HELP Please - how to train my restless, nocternal cat

anrutpea

Hey folks

I'm hoping you can give me some advice as I am at my wits end.

My partner & I already have an older cat who is no problem at all, eats, sleeps, plays, cuddles and goes out.

After our kitten died in June we rehomed two 4 year old cats from the same litter in August. They were both very loving but were always a nightmare during the night e.g. restless, walking around keeping us awake, not sleeping, not going out just keeping us awake then wanting attention.

Sadly 1 of the cats got heart failure and had to be put down in January so we are left with his sister and our older cat. She had been getting slightly better after we kept waking her up if we found her asleep during the day to try to train her to sleep when we sleep.

Last night was just awful - it even got to the point where i felt like I could no longer cope. I didn't get a wink of sleep, she was walking around, jumping on the bed, sitting on my back purring loudly for an hour then jumping back down, strolling around.

We tried to get her to settle a few times ( my partner was up 2 or 3 times in the night to see try and settle her) but she just jumps down and walks around more, keeping us awake. After hearing the church bells at 1, 2 and 3 am I finally got up and locked her out of the bedroom so she had run of the rest of the house. This worked for about 30 minutes until she started scratching at the door and crying to be in. I let her back in and she still didn't rest.

Then my alarm went off at 6:30 am and i went to work like a zombie totally sleep depraved.

I have never had any cats as pets that behave like this - what can i do to try and get her to sleep when we do?

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks

KxMx

I do not think you can get a cat to sleep when you are, nor sleep train her -i've never heard of waking a cat up during the day so they sleep at night, sorry that is cruel IMO- they are not human babies however much we feel they are! It's very normal for a cat to be active at night that is an integral part of their nature.

I think your best bet would be ensuring she is shut out of your bedroom, give her no attention, stand firm against the cries and scratches, and make sure she has lots of toys and things to do elsewhere in the house. If she sneaks in when you or OH go to loo etc then remove her from the room, no speech or attention, just scoop her up and drop her in the hall before shutting your bedroom door.

Be prepared for it to take some time to work.

donnac2558

You need to play with the cat with toys etc for a good 15-20 minutes before bed. Get it panting and tired out, jumping around etc.

ERICS_MUM

Is she hungry ? I leave food out for my Eric when I go to bed (even though he has his tea earlier) and the bowl is almost empty every morning so he's having quite a feast during the night,

Gold_Dust_2

KxMx wrote: »

I do not think you can get a cat to sleep when you are, nor sleep train her -i've never heard of waking a cat up during the day so they sleep at night, sorry that is cruel IMO- they are not human babies however much we feel they are! It's very normal for a cat to be active at night that is an integral part of their nature.

I think your best bet would be ensuring she is shut out of your bedroom, give her no attention, stand firm against the cries and scratches, and make sure she has lots of toys and things to do elsewhere in the house. If she sneaks in when you or OH go to loo etc then remove her from the room, no speech or attention, just scoop her up and drop her in the hall before shutting your bedroom door.

Be prepared for it to take some time to work.

I second all of that, and would add that you should make sure that she has a comfortable bed available elsewhere. If she is susceptible to catnip and feliway, that should help. When I had three cats they woke me up three times a night - my sleep was pretty much shot after 4am - if you don't nip it in the bud now, you're gonna be in for a nightmare later on! Her sleep cycle may adjust to match yours later on, but for the time being you'll need to compromise on your desire to have her sleep on the bed with you.

paulineb_2

anrutpea wrote: »

Hey folks

I'm hoping you can give me some advice as I am at my wits end.

My partner & I already have an older cat who is no problem at all, eats, sleeps, plays, cuddles and goes out.

After our kitten died in June we rehomed two 4 year old cats from the same litter in August. They were both very loving but were always a nightmare during the night e.g. restless, walking around keeping us awake, not sleeping, not going out just keeping us awake then wanting attention.

Sadly 1 of the cats got heart failure and had to be put down in January so we are left with his sister and our older cat. She had been getting slightly better after we kept waking her up if we found her asleep during the day to try to train her to sleep when we sleep.

