Cat behaviour problem

[Vintage Paw]

My previous two cats were female and never did any of this. My current boy cat turns into Satan at precisely 4am most mornings.

He sleeps on the bed anyway, on my side, but I'm so used to it now my legs find their natural place around him, so that's fine.

What happens at 4am, however, is that he decides to casually jump off the bed, then start eating the phone cable, the hair dryer, my hair straighteners, various plastic bags that are around about. I can lie there and ignore it, but Mr Paw gets ridiculously frustrated by it, and really angry. He jumps out of bed, piles random clothes over whatever Charlie is trying to eat (creating a barricade of clothing around cables etc) and picks him up and puts him back on the bed, where then it's my turn to try and placate him by stroking him.

He, of course, just jumps right off again to hunt more electrical items.

Most nights it takes until at least 5am to calm him down, sometimes until 6am.

He can get through our doors, so locking him downstairs does no good whatsoever.

I'm positive if we just ignored him he'd get bored and fuck off after a while, but Mr Paw gets so uptight about it and can't stand hearing even one rustle of a plastic bag, or one nom nom nom of a cable.

 

[cyberfairy]

He can get through our doors, so locking him downstairs does no good whatsoever.

Truly a cat worthy of the name Satan!

 

[rhod]

Perhaps the MOST annoying thing, is that having woken up everybody and had its brekkie, it's not too long before the cat has settled into its morning slumber

 

[geminisnake]

NB I'm in the "shut them in downstairs" brigade too. You need two doors between you and them really.

Us too. I'm a light sleeper and if a cat woke me up it would possibly end up flying
I can also be a gnarly cow if I get woken up.

I'd go with the waterpistol idea if you can't shut them out of the bedroom. Squirt them with water til they sod off.

Btw people with cats who can open handles, have you considered jamming the door handle with a broom handle? Was the only way we could get son to stay in his room when he was younger

 

[Stig]

Perhaps the MOST annoying thing, is that having woken up everybody and had its brekkie, it's not too long before the cat has settled into its morning slumber

No. The MOST annoying thing, is when you eventually get up and drag your sorry half asleep arse into the kitchen, blink at the catfood bowls, and they're still half full! And when you put new food down, they look at it, look at you as if to say ah, food, that's good then. and walk straight past it out into the garden!!!

 

[Stig]

Us too. I'm a light sleeper and if a cat woke me up it would possibly end up flying
I can also be a gnarly cow if I get woken up.

I'd go with the waterpistol idea if you can't shut them out of the bedroom. Squirt them with water til they sod off.

I wouldn't describe myself as gnarly. More, er, pleasantly disgruntled.

Others may disagree.

*goes internet shopping for best water based offensive weapons money can buy*

 

[Hellsbells]

god i'm glad i have lots of doors in my house! My cats are banned from all bedrooms at all times of the day. And they know it!
I think they're a bit scared of what might be in these rooms now as they always dart off whenever i open a bedroom door

 

[May Kasahara]

Perhaps the MOST annoying thing, is that having woken up everybody and had its brekkie, it's not too long before the cat has settled into its morning slumber

My boyfriend often makes a point of disturbing Malcolm's (the boycat's) morning kip - the cat will open one eye and give him this hilarious 'oh grow up' look, then go back to sleep instantly

 

[moose]

So, overwhelming opinion says: lock them out of your room! Man the barricades! Take no prisoners!
Whereas in actual fact, you all seem to be harbouring cats under your duvets.
Urban, I despair.
I think I'm going with the no sleep ever again option, because I wubs them, look at the lovely kitten look at it's lovely nose, etc etc etc.

That pretty much sums it up And of course if they're not poking your eyes out at 5am, you start to worry about them being eaten by foxes, or abducted by aliens, and have to get up anyway to look for them....

 

[rich!]

I notice that "they're annoying me" threads come under "cat" not "kitteh"
Always wondered what the difference was.

 

[Jazzz]

solutions...

I found this article again by googling 'hoover eater of kitties'

Early AM Wakeups

Cats are notorious for waking their owners up at oh-dark-thirty. If you wish to stop this, there are several steps to take.

The cat may simply be hungry and demanding its food. By feeding it when it wakes you up at an ungodly hour, you are simply reinforcing its behavior. If this is why it's waking you up, you can handle this either by filling the bowl just before you go to sleep so it will not be empty in the morning, or by ignoring the cat's wakeups and feeding it at the exact same time convenient to you every morning. The cat will adjust fairly quickly to the second.

If it is trying to play, there are again several tactics you can try. If you make a practice of tiring it out with play just before bedtime, you can reduce its calls for play at dawn. What works in some cases is to hiss gently at the cat. You can also try shutting it out of the bedroom. If it pounds on the door, put it in a bathroom until you wake up.

In persistent cases, try the vacuum cleaner, eater of noisy kitties. Go to bed, leaving him out in the hall. Position the vacuum cleaner next to the door, inside it. Plug the vacuum in, and arrange things so you can switch the vacuum on from your bed (eg, wire a switch into an extension cord). Wait for the scratching and wailing at the door. Turn the vacuum cleaner on. If cat comes back, turn it on again. The cat will eventually decide to stop bothering you in the morning.

source

 

[pogofish]

This is normal behavoiur IME.

A few "flying lessons" tend to sort the problem nicely.

 

[Epona]

If you get up and feed them, you are training them to wake you up!

As difficult as it is, ignore them completely - duvet over the head if necessary. Any kind of reaction from you is rewarding their behaviour.

Secondly, don't feed within 20 minutes of getting up. If you always feed them as soon as you get up, they will link the 2 events and when they get peckish will wake you for breakfast. Leaving a gap of 20-30 minutes between getting up and feeding them will mean they don't associate the events. The same with letting them outdoors if that applies, or if it will apply when they're older.

They will calm down a bit as they get older, but if they are getting rewarded with food by waking you up, they will always remember that as a way to get food.

Having used these methods when they were young and impressionable, my 2 are usually good in the mornings and will wait until I get up to start pestering me for food and attention

 

[Stig]

Secondly, don't feed within 20 minutes of getting up. If you always feed them as soon as you get up, they will link the 2 events and when they get peckish will wake you for breakfast. Leaving a gap of 20-30 minutes between getting up and feeding them will mean they don't associate the events.

DOH!! didn't think of that! That's really good advice, thanks.

I won't do it again.

 

[Stig]

I found this article again by googling 'hoover eater of kitties'

If you make a practice of tiring it out with play just before bedtime, you can reduce its calls for play at dawn

source

I started doing this last night. Every time i saw a snoozing kitten it was playtime! Can't have any of that snoozing! They didn't seem to mind too much!

 

[Stig]

Still, the thing that saved the day in the end was rhod and geminisnake, who are my heroes, with the water pistol!

I slept a complete night's sleep last night with only the bare minimum of waking up to take aim and fire. Result!

 

[Superape]

I like the cats to sleep with me

 

[sojourner]

Mr Paw gets so uptight about it and can't stand hearing even one rustle of a plastic bag, or one nom nom nom of a cable.

I'm the same as your mister - one of mine does the crunching on placcy bags and I end up swiping under the bed, screaming and swearing at her. 5 seconds later, she's back crunching


(I could of course remove all the bags under the bed, but there's photos and vinyl in them - to protect them from the cats, strangely enough )