What is this new feline behavior (or what does the damn cat want)

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

Bisc sleeps on the pillow next to me-he’s a great sleeper, once he’s made his bread, he’s a down for the nite. Usually.

But this week he’s started something new and is relentless. When I try to get back to sleep after a bathroom trip, he gets in my face. I mean he’s got his nose in my eyelashes, nose, lips–actually touching me, purring like mad. I thought he wanted out, but nope, he just wants to probe me or something.

He’s not a lover, he’s an insouciant bruiser so this is weird. I give him a few scratches but he just keeps it up. This morning (at 2 am!) I grabbed him and tossed him out. He also hates being grabbed.

Just new feline bizarrity?

#2

My cat Murray does the same thing. Never that early, but still, as soon as I wake up in the morning, even if I’m not ready to get up - he’s there. In my face. Walking around my head, gently pawing at my face and eyes. He has food, he has water. The litter box is fine. What does he want??

Best I can tell, he is just up and awake and he wants me to be up and moving around too. Why Murray?! Why can’t I just lay here for a few more minutes!?

#3

Did you change your face lotion or something?

Whitey the Wonder Cat trained me very well to get up when I was told to. He would sit on the headboard of the bed and tap my hair, once. On the next “tap”, a claw would hook into the skin of my scalp. :eek: In no time at all, I had learned to leap out of bed at the first tap, hollering, “What? I’m up, I’m up!”

#4

Sounds like bunting:

http://www.catbehaviorassociates.com/bunting-behavior/

If he’s doing it in the middle of the night, it’s probably because he wants something, rather than for any bonding reasons. When one of my cats does this, it’s because he wants food. Another one usually wants head scratching. The other one will do this until I let her get on my lap properly, where she’ll curl up and go to sleep - as long as I keep petting her. As soon as I stop, she’ll either smack me in the face or jump off in a huff.

Cats, eh? :rolleyes:

#5

How old is Bisc, and how’s his eyesight?

You woke him, went away, and then came back, smelling slightly differently. Your cat is greeting your return and trying to make you smell the same, so he can settle back down, comfortably.

Try establishing a routine about going to bed with him in the first place. Sleep in the same position, pet him in a specific way, and say a specific good night phrase. Something simple and short - “Lights out, Bisc. See you in the morning.” And then ignore him.

It will take a while, but it will help Bisc feel comfortable to have a specific routine.

#6

I don’t know if it’s rubbing so much as (DON’T LAUGH) “butterfly kisses”

He’s 9 or 10, eyesight appears to be fine, he’s been sleeping there forever, hell, I used to get up in the morning, dress etc., come back in to make the bed and have to shake him awake to move him. And he’s just started this.

cats.

#7

Trying to steal your breath, of course.

#8

Obligatory answer - Cats is weird.

#9

Attention. That’s what they want. You’re up, they’re up, they want attention.

#10

Psst. See post #6. :wink:

#11

My cat Toma does stuff like that too. Sometimes I wake up with him in my face, literarly (sp?). He sits on my head and when I wake up he crawls under my shirt and licks my neck. Other times he’s mewing and he stops only if I put him in my lap.

#12

This is why we shut our door at night. If we didn’t, the cat would be all up in our faces every morning at 4am. It’s usually because she wants to be fed. She’s always waiting for us outside the door too.

The fact that this behavior just started seems weird, but in my experience cats are very good at picking up weird new habits that seem to come out of nowhere.

#13

What you have described is why my cats sleep with the children and not us. The kids don’t seem to mind it. They make me nuts. They sleep all day. Why can’t they let me sleep at night?

#14

13 posts and not a single mention of ‘nocturnal’. Which is what cats are. Which is why they sleep in the sun all day and get huffy if you don’t want to play when they want to play.
You had no problem playing with him during his night, he is returning the favor.

I have mine trained to recognize “Goodnight sweetie” and pulling up the covers means no more attention - even if I get up and adjust something – I am still officially ‘asleep and not petting or feeding you - deal’.
Once I put on clothes, I’m fair game.

Of course, she has her limits - if I try to sleep all day, she will wake me around 3:00 p.m.

#15

We’ve taken to locking our bedroom door at night. We have to lock it because our handles are levers and Taz the Annoyer knows how to open the doors. He used to curl up between my feet (I’m a back sleeper) and snooze the night away there. Then he started peeing on me as I slept, so he’s been exiled.

Doesn’t stop him from trying to get in anyway. I wouldn’t say he’s weird so much as a pain in the patoot. His sister is so much more mellow and not at all interested in opening our door.

#16

My cats are trying to wake me up when they touch me in the early morning hours. For a while Yoshi would back up towards me and attempt to put his kitty butt on my head, knowing I will tell him to stop it. He just wants fed and I cannot leave food out because no matter how much he will always eat everything I give him. Too much or too fast and hepukes.

#17

My Siamese wake me every morning at 6:20, exactly. They walk allover me and the bed. Well, they walk over me, in a another way, anyway. They bat my eyelids, chew my hair, put their noses on my lips. Purring real loud the whole time. If I don’t get up quickly, they start the howling, like only a Siamese cat can do.
They are usually fed by 6:35. And I bad in bed soon after.
When Mr.Wrekker is home they rarely display these behaviours. But i am usually up earlier to make his breakfast, so we can visit awhile.
All the pets act normal when he’s home. He suffers no fools and they know it.

#18

I refer to one of our cats as my “alarm cat”. She’s not allowed in the bedroom, because I’m a little allergic. But she sits right outside the door and meows loudly when she thinks we should be awake.

My husband has taken to telling at her and riding her down the stairs (our bedroom is upstairs) to try to break her of this habit. He had not been completely successful.

#19

What does the cat want? Something else.

And be quick about it.

Regards,
Shodan

#20

3 year old thread.

DummyGladHands, how is your cat these days? I don’t like to borrow trouble, but any time my cats have come down with some dire condition they wait until the house is quiet before coming to let me know. More than anything, it’s the habit change in an older cat that’s got my attention.