How do cat owners sleep at night?

[Infovore]

@Cowgirl Jules

Wow, this thread has made me realize that I hit the cat jackpot. After not having one for years (and the last one slept elsewhere in the house), this kitten I found in June is decent. He sleeps on the bed, but mostly in one spot without squirming.

I guess I must have *really * hit the cat jackpot! We have five. All of them sleep in our bed–and they do actually sleep. The closest they come to being annoying is that Ozzy, our younger Singapura, likes to poke the humans (one or the other–his tastes change between me and the spouse) until they “assume the position,” which is lying on one’s right side, whereupon he settles in next to his selected human, cuddles up, and goes to sleep with his chin on the human’s cheek. Clarice, our tabby, sometimes like to play a rousing game of “chase the feet under the covers” but after she gets dumped off the bed a couple times she gets the hint and settles in. After that no meowing, no tussling, no face-walking. Just a full night’s worth of warm fuzzy sleeping buddies.

We feed them at night, before we go to bed, but I doubt that’s relevant since they free-feed all day.

[levdrakon]

I haven’t been the owner of a cat very many times in my life. Usually it’s living with someone else’s cats. I’ve never had a problem leaving my door open and letting them sleep at the end of the bed if they want. If a cat decided it might be fun to sit on my face in the middle of the night, it would quickly learn that’s really not as much fun as it’s cracked up to be.

My current cat though, is different. He’s a stray/mooch who adopted me. He’s mostly an outdoor cat who insists on being out all night. That’s not a problem. But during parts of the year he decides he likes sleeping on daddy’s bed. At first, I’d try to lock him in all night. That didn’t go well. He uses daddy’s face as a stepping stool so he can reach the window and try to claw his way to freedom.

We eventually reached a compromise. Well okay. I compromised. He sleeps on the end of the bed until sometime around 3, or 4, or 5 AM and then meows and I have to get up and let him out. Occasionally he’ll let daddy sleep until regular wake-up time. I think as he’s growing older, he’s slowing deciding inside isn’t really all that bad. Especially when it’s cold/rainy.

[Diceman]

Back when I still lived with my parents, I’d just leave my bedroom door open so the cats could come and go as they pleased. It was the path of least resistance, because they’d bang on the door if they couldn’t get in. Our cats were pretty good when it came to sharing the bed. They usually didn’t wake me up, and they’d just go to sleep and I’d find them there in the morning.

As for the walking-across-the-head tactic, this was the favored human-waking method of a cat we had when I was a kid. If this cat didn’t get fed on time, he’d come upstairs and start walking across my dad’s head. This usually worked. When it didn’t work, however, I was next in line for the “feed me” routine. He tried walking across my face a couple of times, but gave it up after an unfortunate incident. I woke up while he was standing over my face. Seeing nothing but a sea of white fur, I had a moment of panic and sat bolt-upright in bed. The cat was catapulted down to the foot of the bed, landing with a stunned expression on his face. After that, he switched to head-butting me.

[Clothahump]

@Lemur866

I agree with the suggestions to think like a cat and communicate on the cat’s level.

I don’t think that would work…

http://www.twolumps.net/d/20040317.html

[Tuckerfan]

@Clothahump

I don’t think that would work…

http://www.twolumps.net/d/20040317.html

You should try reading a cat’s diary, sometime.

Day 283 Of My Captivity.
My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture.

Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant. Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded; must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair; must try this on their bed.

:eek: :eek:

[slaphead]

Have any of you experience the joy that is ExtremelyRadAdventureCat taking a flying leap from the top of the wardrobe/bookshelf onto the bed (or more specifically, you) at 0230 hours?

It’s a kitty extreme sport that not all of them indulge in, but you will certainly know when it happens. So will your neighbours…

[Pushkin]

Our family cat sleeps in the garage in a basket with an old pillow, it keeps the slob more than happy.

My girlfriend’s cats sleep in various places now that our baby has booted them out, the odd time in the living room but mostly outside. Outside keeps them occupied, either stalking small rodents or fleeing large strays

[susan]

Two ideas:

1. Play with them before bed to tire them out. Laser pointer is good for this (don’t shine it in their eyes). Train them to zonk out at night.

2. Run a white noise machine outside the door. It dissuades some cats as well as cutting the noise.

Thing is, if the cats are used to sleeping on the bed, it’s going to be an uphill battle.

