Help stop my cat from waking me up.

Sheep

Meet Zeke.

I love Zeke. Zeke loves me. However, we have drastically different ideas of the meaning "bed time". Where as I think bed time is the time for me to actually go to bed, he thinks its time for me to go to bed and for him to root around my room, knock shit off my dressers, get entangled in the blinds, and gnaw my feet.

So, I have to lock Zeke up in the guest room.

Problem solved?

Hell. No.

Zeke is a knocker. And a rubber. For about 30 minutes post lock up he bangs against the door, rocking it on it's hinges and agaisnt the lock, and makes a horrible racket. Then he starts rubbing his paw up and down the door making a constant rap instead of a steady knocking. Added to his fit at the door is his incessant crying. OUT. OUT. OUT. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. OUT. OUT. OUT.

Eventually something else will get his attention, but the moment he hears my alarm go off, or if I get up to pee, or I fart in my sleep, the knocking, rubbing, and constant meows to be released resume. I suspect he thinks that since I'm up and at it, why shouldn't he?

I know he does it out of love and need to be with his "daddy".

But he needs to know that I love my sleep.

Any solutions?

Ignoring him doesn't work. He's had enough people succumb to the noise that he believes it's merely a matter of "when", and not "if".

bowen

You have to make him get into the habit that bed time is bed time, usually playing with a cat at dusk, for a few days or a week, when they want to sleep until bedtime is enough to make them get into the routine.

Sheep

I've done that. Really.

Even on the nights where he does leave me be, he'll start it back up the moment I make an audible sound outside of snoring.

Javen

Is he your only pet? Do you have a job that keeps you out of the house during the day?

He's probably aligned his own internal clock where alone time is sleep time, and when you're home it's playtime.

One solution would be to get another cat, if ever you desire one. The extra company keeps them more active during the day so nighttime isn't playtime.

EggyToast

When do you feed him?

Sheep

EggyToast wrote: »

When do you feed him?

In the morning.

We have three cats total. The other two don't do this. Zeke picked up the habit when it was just him.

Dracil

Don't lock him in the guest room. Lock him outside your room, so at least he has free roam of the house.

Delzhand

Sorry, man. Can't be done. You can't retrain a cat like that, trust me. Your best bet would be to find something soft to put around the door frame, like a weather strip that will prevent it from moving on it's hinges when it's closed. And get a floor fan to make some ambient noise - the cheaper the fan the better, because you want something loud. If it's too cold you can point it at a wall, or a humidifier works well, too.

These are the tricks we tried to use, but we didn't have the willpower, because our cat was a crier, too. But maybe you'll have better luck than we did.

Namel3ss

I would try a different room if that's possible, followed by working on sound proofing the door/room by making it so it doesn't rattle when hit and a different surface on the inside of the door, like hang carpet down the back side of the door, so when he paws at it, it is non-damaging and silent.

Move the things that can be knocked over and give him a bunch of toys to entertain himself. Allow him to be with the other cats if thats possible.

Maybe let him have the whole rest of the house, but just make a contraption to put in front of your own door to night time kitty proof and then can be put in a closet during the day.

Arminas

My cat did the same thing, to solve this problem, I would be firm about not getting out of bed to let her into the room at night. When it was really bad (like waking me every hour at night), I went and got a spray bottle from Target and then when she was behaving really awful the next time, I cracked the door open and squirted her with some water. She ran off and meowed in the other side of the apartment but eventually gave up. I had to reinforce this only one other time and now she understands that if my door isn't open, I probably want to be left alone. I only block her out on weekdays, soo...

DrZiplock

I feed my two cats on a set schedule.

8 in the morning and 8 at night.

Want to guess what time they start freaking the fuck out for food in the morning? Somewhere around 6. One specifically has figured that if he knocks stuff off the night stand I usually get up to stop him and if that isn't working he chews on shoe laces.

The other just sits in the food room and bawls.


Really the point is, I'm not sure you're going to be able to fix the issue dude. A cat is a cat. You're the pet in the relationship.

TL DR

Spray bottle is your friend. If you sleep alone, then fill a coke can with coins or something, and shake the shit out of it at the cat when you're trying to sleep and he wakes you up, directly after telling him to stop. He'll get the idea quick.

.Tripwire.

