I love you dearly, but the symbiotically dysfunctional nature of our relationship apparently troubles us both fundamentally, to the extent that we have both been awakened nearly every night by it. Several times, in fact.
You, especially, have been restless, pacing back and forth through the apartment, unable to sleep except in fits and starts of no more than an hour at a time. Your restlessness has frequently awakened me, sometimes even several times throughout the course of the night. Please try to understand: I do love you, and want to be responsive to your needs, but I simply cannot awaken every hour or two and then have the alarm ring at 6 am, and expect to be functional at work all day. I work to support myself, by necessity, and in part to support you as well; when you disturb my sleep, in part you endanger your own welfare as well as mine. You, on the other hand, have no such responsibilities; no matter how restless your night has been, you can simply spend the next day asleep in the sun, until you are refreshed once again and ready to spend the rest of the next night pacing anew.
I understand that your lack of opposable thumbs renders you incapable of opening the door between the bedroom, where there is air conditioning, and the rest of the apartment, where there is not, but where you are able to roam and scamper freely. But can’t you make up your friggin’ little furry mind, at least for more than an hour at a time?
Again, I love you, and there is nothing sweeter than the feeling of you crawling into bed with me, nuzzling and purring. However, my noble Sir Galahad, you are going to have to gain some independence in your nocturnal affairs.
Hee. I understand where you’re coming from. That would be why Elvis isn’t allowed in my bedroom with me when I’m sleeping, unless it’s so damn hot in my apartment, he’s too lethargic to engage in his usual kitty speed (it seems) enduced madness. Yeah, he’ll cry for about 5 minutes after I shut him out of my room, but then he gives up and reeks havoc in the living room. After the first time he managed to set off my alarm clock at four in the morning he was in kitty exhile througout sleeping hours.
I feel your pain although here it is the cold causing problems, my boy woke me three times digging at my bedding for admission last night. This is new behaviour that had better not be repeated, one does not get under the covers by tunnelling through them.
I suspect he did not really want to get into the bed but instead wanted to fly. That was the result each time he returned to this obnoxiousness.
go with the cat flap. I did that for my little girl. I actually did it so that she had the ability to get away from the dogs when they got too annoying for her (you know how dogs are, they like to lick and sniff backsides and stuff which cats don’t appreciate for some reason).
OK, am I the only idiot who read through almost the entire OP before realizing that Eva Luna was talking about her CAT?
(thinks: “lack of opposable thumbs?” Why would she say that about her SO…?)
Boy, have I been whooshed. In a big way.
Instead of a cat flap, why not just put a book on the floor between the door and frame so that the door is mostly closed, but could be pushed open enough for kitty to get in and out?
Cricket
Don’t feel badly; I intentionally wrote the OP that way.
Unfortunately, I’m not willing to waste my nice, AC-cooled air by leaving the door open a crack. Even if it is just a crack, Fatso will push it open much wider during his restless wanderings. And he is smart, but not smart enough to close the door after himself.
Hehe, same problem here. Mine takes to scratching the door until I open it for him once he’s been banned from the bedroom. Normally a quick squirt from the discipline water pistol will take care of the scratching…at least for the night.
Sometimes cats prefer to be in the hot area. When we had a window unit, we used to put plastic over the wide arch doorway that lead into the kitchen. Most of our cats camped out in the hot kitchen rather than the cool living room or bedroom. And I once saw on a cat program a story aboaut a blacksmith’s cat. He always perched on a ledge above the fire the blacksmith worked over, even if his fur got singed. So I don’t thing heat is a big issue for the cat. (Maybe he doesn’t like being in the cool bedroom.)
The problem isn’t that he likes to be in the bedroom (that would be fine), it’s that he doesn’t stay put for more than an hour or two, and that his method of expressing his restlessness ruins the door and wakes me up repeatedly. Maybe another thread of “Kitty Behavior Modification Techniques” is in order.
Some of you know Mrs.Phlosphr and I just got a kitten. I insisted on her not sleeping in the bedroom. So minmei (sorry for the close-up) sleeps in her kitty, taj mahal all night. She has plenty of toys and as you can see she’s gettin bigger and I believe she’s used to it now. My wife slept with her for a while but then she migrated back up and the kitty is hopefully quite conditioned now. When we let her out in the morning, she usually attacks the dog. She’s been getting good at that…
Awwww, Mimei is such a cutie! Better be careful, or I’ll snatch her away! (Just don’t feed her whatever my roommate fed Fatso the summer I was away, or you’ll end up with a tub o’fluffy lard like I have.)
I say, take this Conceit a step further. Get the cat drunk so you can have your way with him. (In this case, your way would be having him sleep through the night.)
A drunk cat I have not seen but I’ve experienced a stoned cat and it was NOT GOOD. Kitty’s are very good at freak-outs to start with, add some pot and they go nuts. Very, Very messy.
Disclaimer - We did not cat did not get high on purpose, it was just that my friends room mate was very careless with his stash and kept spilling it. Kitty would walk on the stuff then go to clean her paws and hey presto stoned kitty.
