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Old January 11th, 2005, 10:48 AM
SarahLynn123 SarahLynn123 is offline
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Im loosing my patience

Everyday for the last 2 weeks I have been woke up at 3:30 or so in the morning by my cat. He comes up by my head purring so loud and licking any exposed skin. He used to sleep quietly at the end of the bed until morning, but not anymore. This is what I have tried so far:
- feeding him soft food before bed so he is full and tired (he has hard food at all times)
- Leaving the bedroom door shut and all other doors during the day so there is no comfortable places for him to sleep during the day
- We play after supper every night in hopes that he will be tired and sleep all night
- We always cuddles on the couch while I watch CSI when I get home from taking the dog for a walk.

Am I missing something? He has always been a little whiney and follows me everywhere, but this is crazy I am loosing lots of sleep which isnt helping matters.

Is it cruel to lock him in the basement at night? He has everything down there he needs, food, water, litter box, toys and bed.
Thanks
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Old January 11th, 2005, 10:50 AM
sammiec sammiec is offline
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Sarah, when did you get Belle?? Before or after the cat?
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Old January 11th, 2005, 10:57 AM
Sunkist/Winnie Sunkist/Winnie is offline
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One of my cats tries to wake up up before it's time..she actually has a system!

1. Meow really loudly in Mommy's face a few times.
2. If meowing doesn't get a reaction, stomp over bodies in bed a few times and then meow
3. Still no reaction? Go to the jewelry box on the burau and proceed to try and open a drawer full of little earrings.

Sometimes she stops at step one, or two. When she gets to step 3 I have to lock her out of the bedroom. One time I made the mistake of thinking she wouldn't be able to get the drawer open - wrong I had earrings all over the floor.

I probably made her behavior worse by responding when she used to come into the bed and meow or stomp on us trying to wake us up. So now I'm trying to correct her behavior but it's taking a while.
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Old January 11th, 2005, 10:58 AM
SarahLynn123 SarahLynn123 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sammiec
Sarah, when did you get Belle?? Before or after the cat?
After. It Actually all started out with just me and the cat (Charlie). Then the bf moved in and Charlie hates him to this day. Then we adopted Belle. Charlie is very timid and skittish. Any sound and he bolts upstairs and hides. Sometimes when Belle comes around him he will his and chase her smaking her, then the next minute they are laying on the couch together and he is cleaning her. I dont get them.
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Old January 11th, 2005, 11:49 AM
sammiec sammiec is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SarahLynn123
After. It Actually all started out with just me and the cat (Charlie). Then the bf moved in and Charlie hates him to this day. Then we adopted Belle. Charlie is very timid and skittish. Any sound and he bolts upstairs and hides. Sometimes when Belle comes around him he will his and chase her smaking her, then the next minute they are laying on the couch together and he is cleaning her. I dont get them.
Okay, your Charlie sounds almost identical to my Connor. Connor was here before the dog. He was very timid and skitish. Hide from everything, right? The dog showed up and he alomost had a heart attack! He would hiss and swat and everything... they still do not sleep together and cuddle - no way....
He's become MUCH more affectionate with us since Briggs came! He is on my pillow every night.. purrrrrrring so LOUD!! It's so annoying... but he just needs attention. He feels that since there is a new member he's not getting the cuddles and pats and rubs that he used to. Which he does!!!
He has been like this for over a year now... remedy???? Learn to sleep with the blanket over your head and with ear plugs! That's all I've got so far!!
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Old January 11th, 2005, 12:40 PM
SarahLynn123 SarahLynn123 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sammiec
Okay, your Charlie sounds almost identical to my Connor. Connor was here before the dog. He was very timid and skitish. Hide from everything, right? The dog showed up and he alomost had a heart attack! He would hiss and swat and everything... they still do not sleep together and cuddle - no way....
He's become MUCH more affectionate with us since Briggs came! He is on my pillow every night.. purrrrrrring so LOUD!! It's so annoying... but he just needs attention. He feels that since there is a new member he's not getting the cuddles and pats and rubs that he used to. Which he does!!!
He has been like this for over a year now... remedy???? Learn to sleep with the blanket over your head and with ear plugs! That's all I've got so far!!
Thats not good news at all! He has mastered getting under the blankets of course to lick my legs. Im not sure why he does that, but a cats tounge isnt the softest thing. Hopefully he will get over this!
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Old January 11th, 2005, 01:44 PM
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SunnysMum SunnysMum is offline
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We have a similar situation