DrZiplock wrote: »

Want to guess what time they start freaking the fuck out for food in the morning? Somewhere around 6.

Mine starts scratching and howling as early as 4am!

I would like to advise against locking the cat in the guest room, as someone else in the thread already suggested. You're either depriving her of water/potty access, bringing them into the room each night, or leaving them there permanently - all three options sound, at the least, quite inconvenient. The tight quarters probably makes him only more anxious anyways.

lifeincognito

My sister learned to just hold her cat tightly as she went to sleep to prevent it from running around her room. Just use a free arm to lock Zeke against your body as you drift off and hope for the best. Or do as others suggest and start playing with his sleep schedule, my cats always get baffled when my sister and I come home from college. The presence of people playing with the during the day keeping them up helps them sleep better and not bother us at night.

Beren39

lifeincognito wrote: »

My sister learned to just hold her cat tightly as she went to sleep to prevent it from running around her room. Just use a free arm to lock Zeke against your body as you drift off and hope for the best.

I don't know this cat's temperament but knowing my cat if I locked her tightly into my body for any significant amount of time there would be no sleeping, the best I could hope for is that she wouldn't break the skin with her swipes.

Nappuccino

lifeincognito wrote: »

My sister learned to just hold her cat tightly as she went to sleep to prevent it from running around her room. Just use a free arm to lock Zeke against your body as you drift off and hope for the best.

Is that really safe?

Iceman.USAF

Timothy Leary Come Check Out This Theory wrote: »

Spray bottle is your friend. If you sleep alone, then fill a coke can with coins or something, and shake the shit out of it at the cat when you're trying to sleep and he wakes you up, directly after telling him to stop. He'll get the idea quick.

This.

My cat hates keys. I have no idea why, I must have traumatized him as a kitten. Either way, if I just keep them nearby and give them a jostle he takes off running.

Rikushix

Training cats to leave you alone at night is really, REALLY hard. Notoriously, even.

However, spray bottles are godlike. Use them without mercy.

Saddler

Do you keep dry food out for Zeke at all times? If so, then you don't need to give him canned food in the morning. Give him canned food at night, and let him snack on dry food during the day. Then it won't matter as much when you get up, so hopefully it won't be as exciting for him.

tech_hunter

So something along the lines of a spray bottle might help

I saw this contraption in Walmart in the pet section. its a battery powered sprayer with a freaking motion detector on it. Just set it in front of the door maybe or in the adjacent corner of the door at night and let it do its thing. A side effect may be that the cat may develop a phobia of all closed doors, or maybe just spray bottles with motion sensors on them. Depends on how smart the cat is I guess

MuddBudd

I have a spray bottle I used like twice. My cat become so afraid of it that the mere SIGHT of it now sends her running.

Delzhand

MuddBudd wrote: »

I have a spray bottle I used like twice. My cat become so afraid of it that the mere SIGHT of it now sends her running.

I got to this point when my cat was younger, but I didn't have the heart to keep it up. I didn't want my cat to live in fear of me.

Richard_Dastardly

Do you play with the cat when you get home?

Arrath

The trick is for the cat to fear the spray bottle, not you.

Richard_Dastardly

Canned air works too, plus it's not as messy and the noise itself is enough to get some attention.

Smurph

When I was growing up we would just lock our cats in the basement overnight. They had their food, water, and litter box down there and it was far enough away from the bedrooms that knocking on the door and meowing wouldn't wake anyone up. The basement was heated and there was tons of room / stuff down there for them to play with.

Rikushix

Richard_Dastardly wrote: »

Canned air works too, plus it's not as messy and the noise itself is enough to get some attention.

Didn't think of that. That's a good one too.

SwashbucklerXX

Arrath wrote: »

The trick is for the cat to fear the spray bottle, not you.

Yeah, if he's not a major scaredy cat and is smart enough to know how to keep you up at night, he's probably smart enough to tell the difference between you and the spray bottle. Heck, I have a rather stupid little cat (she gets by on her good looks and sweet personality) who totallly knows the difference.

Not every cat will respond to the spray bottle, but most do. It's definitely worth a try, but you have to be firm about it. Do not give the cat any other attention besides a few quick squirts from the bottle. Don't yell or say anything, just use the bottle.