Early Bird Cat

[clairedavey]

Hi

Please help. I (stupidly) allowed my new kitten to sleep in my bedroom with me but now at 7 months old he literally wakes me up about 4 times a night, and then again at 6.30am every morning for breakfast and to be let out. I have tried closing the bedroom door but he scratches the carpet! any ideas for a good nights sleep? he has a cat flap but i dont want him out at night because i live near a road so keep him in.

[annavc]

Does he have a proper cat bed? If so and that is in your room you could try gradually moving it a few inches a night getting nearer the door and then outside the door and so on until it's where you want him to sleep. If you don't have a proper bed for him can you just ignore him when he wakes you up - if he gets no response you he should gradually catch on that there is no point waking you. If you make a fuss of him when he does it he'll see that as a positive reaction and so will continue to do it.

My cat sleeps on my bed and sometimes during the night he will wake me up but if he does I just stroke his head once then turn over and go back to sleep ignoring him and he instantly either jumps down or curls up on my feet again. He used to do it a lot more than he does now so I think the tactic of ignoring him has worked in his case.

[clairedavey]

thank you for your answer some good advice. He does have a bed already but i might go and buy him a bigger one and see what happens.

thanks

[lindapinda]

Another tip might be to put an old t-shirt or something that smells of you,into the bed.One of our cats,has slept all night on a coat which was left lying across the back of a chair and the table!

[WendyS]

I fear you may already have got him into bad habits which might be difficult to break. I used to allow my cat to sleep on the bed with me when my husband was working away on business. When he returned he wouldn't allow the cat in the bedroom at night so the poor creature got quite confused about what was permitted or not. But if you can break him of the habit now it will be a good thing, otherwise this scratching of the carpet (Been there, got the T shirt !!) will become a real issue every night. Can you shut him in another room with his bed and litter tray? I think you're right not to let him out at night but if you can give him a nice comfy bed somewhere else, he might settle as long as he has access to a litter tray. Two points to remember. Wash the bed regularly as cats hate sleeping on smelly bedding, and also if possible place his bed higher up, i.e. on a chair or sofa rather than floor level, which will make him feel safer and less vulnerable to (mythical) attack from an unknown quarter. Eventually our cat had his own bed on a chair in a spare bedroom and slept through the night but still woke every morning religiously about ten minutes before the alarm clock went off. I suspect you may have to live with this, especially in Spring when the early Dawn Chorus starts.