, I tended to ignore him (I found it quite cute) and he would then come for a little cuddle and we would both drift off to sleep again. Bless. 

Hope they calm down soon, (they sound very sweet).


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## catzz (Apr 8, 2010)

I think they soon get used to it. I shut Rosie in the kitchen for the first few nights and she howled the place down. I let her in our room and the first couple of nights she wanted to play all night. Now however we just have to say "Bed time Rosie and she's up the stairs before us, waits for us to get into bed then gets in with us. She stays in for about half an hour then goes under the bed when she gets to hot and usually climbs back in later in the night. She's really very cute


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## Themis (Dec 18, 2009)

OH wouldn't agree to letting them in with us and I'm not that keen on the idea either. I have tried a couple of times and you just get woken every hour by one of them. Plus I'm a really light sleeper and can't sleep through them running around the room. That's not to mention that one of them always wants to try and 'dig' her way underneath wherever you are lieing. Sounds cute but it hurts!

They don't mind being shut in the room at night, it's only in the morning when they want out. Touch wood they have been better over the past few days.


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## shamykebab (Jul 15, 2009)

Glad they're letting you sleep a bit now! 

(p.s. I don't think some cats grow out of it - my Tabby Terrorist is 9 years old and he still plagues me at 5.00 in the morning.

Scratchscratchscratchscratchscratchscratchscratch...CRASH...scratchscratch....

Aargh, it drives me insane, especially as most of the time he doesn't even want anything! I swear I can hear him chuckling under his breath, the little toad).


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## Aurelia (Apr 29, 2010)

The automatic feeder is a good idea! When I had cats the first time around years ago I had the same problem. After trying lots of different things what worked in the end was the automatic feeder going off around the time they usually started making noise. In the feeder was their favourite treat ... a sprat each :lol: You would have to get one of the feeder with a slot for an ice pack under though, especially with the warm weather starting.

I found it bought me an extra hour or two every day. If they get bored of the treat, try something different, but it has to be something they dont get at any other time to keep them interested. 

The other thing I tried was a baby light show thing that plugs in. Only I had it on a timer switch too  Only tried that every few days though. Just kept them amused for a while. You could possibly even rotate the treats and light show?

One last resort option is a water pistol. Obviously you can't squirt it when kitty is actually on you and in your face, but if you can squirt just a little in kitties direction when it starts, and then again if it restarts (and so on), they will eventually stop. I have done this before when I had a cat with the habit of climbing up on a shelf with delicate items I didn't want breaking. I must stress though, only a little squirt, just enough for them to be wet, not soaked to the skin. They will still love you just the same


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## Themis (Dec 18, 2009)

Yes, I have a little spray bottle. She runs when she gets misted but then "forgets" and goes straight back to it . 

My other kitten just sits there looking at her like 'tut, tut you're in trouble again!'


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## billyboysmammy (Sep 12, 2009)

hmmm

first thing that strikes me before going out and spending a fortune on automatic feeders and baby light shows is to fix the bedroom door???

Get it fixed so that it doesnt bang and closes properly.

Then i too would go down the route of ignoring them, including ignoring them when you do first open the door in the morning. I know you want to see them, and want to give them a fuss, but make them wait. If they realise that they wont get attention the minute you open the door they might realise that harassing you isnt going to get them anywhere anyway.

Hope things improve x


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## jomary-austin (Apr 9, 2009)

I'd dump the OH. My cats come first!!!


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## Themis (Dec 18, 2009)

Well I've not heard much of them this week so thought they had stopped but my OH informed me that I'm actually just no longer hearing them. Oops!


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## billyboysmammy (Sep 12, 2009)

Themis said:


> Well I've not heard much of them this week so thought they had stopped but my OH informed me that I'm actually just no longer hearing them. Oops!


lol! :thumbup:

time to slip some nightnurse into your oh's last cuppa this evening! :001_cool:


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## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

I think the problem lies in the dodgy door handle (or rather,in the fact that the door doesnt close properly) if they can bang the door, then I can imagine that their thinking will be, if we work at this door long enough and hard enough, it will open. You have to do something so theres no give in the door at all. A thick piece of cardboard wedged under the door when its closed? Something like that, just as long as the door doesn't have any give in it. I think the "moveable" door is acting like an invitation to them.


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## buzzmaster (Dec 17, 2009)

My kitty used to do this if i let him upstairs and i found the bst thing is to IGNORE them hard i know especially when they making a noise but the problem being is they are learning that by making a noise that you will react to this and get up and see to them, it is very difficult, for example i only let my kitty outside when i at home and he comes in before it gets dark, he will sit at the back door crying to go out and i used to let him out everytime he did this so he knew, overtime i stopped this so he now knows to sit at back door and meows to let me know  

Also if anyway you can get the door fixed then you are halfway there


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## Themis (Dec 18, 2009)

We tried planing the door but it's actually the metal plate where the handle is that is stopping it from closing. There's nothing we can think of to do except replace the whole door. Rented flat so not gonna happen unfortunately!

Anyway I have solved the problem by putting those sticky anti-scratch strips on the door and touch wood it has stopped them from banging it. I just hear pitiful little miaows now. but I'm sure they will come up with something else!


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## Sonny's Mum (May 10, 2010)

Our kitten did this when we first got him but I then got him a simple mat style bed and put in in between our pillows one night, he came up to sleep in our bed and has now got into a sleep pattern of 10 - 7 which is great. He does give us warnings with the claws though if he thinks that my husband and I get too close and pushes us apart!!

He does impose his dominance occasionally by literally walking across my husbands head during the night or even sleeping with his back end perched on my husbands head - I find it hilarious!!

I hope you get them to settle as it is miserable when they play up xx


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## buzzmaster (Dec 17, 2009)

Themis said:


> We tried planing the door but it's actually the metal plate where the handle is that is stopping it from closing. There's nothing we can think of to do except replace the whole door. Rented flat so not gonna happen unfortunately!
> 
> Anyway I have solved the problem by putting those sticky anti-scratch strips on the door and touch wood it has stopped them from banging it. I just hear pitiful little miaows now. but I'm sure they will come up with something else!


sounds like you now going to be able to catch up with some well deserved sleep  overtime they will gradually settle down and the fact they no longer banging at the door means they getting the message :thumbup:


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