SunnyBoy sleeps with us. He's a clever boy and understood "at the feet" right off the bat, and he'd curl up at the end of our bed and purr at night (awww.....can you see why we fell in love with him.....)

BUT....during the night, he'd crawl on top of us (usually my husband) and knead away on him and lick, lick, lick (you'd think he was giving my husband a bath). The licking was so loud, it would wake me us as well. This was happening several times a night.... :sad:

Anyway, I would just keep giving him our "no command" -- (which is actually a low-toned, melodious "nnnnooooo" which he responds to immediately. Sunny responds to a gentle voice much better than a commanding voice). Sometimes he'd stop and just stare at us until I'd tell him to go "at the feet" On the rare occasion when he just doesn't feel like listening (hey, he's a cat...), we just pick him up and move him (we'd get the odd complaining "meow" but that's about it...). We were consistent and he was never allowed to keep kneading us or licking us during the night. During the day, we invite him up on the couch with us to knead and lick (but no licking me - I can't stand the feeling --- he's figured this out, Mum gets a few kisses and when Mum says "Thank you", Sunny knows he should stop licking her). Such a clever boy (Husband thinks we have a 'gifted' cat...LOL )

With Sunny, it did get better with time. We still have some nights where he just wants lots of loving (and to bath us and knead us). But most of the time, he leaves us alone until the alarm clock goes (and if I hit the snooze button, well.....he becomes my alarm clock).

Sometimes he leaves our room for a while and sleeps with our daughter for a few hours - but he never sleeps in her bed, just on the floor beside her bed. He never wakes her up (except if her hand or foot hangs off the bed, then he licks her and rubs his head against her for some petting - much to her delight ). So he just seems to want to knead and lick us at night - not our daughter.

It would be ideal if he would just let us sleep - we play with him daily, and give him tons of attention (at one point I thought my daughter was getting jealous..she actually asked me if I loved the cat more than her....yikes!...). But, like I said - it is way better than it was at first, so we don't consider it a huge problem anymore. When it was a nightly occurance we discussed keeping him out of our room - but it just broke our hearts to even think about it (and we're sure it would break his - he's such a 'kneady' little boy). We know that his constant kneading and licking is probably due to him being separated from his mother too early in life. We've accepted that this is one of his many little quirks - (or shall I say "part of his charm") and just work at keeping it manageable.

Now...if we were never able to 'reduce' the number of occurances, I may be singing a different tune right now. But as it stands, consistent gentle discouragement and lots of attention during the day seemed to help us out.
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Old January 11th, 2005, 03:39 PM
SarahLynn123 SarahLynn123 is offline
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I put him at the end of bed last night constantly and he doesnt get it. And when he does his purring is loud that we cant sleep! It stops after about 30mins but if we move slightly it starts all over again. Im usually the calm and patient one and Im getting irritated, the bf is loosing it. I hate to have to lock him in the basement (the cat) it breaks my heart, but If I dont then I will have to deal with an overtired grouch.
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Old January 11th, 2005, 03:58 PM
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SunnysMum SunnysMum is offline
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LOL! - Good thing you are thinking of locking up the bf in the basement!

Quote:
hate to have to lock him in the basement (the cat) it breaks my heart,
Oh dear -- I'm sorry to hear that your little guy (the cat) isn't responding. I'm quite new in the kitty training department, so I don't have any other ideas except what I've told you we did. If Sunny didn't respond, I'm sure lack of sleep (for both dh and I) would have made keeping him out of our room at night necessary.

