# Isolating cats at night



## Manue (Jan 3, 2013)

I wanted to know how common (and acceptable?) it is to isolate a cat in a room at night, with water and litter box, and let them out in the morning. Our cat keeps waking us up for food, always earlier. She's been starting at 5h00 am now, and we only get up at 8h00. At the moment we put her in a room for the remaining two-three hours, but we're going on four months of interrupted nights, so I'm considering making it a routine and simply putting her in that room for the full night, every night. While I do feel bad about it, I feel like we're exhausted and running out of ideas. 
We tried lots of play before bed and feeding her later at night, which is also hard because she begs for food A LOT. And just closing our bedroom door doesn't work because she scratches on the door. She doesn't scratch in the other room, or at least we don't hear her so she gives up. Any thoughts or suggestions?


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## Mylita (Jan 23, 2013)

Sounds like a good solution to me, I see no harm in it. Personally, my hubby refuses to let our kitties into our bedroom ever, so they never bug us. I miss sleeping with them, but I remember being awakened by kitties running across the bed etc, so I'm ok with not having them in our bedroom. The fact that they have never slept with us, makes this whole thing easier. No bad habits to break.

Mylita


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Sounds reasonable to me. Be sure and give her a hearty dinner to tide her over. Ours usually start waking us up about 3AM or so. Not every morning, but often enough. My husband has started to get up and when they follow him out of the BR thinking they are going to get fed he doubles back and shuts the door - shutting them out. We get up by 6AM, latest, but it stinks to have up to 3 hours of head butting and trying to roust us, so this works great.


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## maggie23 (Mar 10, 2012)

we have a similar situation. 1 of ours is very vocal and active and LOVES human companionship. however, he would wake us up at 5 am as well meowing/yowling at the door and rattling it so it sounded like someone was breaking in. we needed our sleep, too, so we do resort to closing him up in a room downstairs on some nights so we actually have 2 levels of doors between us and him and then we get some peace and quiet.

i feel bad for him as well being all alone down there at night, but he does get free reign of the rest of the house once we get up, so it's really not so bad for him. he still cuddles plenty with us during the day, so i don't think he holds it against us. he's pretty forgiving and such a sweet boy.


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## Manue (Jan 3, 2013)

Marcia said:


> it stinks to have up to 3 hours of head butting and trying to roust us


Doesn't it... our kitty is very loving and cuddly but when wants us to get up she gets really annoying clawing and bitting our heads (just hard enough).

I understand why some people give up and let their cats become fat 8-O


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

I was told to isolate ET in his room for 2weeks before introducing him to the rest of the house, when we first got him. As we have many large tanks of fishes in the living hall and we didn't trust him then to be left alone without supervision. After the 2weeks, we only gave him access to the whole house when we are around. After observing for couple of months, we gradually progressed to giving him access to the whole house, (_with the exception ofour bedroom since I am asthmatic_), while we are out. All these while, he still goes back in, to his room for the night. 

More than 1yr now, I don't see the need to change that since he is also accustomed to going back in when its time to - his carrier bed, litter, toy, cat tree, water fountain, everything is in his room. While he is in his room, I get to use the vacuum cleaner and start cleaning up.

Yes sometimes, I do feel bad about isolating him for the night, but it is also for my own good as well as ET's, that I do some cleaning daily while he stays in his room. For the choice between isolating him and my asthma acting up and since none of mine and my hubby's family members and friends like cats, thus giving everybodyelse the reason for pressing me to give him up, I choose to isolate him and be diligent in cleaning. I know, many cat lovers, I have read, are opposed to it but I am sure glad some of you here aren't too opposed about such arrangements. It sure makes me feel less gulity.


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## JungliBillis (Mar 20, 2013)

Aloo used to wake me up at 3AM then 5-6AM but she stopped doing it now except for once in a while at a later time like 8 or 9AM, which is perfectly fine for me, since I need to get up anyway to go to work. I don't know why she stopped waking me up. Maybe she got tired of trying because I sleep pretty deep hahaha.


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## howsefrau32 (Mar 6, 2013)

My two cats, my boys, they sleep in my daughter's room....which is their room also. It is a large room with a big window, cat tree, they are quite comfortable in there, and they know the routine. 9:00 is bedtime. They both get a bedtime snack, Taffy gets a spoonful, Stephano gets a full meal, because if not, he will be crying at 4:00 am. As it is, we all get up at 5:30 during the week. We have to do the isolation thing because I have a vicious cat that can't be around the other two, and she is out all night while they are up. We have a rotation during the day, so everyone has a fair time out of their room. We have to do this, because of our older meanie cat. 

