Calling all cat people - help

S

steppin out

Cathlete
One of my cats is always waking us up in the morning. He meows and jumps at my blinds. As soon as I get out of bed, he runs from me. I believe he knows this is bad behavior and have tried putting him in a dog cage with a litter box, but he still continues to do this every day. He does not do this because he is looking for food because if I get up, feed him, and go back to bed, he comes back and does the same thing after he is finished eating.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Uh-oh, you have a kitty alarm-clock. I hope you get some answers, cuz I don't know the answer and I'd love some ideas! :)
 
Its attention seeking behavior. Make sure he can't damage anything and then ignore him. That's the hard part. He will wake you up but don't get up or acknowledge him in any way. His behavior will get worse (because it usually works so he will try harder) before he quits. The important thing is that you not give in and give him attention before he gives up and quits. When he is quiet and not fussing, get up and give him some attention.

You will need to wait him out and it will take some time (several days at least, maybe longer) for him to learn that his old behavior doesn't work. He doesn't know that his behavior is "bad", he does know that it makes you get up out of bed and pay attention to him. Many animals find any attention, positive or negative, rewarding just like some children do.

If you can't do that, shut him out of the bedroom or give him no attention and do something mildly aversive like a squirt bottle or tossing a soda can with some pennies in it in his direction.

Lisa
 
I'm very familiar with this type of behavior! My cat will knock my stainless steel (and very heavy) lamp on my head! He also likes to push things off the counters and tables just to get our attention! He's so mischievous!

He's a cat so there's not really anything you can do, that I know of anyway!
 
I am with you on ignoring. It will be hard, but they do learn. Mine jumps on my very early and purrs,and purrs and purrs. I either shove him off, or ignore him, and he finally stopped and waits at least until I get up on my terms.
 
Believe me, I've tried the ignoring. It doesn't work.

I have two cats and both make sure to wake me up every day at 7 if I'm not up and working out by then. Little brats. Both jump on my head, meow, try to climb our dressers. It's totally obnoxious. So every Friday, Saturday and Sunday I get to look forward to this. And I'm usually up by 7:30. :rolleyes:

Drives me nuts!

Oh, and I've tried the spray bottle, too. Doesn't work. :rolleyes:
 
My husband came with a cat, I am not a cat person. I had the rule from the start that the cat is NOT allowed into our bedroom ever. I need a cat hair free place. Not that it necessarily still is, but the cat knows he is not welcome in that room. At first he would sit at the door and cry. We ignored him and eventually he stopped. He still does it occasionally when my husband returns from travel or something but we just ignore him and he eventually stops.

I can't imagine being woken up by a cat walking on me. I would be soooo irritated! I second the opinion to remove the cat from the sleeping area. He will adjust in time.
 
I could not stand to ignore or lock out my cats. I believe they are part of the family and I would not do that to anyone else.

That being said, I can feel your pain. I have two cats and one is a real trouble maker. If we don't wake up to feed him in the morning (at 5:30 :O) he tears our bedroom apart!!

I love them both to death!!
 
jacmar said:
I could not stand to ignore or lock out my cats. I believe they are part of the family and I would not do that to anyone else.

That being said, I can feel your pain. I have two cats and one is a real trouble maker. If we don't wake up to feed him in the morning (at 5:30 :O) he tears our bedroom apart!!

I love them both to death!!
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I'm the same way, I could never lock my cats out. They are little brats but I love them and sometimes they make me laugh even though they wake me up. Especially when the start smelling my hair. LOL!!!

I just deal with it, I'm a morning person anyways so it really doesn't matter.

Hope you can get them under control.
 
Fitnessfreakk366 said:
I'm the same way, I could never lock my cats out. They are little brats but I love them and sometimes they make me laugh even though they wake me up. Especially when the start smelling my hair. LOL!!!

I just deal with it, I'm a morning person anyways so it really doesn't matter.

Hope you can get them under control.
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Speaking of cats smelling hair, last summer I got my hair chemically straighted. The solution needed to stay in the hair for three days and you could not wash it out before than. It smelled REALLY bad, but for some reason the cats LOVED it. Both of them slept ON my hair for three nights straight :)
 
jacmar said:
Speaking of cats smelling hair, last summer I got my hair chemically straighted. The solution needed to stay in the hair for three days and you could not wash it out before than. It smelled REALLY bad, but for some reason the cats LOVED it. Both of them slept ON my hair for three nights straight :)
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LMAO!! That's funny! Mine like the Everpure shampoo/conditioner I get from Loreal. It has a minty smell to it. They ware so weird! Sometimes they start licking my hair! :eek:
 
That's hysterical! My cat used to love to attack my head! I'd be sitting on the couch just minding my own business watching tv and out of the blue, wham! My cat would be on my head with both front paws and his teeth trying to eat me! Ouch! It was a bit painful, but all we could do was sit there and laugh while I tried to get him off my head! DH would just say, "You should see his expression!" Of course, I couldn't, but I could imagine!

Eventually, he grew out of that, but cats are just so funny!

I, too, couldn't lock him out of the room! He's kind of gotten used to waiting for us now. Occasionally, he'll still come in the bedroom and try to knock my lamp on me to get me up but not too often. When he does, I've learned to hold the lamp while I'm still partially asleep!

I love my cat! He's so entertaining, even at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning!

jacmar said:
Speaking of cats smelling hair, last summer I got my hair chemically straighted. The solution needed to stay in the hair for three days and you could not wash it out before than. It smelled REALLY bad, but for some reason the cats LOVED it. Both of them slept ON my hair for three nights straight :)
Click to expand...
 
I try to lock my three cats out at night. They all have their ways of waking me up in the morning and they take turns. My little Ragdoll Truffles runs under the bed so I can't lock her in and the other cats out. When I wake up she is in the living-room and the other two are in my bed.
 
I live with three dogs and three cats. None of my pets wake me up in the morning, it is absolutely possible to train them to leave you alone. If you are going to ignore or be aversive you need to be determined and carry it through. 95% of people cave before the extinguishment burst is over which why I mentioned it.

My cats spent a long time living with a friend, they woke him up every morning and still do when I go out of town and have to leave them there. They don't try it with me when I come home. My dogs don't even get out of the bed until I get out of the shower. Its doable but the humans in the equation need to be consistent and persistent.
Lisa
 
Ok why is it I have the opposite problem....? LOL My cat won't let me go to sleep!! I always pet her for a bit, but once I take my hands away, she'll head butt me or the pillow or try to get under the covers (to wherever my hands are!) However,,,In the morning, she is OUT cold...if I pet her, she just wakes up and looks at me and makes this low meow like she's saying "what the hell are you doing disturbing me"...:confused:
 
We have a male cat, that gets up every day at 4 and wants attention. I have found that if I pick him up and cuddle with him for about 5 minutes and then put him down, he will go back to sleep. Good luck!

Vickie
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, if I close the trouble maker out of the bedroom, the other cat scratches at the rug at the door (no matter which side of it he is on). I like the idea of picking him up to snuggle because that does work at night, but he runs away from me in the morning as soon as I get out of bed. I guess he thinks it's a game, but I'll have to figure out how to get him to come to me. My husband has absolutely had it with this cat - he can't get back to sleep once he's been awakened.
 
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