Maybe someone else has some suggestions? I'm interested to hear some as well.....
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Old January 11th, 2005, 04:41 PM
SarahLynn123 SarahLynn123 is offline
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Im new in the training department aswell. I have always had my cats from kittens and its a little easier to train. Charlie I got as an adult and he is stubborn and comes with all his quirks and habbits. No changing him!
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Old January 11th, 2005, 04:57 PM
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chico2 chico2 is offline
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I have 3 cats in my bed-room+ 1 husband,2 cats sleep at our feet,the third on top of my armoir.Often Rocky will try to wake me up,starts banging the bed-side cupboard door,all I do is put them out of the bed-room and close the door.They'll saunter off somewhere and go back to sleep until I get up.
Purring to me is a soothing sound,one of my cats snores,but even that does not bother me,I guess it all depends what kind of a sleeper you are.
You could try putting him in the basement,but chances are he'll cry his little heart out and then you'll still not be able to sleep.I suggest good ear-plugs
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Old January 11th, 2005, 05:13 PM
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happycats happycats is offline
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I have had 6 cats, and have run into this problem as well,
feeding in the morning, just encourages them to wake you up early, (the earlier they wake you the earlier they get fed ) so no morning feedings at all ever!! (mine do have dry 24/7, and canned at dinner time)
Also all of mine (5 now) sleep at the "bottom" of the bed, I have trained them all not to get in my face while I sleep. I always put them at the bottom every time they got in my face, (It took a long time) but with consistancy perserverance , It worked! .
Is there anything special you do with Charlie in the morning?? If so this may be why he's waking you. Stop doing it! Do it later on in the day so he does not associate bugging you with being rewarded.
Hope this helps
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Old January 11th, 2005, 05:24 PM
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badger badger is offline
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About feeding in the morning - so true - but I do it. But even when there is food left out from the night before (crunchies), Badger will not eat before I get up. Guess he wants an audience.

The thing is, if you put the cat back on the end of the bed 99 times and the 100th time you are so out of it or are having a great dream and say the he** with it, it's game over. I have no problem with shutting the bedroom door at night to deal with this. Then later on, you could try letting him in again to see if he's changed his tune. Since I don't have a door to close, I'll just put up with the morning grooming session and Simon bouncing off the walls.
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Old January 11th, 2005, 05:44 PM
SarahLynn123 SarahLynn123 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by happycats
I have had 6 cats, and have run into this problem as well,
feeding in the morning, just encourages them to wake you up early, (the earlier they wake you the earlier they get fed ) so no morning feedings at all ever!! (mine do have dry 24/7, and canned at dinner time)
Also all of mine (5 now) sleep at the "bottom" of the bed, I have trained them all not to get in my face while I sleep. I always put them at the bottom every time they got in my face, (It took a long time) but with consistancy perserverance , It worked! .
Is there anything special you do with Charlie in the morning?? If so this may be why he's waking you. Stop doing it! Do it later on in the day so he does not associate bugging you with being rewarded.
Hope this helps
I dont do anything with him in the morning, its the same routine everymorning. I get up, get dressed and head to the bathroom with charlie at my heels. Im brushing my teeth while he flips over the garbage can and shovels everything out, I get mad at him tell him no, he doesnt listen. trys again when he thinks Im not looking (seriously every morning). etc. i dont feed him I might pat him on the head but Im usually rushing and to busy. But now that I think about it, its the only time its just me and him. Belle and bf are eating breakfast on the main floor. Belle prefers to sleep on the couch so she is never in our room. Could this be it?

I have tried to lock him out of the room but he throws himself against the door meowing.
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Old January 11th, 2005, 05:52 PM
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badger badger is offline
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Your cat sounds like a character and a real brat. My favourite kind. Can you get the garbage can up off the floor and replace it with a toy or a scratch mat, so he has something to do in there? He really wants to be with you but every day it's the same old same old....crash bang, that oughta do it.