Shoshana, not asleep right now because the cat is in the way (asleep, but sprawled)

[scareyfaerie]

I have the bedroom door open just slightly at night so the cat can get in and out. I did try to keep her out but she would realise that she was alone in the house and then sit outside the door scratching, wailing and miaowing so pitifully, I had to get up and let her in.

Now she comes and goes as she pleases but usually if she wants to get on the bed, she jumps onto the bottom end of it. I got a king-size bed, so my feet are nowhere near the end and she isn’t really hefty enough to disturb me. Occasionally she wants to get under the duvet and that always wakes me up, but only because she tickles me with her tail.

She sleeps on the bed most nights, I’m used to it now and although she does sometimes wake me up, it’s not enough to keep me awake. She’s getting used to the idea that I’m asleep and not playing with her, so she’ll just settle down and snooze until she sees the first hint of daylight.

Of course it’ll all be different when we get a kitten…

[shizaru]

@brewha

My fiance just moved in with me and brought along her two cats. I don’t hate cats, I’ve just never owned them. I guess you could say I’m a cat tolerator. Ok I’ll admit it, I do actually like her cats I just don’t like some of their habits. The one that is getting truly intolerable is that they don’t sleep at night and apparently don’t understand that I need to.

I have two options. First, I can leave the bedroom door open. In this case her cats are free to come and go as they please. This is fine for one cat since she is very dainty and I can’t feel her get onto or off of the bed. The problem is her other cat, Art. He is a very large cat and could give a crap less about being dainty. He will just plow his way onto the bed and walk over whatever is between him and wherever it is that he decides to go. Invariably his path leads him over me where he has no problem stepping on my face or other more sensitive parts. I can’t sleep like this and have decided to go with option two.

I can lock the cats out. I have a large three bedroom house and it seems to me that the cats could find plenty to amuse themselves while I sleep. As it turns out, that assumption is just wrong. If the door to our bedroom is closed, it seems that the most amusing thing for them to do is to claw under the door and meow. The first problem is that this ruins the carpet. I fixed this by putting a plastic mat (one that helps office chairs roll on carpet) under the door. That keeps them from scratching, but now they sit outside the door and meow. Last night it sounded like Art was unhappy that his meows were going unanswered and he started trying to tackle the door.

With two more hours before I had to get up for work, I ended up locking Art in the basement. I slept well for the last two hours, but this nonsense has to stop. I don’t want to lock the cats in the basement every night. It isn’t cruel to them, there’s lots of room down there and a futon that they can lounge on. The basement is also where we keep the litter boxes, so messes wouldn’t be a problem. I just know that if I started making a habit out of this, both cats would disappear at bedtime just like they do when they know a vet appointment is coming.

So, what can I do to keep the cats away from my door at night? I’m thinking something like a motion detector attached to a strobe light or maybe a hair dryer. I remember seeing a device that you could plug into an outlet that was an outlet itself and was remote controlled. That way I could turn on a hair dryer plug it into this device and into the wall and when I heard the cats outside the door I could hit the button and scare them off. The problem, of course, is that I would still not be sleeping through the night.

Any suggestions short of nuking them from space?

I feel your pain. We have 3 cats and the night time antics are pretty much the same. Shutting the door as you said, isn’t a good idea. Like your cats, my cats will mewl and claw at the door like all get out if they can’t get in. They do that even if they have NO intention of coming into the room. Banshee is the loudest (and we named her before we knew she’d live up to it) and can make the most godawful noises if she’s not allowed to sleep on the bed with us. She used to like to sleep on my head, but since having cat ass in my face wasn’t an option for me I kept throwuing her off. She eventually got the idea. She likes to curl up between my wifes and my pillows now. Which is fine. Jet Jaguar liked to climb on top of the dresser and then take a flying leap onto the bed and onto anyone in the bed. But after being chased away for it a few times he got the idea. (Though some nights I see him on the dresser and I know he’s thinking about it! I know it! But when I look at him I can see his mind working…he’s thinking “Damn! He saw me!” before he skulks off.) Stache is the only one that will climb on the bed, find a place for herself and just snooze without trampling over you. But she’s the oldest and I guess she’s learned the dos and don’ts.

[shizaru]

@Gatopescado

You have no imagination. Thousands of way to eliminate the problems.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I hate cats.

Doesn’t “Gato” mean cat in spanish? Does “pescado” mean hate or something?

[control-z]

My last GF had cats and they would get up on my car and scratch it when I was at her house. That stressed me out until I finally got a car cover, but that was a PITA to put on and take off every single time I went over there. Aren’t these unexpected problems fun?