It is not stressful for the boys at all. They go to sleep at 9:00, with full bellies, they do not meow or play...for the most part. They have their moments when they will get rambunctious and bother my daughter, but rarely. I see nothing wrong at all in isolating a cat at night, I know many people who do it, for their sanity more than anything. If you do it regularly, they will learn when it is sleep time, and when it's play time. We used to isolate Beep, before we had the boys, in the bathroom at night because she would wake us up at all hours. We kept a fan on nearby to drown out her screeching at all hours. She got better as she got older, but she still occasionally will stroll in meowing at the top of her lungs at 3:00 am now, since she has the run of the house at night now. There is no way I would leave my kitten out all night, he'd have a free for all, I'm pretty sure


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## Jacq (May 17, 2012)

I don't know if it will help, but we curbed Io's morning squalling for food by never feeding her right when we get up. For one, the person who gets up last feeds her (so she doesn't bother me [much] when I'm up early working.) For two, we always wait until after someone's had a shower to feed her. That way, she associates the shower with breakfast time, and not morning, or people getting out of bed. She hasn't bothered us about the since the first week we had her home.

(That's not to say she doesn't sometimes walk all over us or steal our pillows in the middle of the night, but I kind of like that.)

But YMMV. We generally feed her the evening meal around 11pm or midnight, so she might not be as hungry in the mornings as a cat that gets fed at 5pm.


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## 3gatos (Nov 28, 2012)

My cats have the storage room they go in when I'm not home or in bed.


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## Peppop (Mar 26, 2013)

Before I got my second cat I used to get woken up at the exact same time every morning (give or take 5 minutes) she used to attack my feet so she often got kicked out in the mornings. I love sleeping with my cats so didn't really want to isolate her the whole time so i compromised a little. Since getting my second cat she hasn't really woken me up at all, except for the occasional playing and running over my face. In terms of setting up a room for bed time I totally support it. We did this for my old cat Tilly, she had everything she needed in there and when she wanted to go to bed she just wandered in there. Or if for some reason we were going to bed before her we could just say bedtime Til and she'd wander straight in. I'm allergic to cats so could never have Tilly in my bedroom but always wanted to, so now that I have two Devons that I'm not allergic to I just can't resist even if I have to compromise some sleep.


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## lovetimesfour (Dec 1, 2010)

Manue said:


> I wanted to know how common (and acceptable?) it is to isolate a cat in a room at night, with water and litter box, and let them out in the morning. Our cat keeps waking us up for food, always earlier. She's been starting at 5h00 am now, and we only get up at 8h00. At the moment we put her in a room for the remaining two-three hours, but we're going on four months of interrupted nights, so I'm considering making it a routine and simply putting her in that room for the full night, every night. While I do feel bad about it, I feel like we're exhausted and running out of ideas.
> We tried lots of play before bed and feeding her later at night, which is also hard because she begs for food A LOT. And just closing our bedroom door doesn't work because she scratches on the door. She doesn't scratch in the other room, or at least we don't hear her so she gives up. Any thoughts or suggestions?


How old is she?

I would say it depends on how long she is alone during the day. If she is alone all day while you are at work, and then isolated in one room all night, that is not very much human interaction for a cat.

If she is begging for food, perhaps she is hungry and the diet you are feeding her may need to be re-evaluated. Feed a wet diet high in meat proteins, and low in carbohydrates. Foods high in carbs are not satisfying to a cat and will make her feel hungry all the time.

If she is already on a good for cats diet, it may be she needs more attention, activity and stimulation. It may seem that she is waking you up to eat, but it's possible she just isn't getting enough attention from you to keep her feeling secure.

Add in another play time or two. Interactive Play on a routine schedule will help a lot. Cats thrive on routine. Play with her in the morning before you leave the house. This will stimulate her to play on her own for a while longer after you leave, instead of sleeping all day.

Put a bird feeder outside a window to help stimulate more mental activity, preventing boredom and sleep while you are gone.

Play with her again when you first get home. This will help her feel more content and settled as she begins to expect these extra attention sessions.

