Roomie’s cat is pretty calm. Until it gets to be around bedtime. Then he nags. ‘Mrow! Go to bed!’ It’s not as if he doesn’t get enough attention. But come bedtime, he wants to hop into bed with whichever of us turns in first and get some petting before taking a bath and settling down at the foot of the bed. And if we’re too late, he lets us know. Sometimes I mess with him, knowing that cats are creatures of habit, by doing my pre-sack routine early and then going back to the couch. Roomie’s working nights, so the cat turns in with me until she gets home. Then he goes to sleep with her.
Now, cat, you’re a cat. You sleep all day. You should be used to going to bed without assistance! Don’t tell me when to go to bed!
(I don’t mind petting him before I fall asleep, and I don’t mind him sleeping on my feet. And he knows not to wake the humans or to make a fuss in the morning until feet hit the floor.)
Our herd does some of these same things. What bugs me, though, is when they try to dictate when I get up in the morning. Usually, it’s around sunrise. In the winter, they’ll sleep until we get up, more or less. In the summer, they want to be up and around and fed about 5 AM. One will over over us on the bed, maybe patting at us with a paw to see if we’re faking it. Or she’ll stand off just out of pillow range, and meow abnoxiously. And did you know that cats are not aerodynamic? No glide ability at all…
Don’t worry, no furballs were harmed in the posting of this reply…
You ain’t heard nuthin’. Our now-elderly Sheltie nags us all day long if all the humans aren’t in the same room – and he wants us to go to bed at about 8 PM. He has perfected passive-aggressive herding, too; he doesn’t nip at our heels or make dashes towards our flank, but instead he sighs at us. Pointedly. At intervals, slightly louder each time if we don’t pay attention. He adds just a leeeetle hint of whine if we don’t shape up.
Bwah! Lucy is on my lap right now. I started the clip, said to Lucy “Wow! A movie about you!” Lucy was not amused.
Around 11pm she will sit in front of me, staring. If I look at her, she’ll sigh. If I move, she’ll trot towards the hallway. When she realizes I’m not following, she’ll plunk her furry heinie back down in front of me and stare. Kinda creepy.
I don’t allow animals in my bed, but this is because when I have dreams of fighting martians and zombies stuff goes flying. When I visit with my mother she doesn’t understand why I won’t let the family cats sleep with me.
Maybe she’d like to be the first person to have a kitty in space because it got on the bed while I was having one of my nocturnal freakouts.
Our cat is always waking up to play just as we’re getting ready for bed. Then she’ll cry all night, and when we wake up in the morning the bedroom floor will be littered with cat toys, and she’ll be zonked out on her chair, completely exhausted from the night’s antics. Sigh.
I had a talk with her about it, a couple of days ago. She’s making an effort to get up earlier.
My dog does the same thing, only she’s not a herding dog! She’s a golden retriever - so I guess she is not trying to herd us (when we’re at my parents’ house) but instead trying to make sure all the attention can be focused on her.
She’s also demanding about bed - and she doesn’t even sleep in the bed with me anymore! If there is a night where I have to stay up late and work, I have to “put her to bed” - go in the bedroom with her and invite her to lie in her own bed, and give her kisses. In the summer I have to put the fan on too.
She went through a phase of waking me up super early in the morning, and it really threw off my sleep. I finally quelled that habit by sleeping with the door closed. Since my room is dark, she doesn’t know it’s time to get up until the alarm goes off.
We thought our cats were bossy, until the canine overlord came. Lilith likes things to run on schedule, and if you aren’t doing what you’re supposed to be doing, she will give you a Dog Word. A Dog Word is a short vocalization such as “Aoogrph!”, delivered while Lil is staring at you and looking very alert. If you don’t get up and get cracking on your chores, you will soon receive more choice Dog Words and if necessary, she will come and stand on you. We have a very regimented household.
My crew doesn’t seem to care when I go to bed but boy oh boy do they know when it’s dinner time! Unfortunately, to them, dinner time tends to be whenever it gets dark, so in the winter they start gearing up way earlier than they are actually are going to get fed. Various things are tried to “remind” me that I have “forgotten” to feed them - soft barks, whining, staring, leaping past the windows if they are outside. If I am REALLY “late”, the cat takes matters into her own hands by sitting next to the sliding glass door so the puppy will attack it, which will make me get up. And if I’m up, must be time for dinner, right??
I don’t think our cats care when we go to bed, but they get kicked out of the bedroom after they’ve had some snuggles for a reason (“Okay! I’m ready for you to get up and play with me now!”).
We have three that have our bedtime routine nailed, even adapt when DST kicks in or out. They have assigned spots on the bed, and have to do their dance (aka: fight) before settling in. I like to do the fake out-bedtime myself. The confused looks on their faces gets me every time!
The Simon’s cat video is why I moved my baseball bat to the closet. Everything else in that video was familiar, I didn’t want them to be able to take it to the next level.
I wish my cats were all on the same page about bedtime. Klondike seems to this it’s entertainment time and he will literally bounce off the walls and other things before he finally settles down to sleep.