Last night was just awful - it even got to the point where i felt like I could no longer cope. I didn't get a wink of sleep, she was walking around, jumping on the bed, sitting on my back purring loudly for an hour then jumping back down, strolling around.

We tried to get her to settle a few times ( my partner was up 2 or 3 times in the night to see try and settle her) but she just jumps down and walks around more, keeping us awake. After hearing the church bells at 1, 2 and 3 am I finally got up and locked her out of the bedroom so she had run of the rest of the house. This worked for about 30 minutes until she started scratching at the door and crying to be in. I let her back in and she still didn't rest.

Then my alarm went off at 6:30 am and i went to work like a zombie totally sleep depraved.

I have never had any cats as pets that behave like this - what can i do to try and get her to sleep when we do?

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks

One of my cats is very nocturnal, he doesnt sleep much at all. Im not sure how you can sleep train a cat. Hes in with me as one of my other cats doesnt care for him much and tries to fight him and yes it can be a pain in the !!!! but Ive just accepted that hes like that, doesnt sleep much and wants a lot of attention.

I have a fabric cat pen that I use when work is being done to my flat, its huge, has mesh on it and doors that can be zipped up, is there any way you could buy a pen and put the cat in it at night?
Mine dont use it for that purpose as they sleep in the living room and settle there, but you could use it at night. Cost just over 30 quid

Theres ample space in the one I have for a litter tray, toys and food.
Or put the cat in another room? I have more than one cat and some are very happy to sleep in the living room.

Bear in mind the cat may be more unsettled due to losing its sibling.

anrutpea

Thanks everyone for your comments. I do play with her every night. She is incredibly playful. Funny that i bought her loads of toys which she ignores and has made toys out of my hair bobbles, chases ice cubes or balls of foil. She even tore off a stalk of my tete a tetes and was chasing that around the kitchen. She loves cat nip too.

I always leave food, biscuits and water out for them as the older cat likes to graze during the night.

They have their own little beds in the living room where they sleep during the day but as soon as we go to bed the cats like to sneak in.

They are both a joy to be with, it's just these sleepness nights that i hate because my job is really hard work and i need to be focused and on the ball when i am there but with no sleep i am forgetful and make mistakes.

She has only been with us 6 months so is probably still settling in. She didn't like our older cat to start with and hissed at him a lot. They groom each other now but still have the odd boxing match although i can't always tell if this is frendly or competitive.

meritaten

Why on earth were you waking a sleeping cat? they sleep 18 hours a day anyway? Now you have a neurotic cat and wondering why?
Shut the bedroom door and let her get on with her nocturnal wanderings if she wants.

balletshoes

my current kit rarely settles into sleep all night, so he doesn't get to stay in the bedroom - when he starts batting my nose to play when I've been asleep already, I put him outside the room and close the bedroom doors. He yells a bit at first, and he yells a bit early in the morning before my alarm goes off, but i just ignore him and as long as he doesn't hear any movement in any of the bedrooms, he settles down on the sofa downstairs, or the one in the spare room.

Its lovely to have a cat lying with you on the bed, purring away then sleeping in a little ball near you, but if they are disturbing your sleep, they need to not be in the bedroom with you.

Spirit_2

I am up and on here as my 13 year old cat has woken me up by repeatedly treading on my head, and rubbing and purring against my face. She wanted me to accompany her down the stairs so that she could get to her food.

The bedroom door was open, she has full access to the kitchen, the dog is shut in the sitting room as usual....she just wanted an escort.

Happens from time to time..and she may keep this routine up for a few weeks. Haven't the heart to shut her out of our room.

What is that they say about cats have staff?

stir_crazy

My 14 month old cat still gets restless at night. The only option is to take her down stairs and shut her in the living room where she is quite happy to play on the activity centre. The door to the living room is always open otherwise so I've got no idea why she has to wake me up to take her down! The older one loves it though because then he gets peace to cuddle up and sleep.