And then, as you already do, one last play time before bed. Then a snack.


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## bobbiemama (Apr 8, 2013)

Jacq said:


> I don't know if it will help, but we curbed Io's morning squalling for food by never feeding her right when we get up. For one, the person who gets up last feeds her (so she doesn't bother me [much] when I'm up early working.) For two, we always wait until after someone's had a shower to feed her. That way, she associates the shower with breakfast time, and not morning, or people getting out of bed. She hasn't bothered us about the since the first week we had her home.
> 
> (That's not to say she doesn't sometimes walk all over us or steal our pillows in the middle of the night, but I kind of like that.)
> 
> But YMMV. We generally feed her the evening meal around 11pm or midnight, so she might not be as hungry in the mornings as a cat that gets fed at 5pm.


Same with Bob. She very seldom wakes me, and does not get fed right away. She has dry food available all the time. Can't sleep without her.


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## JungliBillis (Mar 20, 2013)

I woke up this morning and found 2 toys in my bed hahaha. Poor Aloo wanted me to play with her! Billi was right there by me in bed, curled up, so there was no one to play with her.


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

I live in a two story house. A good number of years ago I looked after a cat for the neighbour for a couple of weeks. Because my wife had a disability he could not be allowed into the main part of the house where she might be, so he lived in the basement and came up when I was home. When he was ready to retire for the night he would ask to go down. He was happy with the arrangement. However, the ground level basement was large and his litterbox was down there.


Is there any trouble when you get up and isolate the cat. If not, I would try the lockup. But let the cat out as soon as you are up and can be heard moving around. And greet the cat as soon as you let her out.

Your cat is your friend and should be treated as such whenever possible.


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## Manue (Jan 3, 2013)

We was adopted our cat from a shelter. So we're not certain of her age. According to the vet she's between 1 and 2 years old, closer to 2. She's a spayed female.

She currently eats 4 oz of Wellness grain free everyday and 1/8 cup of kibble to bring the total to about 200 calories. We had to reduce the amount we were feeding her because she put a pound on the first month we had her, from 9 to 10 lbs. She's now back around 9.5 after 4 months, but I think 8.5 would be her ideal. We feed her 2 oz of wet at 8h00 am, 2 oz at 8h pm, and the kibble in a toy ball around 5h-6h pm. I want to keep a bit of kibble in her diet for the convenience if we leave for a weekend. 

She's not alone much at all during the day since we are PhD students and one of us works from home most days. She usually gets interactive play a couple times a day with Da Bird, mainly when she comes and asks for it. She also runs a little kitty marathon around the apartment every night before bed. 

I'm fairly certain that she wakes us up for food, because when we get up to feed her she then comes back to bed and sleeps with us. I don't know what she went through before she was found outside last winter, so I feel like her past may have something to do with her 'I'm a starving kitty' attitude. 

We did think of not feeding her in the morning, but that would be much easier to implement if we didn't work from home and weren't around to endure her incessant meowing during the transition. She's quite vocal too.

She's overall a really good cat. She always uses the litter box, only scratches designated areas, and is cuddly. I actually like when she sleeps with us and cuddles, so that makes me feel bad about isolating her all night. I guess I can just keep isolating her when she wakes us up, but it breaks my night in half. And I don't mean waking us up by making noise or running, I wouldn't mind that. She actively tries to wake us up by poking us in the face and scratching our hair.


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## lovetimesfour (Dec 1, 2010)

Add another canned meal at bed time. Reduce both 2 oz canned feedings to 1 1/2 ounce. With that resultant extra one ounce (half from each meal) give a final one ounce meal right before you go to bed.

She's getting enough, but spreading it out more will help.

I agree with not feeding when you first wake up. Or playing, either. Just do other things for at least 10 minutes. My cats have always waited at least a half hour before their first meal of the day. None of them wake me up for food.

Since you have been feeding her when she wakes you up, she has trained you to do it. Feeding, after all, is a form of attention. 

Since you are home with her much of the day, keeping her out of the bedroom at night is something she should be able to adjust to, in time. If you do change the meal schedule to include that last meal, I suspect in time you will be able to let her have free roam even at night, once the habit of waking you is broken.

At between one and two years old she is still very much a kitten in her energy levels. Structure is very important.

