# My cat keeps me awake at night



## jolmbagpuss (Oct 3, 2011)

I have only had my cat a week but she likes to sleep on top of the wardrobe in the bedroom of my flat which is obviously quiet and out of the way. So she sleeps all day and at night when I want to go to bed, she wants attention. I give her attention when she comes and sits on me in the lounge. Thing is, when I am in bed, she will climb onto the wardrobe, sit there for five minutes and then jump onto the bed and want my attention. If I shut the bedroom door, she will just scrape her paws against it and meow to be let in.

Although she has only been with me a week now, she managed to get out the kitchen window yesterday evening but I wasn't too concerned as I knew she would come back which she did a couple of hours later and then came into the bedroom to check I was there and then went out again and did this all night. 

Do you think that now that she can go out during the day, she will sleep more at night? If not, any other suggestions would be grateful as I am shattered.


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## patchworkrobot (Aug 24, 2010)

I don't know about how her going outside will affect her at night, I've only had inside cats. WHen I was growing up we put our cats in the laundry room or a bathroom at night. The few times that the cats were out at night they meowed and scratched at the door nonstop. Their litter and water and bed was in those rooms and they never seemed to mind. Anyways, you could try that.


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## Jess041 (Jul 6, 2009)

I think you're just going to have to have a major play session before bed, so you can wear her out. I was a mean mommy and locked Lexi in the bathroom when she tried to play when it was time for sleep.. it only took a couple nights and she figured it out.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

I'd worry that only living there a week she'd get lost and not get home again. I had always thought they were supposed to be kept confined for a bit until they learned their new home so they didn't go off looking for their old territory.

I agree, a good long play session before bed.


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## jolmbagpuss (Oct 3, 2011)

MowMow said:


> I'd worry that only living there a week she'd get lost and not get home again. I had always thought they were supposed to be kept confined for a bit until they learned their new home so they didn't go off looking for their old territory.
> 
> I agree, a good long play session before bed.


You are supposed to keep them in for at least 4 weeks but she managed to get out. But she comes home every day. She hasn't really gone out that much during the day the last couple of days as the weather hasn't been nice but she is content and knows where home is.


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## jolmbagpuss (Oct 3, 2011)

The last couple of nights I have shut both the bedroom and lounge doors so she is confined to the lounge and kitchen and the window is open for her to go out at night if she chooses. I have had an amazing nights sleep the last couple of nights. Hopefully she will start to figure out my routine and I won't have to shut the doors.


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## Milky's Mammy (Oct 17, 2011)

I can't get my Milky to sleep at night either. Both my husband and I get up exhausted in the mornings. He will only sleep if we lock him in his cage, otherwise he'll meow all night and climb and jump on us while we're trying to sleep! He has pretty much tried everything to get our attention. Even a mega long play session doesn't seem to tire him out... I'm looking for some ideas too!


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## Pixall (Oct 18, 2011)

My kitty used to do that, but I just either took a day off work, or on a weekend spent the entire day harassing her so she would sleep at night, then lock her in her crate with her hut(she has a small dog bed cave thing that fits perfectly in her crate) at night. Only took two days, and she hasn't kept me up since.


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## seismicB (Oct 19, 2011)

I have a similar problem with my 2 cats, who seem to wake up at 4 am every morning and want ATTENTION! I'm woken to loud meows, door scratching (in or out, depending on where they are) and toes biting. LOL. 

It IS tiring, but all I can say to help, is BIG play session before bed to wear them out, And ignoring them in the morning until it's officially your time to wake up. (Make sure they have access to food, water and litter, of course). if you can ignore it, they will learn, with time.

Hope it gets easier for you. Being sleep deprived is no fun!


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## HAHZeppelin (Oct 22, 2011)

I have same problem. It's a relatively new problem with older cat. We've tried playing to tire out before bed or keeping him awake more during day; leaving a light on; leaving TV or stereo on; putting toys out; feeding his wet food before bed (he has access to dry as well). But ignoring & locking out of bedroom is only other thing we can do. 

I think I fed into this behavior when it first started, but since ruling out any problems (boredom, eyesight/hearing problems, health, etc.)...I believe he just wants our attention while we want to sleep. So we're trying to break this habit by ignoring the meows completely (no talking/reassuring, no negative attention/scolding, not even looking at him). But giving extra attention when he's quiet. We do lock him out of bedroom when he gets too loud. It seems to be helping. Slowly, but surely. Good luck!


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## camerafreak (Oct 25, 2011)

I too have a cat that would like attention during the night. At first I would be woken up by licks every few hours. I just started to kind of push him away and now he lays on the pillows staring at me, which is a bit scary lol. I do agree that a long play session could do her some good. =]


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## shieldslv (Oct 25, 2011)

I have the same problem with my 2 year old cat. He would wake us up at all hours of the night and meow at the door if we closed it. We have a partially finished basement so I lock him down there right before we go to sleep and let him up right when we wake up. His scratching post, bed, litter box and water are down there so he is fine. He now doesn't even whine or mind being down there.


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## Transformatron (Oct 26, 2011)

We just bang on pots all day to disrupt their sleep cycle and they sleep at night.


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