Thread: Night Owl Cat

We had a much better night. We left the bedroom door open and Ginger slept next to me most of the night, There were a few cuddle sessions and pillow wars but it was a much calmer night. Cat 1, Mom 0 hahaha

Hi Donna - I sleep with earplugs due to Trumpetting-Husband-Syndrome - and husband sleeps very very soundly - so mostly if Neevie kicks off we can't hear her as HO trumpets louder than she can cry. Result: I'm pretty sure she understood by now that if the door is closed at night, it means no cuddle till morning.
On the other hand, she has found a trick a long time ago.
She sometimes manages to sneak in with me in the bedroom when I go to bed, she stays under the bed till she feels I am safely sleepy, then jumps on my and has a good snooze on my lap, and then when she hears HO getting ready to come to bed, usually a couple of hours later, she jumps down and sneaks under the bed, and stays there till he's safely tucked and snoring. Then she resumes her position on my lap by which time she knows I'm too sleepy to kick her out.
Sometimes she is too sleepy to hear HO come in and he manages to catch her all fluffed up and sleepily "mrowing" a protest - and puts her outside ;-)

Alekto, We have had the same scenario played out here. What Ginger likes to do is get her paws under the door and pull the loops in the Berber carpet. It is either get new doors that she can not get her paws under or re-carpet, which we will have to do eventually anyways as she has trashed the carpet by them. And then there is the crying, crying, crying its as though her heart is broken. She was allowed in again last night and we all slept pretty well until she decided it was time for her Beagles to get up and play, so she went and batted at their door for a while. Her paws are so big it sounds like someone is knocking at the door. We have covered all the blinky lights computers, modems, timers, tv, as they seem to attract her at night, when she gets into most of her mischief. No tiny trinkets can be left on the kitchen counter as they end up in the garbage disposal by a. m. Ahhh the joy of being owned by a cat!

I know what you mean, Donna! also about trinkets, though she's much less out of control now, she's a big girl, she's nearly 3 years old, so she doesn't play with these things any more...
I'm glad Neevie hasn't worked out how to open doors - my sisters cats have - they just jump on the door handle and slam in the door, that does the trick. Neevie only worked out that if a door is ajar then she can open it by slamming into it with all her weight. The doors are heavy but so is she. I don't think she should meet my sisters' cats, ever.

Hi everyone, now leaving the bedroom door open is not doing it. The Monster of the night (she may be a vampire?) is now waking me up at 3:00 and ever hour on the hour until I crawl out of my bed and move myself to the family room. I am not sure if she is just lonely and she wants me in there with her? or she is controlling the human? Either way the OH has about 6 weeks off work and is rapidly losing his sense of humor with our little darling. Can anyone make some suggestions? I am about to turn to drugs, maybe some kitty Benadryl? HELP! Thank you for listening, as my daughter would say "that bitch be crazy, when she don't get her sleep!"

When Neevie bugs me I put her in the bathroom for a bit (nicely). How about when she wakes you she goes in the bathroom for the rest of the night? She will learn: wake Mum up = spend the night in solitary? Chances are you ll let her out after a short time anyway but that s ok as the aim is to get her to understand the link between action and reaction so the more you do the "reaction" the more she will see the link to her "action". Just don t let her out if she cries that would be the wrong "reaction".

Neevie understands: get caught sleeping on the bed by Dad = get ejected from the bedroom and spend the night alone. Sneak under the bed before getting caught = no ejection. If in doubt, sneak under the bed. Always.

Alekto, Neevie is a smart little girl! I think putting soft nails on Ginger has made her scratching louder, the doors open and she she does it? and mews and mews, I brought a water bottle into the bedroom, I think we may start with some water therapy. I think the whole routine change is confusing everyone. My hubby is usually up and running by 4:45am. He has some time off for hip replacement next month. It may take a while for us to adjust to the new schedule. I made need to take naps hahahaha

Water therapy is good too... :-D