I do urge you to consider making the play times on a schedule. You can get a sense of her most active times by when she asks to play and incorporate that, but if you get into the habit of playing with her every day at the same times, it will help her feel more settled. Cats do best with a routine, the same things happening at the same times every day.

One thing you may find helpful is to know that a cat's natural cycle is:

hunt, eat, wash, sleep. So, you would play with her, then feed her, then leave her to her own devices (wash and sleep) until it is time for the next round of play and feed.


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## Tortitude (Apr 16, 2013)

Like some of the other posters here, I never feed my kitties immediately after getting up. They wait 10-30 min. and never know precisely when that food is coming. I've kept their morning schedule deliberately random and it's worked very well for us. 



lovetimesfour said:


> One thing you may find helpful is to know that a cat's natural cycle is: hunt, eat, wash, sleep. So, you would play with her, then feed her, then leave her to her own devices (wash and sleep) until it is time for the next round of play and feed.


This is our nighttime protocol to a "T" and I never realized before how feline-appropriate it is! Playtime, last meal of the day, time to unwind and go to sleep. If I don't follow this routine, the younger one starts looking for mischief to get into in the middle of the night. :blackcat

Speaking of isolating cats at night, I'm reminded of Koko and Yum Yum's "apartment". I'm sure someone here knows what I'm talking about.


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## Marieclare7 (Apr 15, 2013)

I had the same problem with my Kitten Bella, We had her when she was 4 months old so we had to keep her isolated in our spare room for a little while until our other cat Jasper, who is now 4, got use to having her in the house. Bella is now 1 1/2 so has free reign around the house.

When it finally came time for her to be let out we found she would cry and bang into our bedroom door at 5.30am every morning. We would try and ignore her but she would just get louder and louder until one of us got up to feed her... 

After a few months of this interrupted sleep pattern and shouting at her through the door we finally decided it would be easier when she starts to cry we'd go down and shut her in the kitchen... Luckily both Jasper and Bella are indoor/outdoor cats so we have a microchip cat flap so they can come and go as they please so at least they are not just locked in the kitchen... I feel sorry for Jasper as he never disturbs us but he also has to get locked in kitchen until we get up, which is usually around 7am in the week and 9am on weekends... 

It took me a while to do this as i wasn't happy about shutting them out of the rest of the house but it was that or constant agruing with my boyfriend and lack of sleep... 

I'm hoping over time she will stop completely be more patient like Jasper is..

Only time will tell..

For the past few days mind Bella hasn't been banging on our door until at least 6.30am so I'm thinking she is learning she will just get shut out until we're ready...

rcat


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## Griley (Apr 26, 2013)

maggie23 said:


> we have a similar situation. 1 of ours is very vocal and active and LOVES human companionship. however, he would wake us up at 5 am as well meowing/yowling at the door and rattling it so it sounded like someone was breaking in. we needed our sleep, too, so we do resort to closing him up in a room downstairs on some nights so we actually have 2 levels of doors between us and him and then we get some peace and quiet.


I know what you mean about rattling the door so violently it sounds like someone is breaking in.  Not sure how a 7lb cat does it.

I have a similar problem with my 2 girls. They are both 5 years old, and have always woken me up early in the morning, anywhere from 3AM-5AM. They rarely woke me up for food, it was mostly just for attention. Just closing the bedroom door did not solve it as they would cry and incessantly scratch at the door. I know you're supposed to try and ignore it, as the experts say, but I'm not sure that they would ever stop no matter how many weeks/months I tolerated it.

My husband and I were not getting sleep (and he was getting grouchy) so we decided to close them up in a room by themselves at night. I still hear them scratch and cry sometimes but that's because I'm a light sleeper. I do feel bad about closing them up in a room at night, but they do have everything they need in there and it's a regular size bedroom. 

Overall, it has helped us to get a decent night's sleep which I think it most important in the end. The cats will eventually adjust. It's only been about a month or so for mine, and they are still adjusting. 

Hope that helps!


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## Manue (Jan 3, 2013)

It's funny that two months after this original post, we have pretty much accepted the sleeplessness that comes with being fur parents! I could not bring myself to leave her by herself for the whole night, because I secretly love waking up to a purring headbutt. She still wakes us up at 5h or 6h every morning, and then we (by we I mean mostly my significant other) isolate her in the office until it's time to get up (8h). She seems ok with it. You'd think she would stop trying since that we never give in, but no...


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