What a cutie. If you can stand him crying at the door, eventually he will stop, just like a baby. Of course, he may also go off and trash the house...
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Old January 11th, 2005, 06:11 PM
SarahLynn123 SarahLynn123 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by badger
Your cat sounds like a character and a real brat. My favourite kind. Can you get the garbage can up off the floor and replace it with a toy or a scratch mat, so he has something to do in there? He really wants to be with you but every day it's the same old same old....crash bang, that oughta do it.

What a cutie. If you can stand him crying at the door, eventually he will stop, just like a baby. Of course, he may also go off and trash the house...
I never thought of replacing the garbage with a toy. Thanks for the great idea. He is a handful but Its worth it.

The house trashing makes me a little nervous. Its amazing what they are capable of doing when they are pouting!
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Old January 12th, 2005, 03:00 PM
Britishvixen21 Britishvixen21 is offline
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We are having the same trouble with Mya our new act, she would dig and dig and dig in her litter tray at 3am ( we live in a batchelor so theres no getting away from it) and when i wake up i have to pee, so id get up and it was encouraging her to keep doing it cos she could see i dig mom gets up!
However what i do now is completly ignore her, even if i do get up to pee, she always comes to the bathroom with me and at 3am i shut the door and dont let her in.
I think shes slowly getting the picture that Mum and Dad dont appreciate getting woke up, also the no food in the morning thing really helped, weve never fed Mya in the morning and her previous owner had, But shes slowly getting teh picture, now when i walk in the door shes there waiting for me to feed her.
Shes still our alarm clock though shes there licking dads face patting him on the cheek, and as much as i moan about it she actually saved me from being late for work the other morning shes there slapping my face with her paw and i look and my alarm hadnt gone off, It was 10 minutes after it should have gone off!
As for the basement thing is hes like Mya shel whine and whine and whine and then find a way to open the door! Like mya does in the bathroom when we have to open the balcony door to air the place out she has to go in there with her toys for 5 minutes, and there she is 2 minutes later sitting on teh couch licking herself and the bathroom door is open

I dont really know what to suggest as im new to the cat ownership manual myself but perseverance i guess.

Good Luck
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Old January 12th, 2005, 05:03 PM
SarahLynn123 SarahLynn123 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Britishvixen21
We are having the same trouble with Mya our new act, she would dig and dig and dig in her litter tray at 3am ( we live in a batchelor so theres no getting away from it) and when i wake up i have to pee, so id get up and it was encouraging her to keep doing it cos she could see i dig mom gets up!
However what i do now is completly ignore her, even if i do get up to pee, she always comes to the bathroom with me and at 3am i shut the door and dont let her in.
I think shes slowly getting the picture that Mum and Dad dont appreciate getting woke up, also the no food in the morning thing really helped, weve never fed Mya in the morning and her previous owner had, But shes slowly getting teh picture, now when i walk in the door shes there waiting for me to feed her.
Shes still our alarm clock though shes there licking dads face patting him on the cheek, and as much as i moan about it she actually saved me from being late for work the other morning shes there slapping my face with her paw and i look and my alarm hadnt gone off, It was 10 minutes after it should have gone off!
As for the basement thing is hes like Mya shel whine and whine and whine and then find a way to open the door! Like mya does in the bathroom when we have to open the balcony door to air the place out she has to go in there with her toys for 5 minutes, and there she is 2 minutes later sitting on teh couch licking herself and the bathroom door is open

I dont really know what to suggest as im new to the cat ownership manual myself but perseverance i guess.

Good Luck
WOW and I thought I had a handful, he cant get the door open....yet! I locked him in the basement lst night to try it out, he got a bed,his scratch post, soft and hard food water toys etc. and not a peep out of him, he didnt even come up when I called him in the morning!

He really is relentless in bugging in the mornings, it used to be 7:00am, now its 3 I must not have enough patience to keep ignoring him, well have to give it another shot and see how he does, thanks for your help!
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