# Pawing Cat



## Ingy (Mar 4, 2009)

My cat, Swat is 5 years old and typically sleeps at the foot of my bed while I sleep. For the past couple of weeks he's been doing something a little out of character which I can't figure out why he's doing it. I'll wake up to him standing right beside my face and he'll paw at my nose, sometimes meowing and also nudging my face with his own. He's had a thing for looking under the blankets recently, but he's never liked to go under them. When he does this I lift up the blankets for him to look under, he peeks his head in and that's it. Nothing else happens. I try to go back asleep, but he still does this. Can someone tell me why he's doing this all of a sudden? Usually when he wakes me up he wants something, but he has a full bowl of food and he has a cat door to go outside and do his business so I can't figure this out. Thoughts?


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## sungeun11 (Feb 18, 2009)

Maybe your kitty wants your attention :roll: in the middle of the night? rcat 

My cat one time woke me up in the middle of the night and jokingly, I opened up the blankets and he came in and snuggled up next to me. Ever since 3 months ago, Princeton understands "night night" and eventually comes to me and sniffs my face (tickling-whiskers) and I open up. He never sleeps next to my husband. My husband tries to open up the blanket but he doesn't want too...Haha!!


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

He is more than likely just looking for attention. He wakes you up, you pet or talk to him, which reinforces the behavior and then he does it again the next night.

Smirkitty's comment about snoring is quite valid, he might be wondering where that awful noise is coming from. One other thing to consider...a friend of mine has sleep apnea and often doesn't wear her mask. She has nights where her cat will lay right next to her face and wake her up several times during the night. She firmly believes that the cat wakes her when she has stopped breathing.


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## Stacie (Feb 26, 2009)

It's probably for attention. Willow does the same thing a few times a week and has since I first brought her home. She will sit beside the bed and paw at me until I wake up. I usually pet her once of twice then scoot over and she will jump onto the bed beside me and fall asleep. 

I'm not sure if this is reinforcing the behavior in any way, but you could try petting him and see if he will lay beside you. Maybe Swat wants to sleep at the foot of the bed now. I don't know about you, but I have a horrible tendency to accidentally kick things off the foot of the bed :lol:


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## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

My Lil'Fella used to do this, but he also liked to like the insides of nostrils while he was at it! Luckily, this behavior has stopped, because it felt so bizarre to wake up to that!

I don't know what it is with cats and cave-like things. Nito paws the crack between my two beds constantly (I have 2 twin beds pushed together into a make-shift king size :lol and seems fascinated with it. He'll lay there pawing and pawing. He also loves to peek under my covers, or try to nudge behind my back when I'm sitting on the couch and check out what's back there. Occasionally he likes to join me under the covers when it's really cold but it took him a while to get to that stage. He was always so afraid once the covers came down on him... maybe Swat is also considering joining you under there!


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

I woke up one morning a couple weeks ago with a scratch on my nose and no idea how it got there. :lol:


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

You scratched your nose in your sleep with a ragged fingernail. How else? It would never be the cats....


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