The bloody cat

[LittleLapwing]

Life is pretty exhausting at the moment, and what little sleep I have time for - I really need.

We have an indoor/outdoor cat. He spends most nights in but sometimes stays out. I’m fond of him but he has form for being demanding/annoying.

This cat, in the last week or two, has taken to waking me between 3-5am yowling at my door. I then have to get up and put him out, then need the loo, then I am awake and take around an hour to get back to sleep. But I have to be up in just over an hour now ☹️

Would I be unreasonable to just insist he stays out at night? I have no capacity for this.

We live on a farm and there are plenty of pile-of-hay type places he could sleep, although he never seems to. I’ve no idea where he does go at night.

He’s now crying to come in but from outside it’s not loud enough to keep me up.

At 4am when I posted I was pretty much as far from ‘cat lover’ as you can imagine.

I am leaving him out in future, he’s a feral farm cat who started coming in during the day, then morphed into overnight stays, then morphed into 24/7 concierge.

Fuck that. He’s entirely covered in a layer of fur and is designed to live outside. He can sleep on a bed all day whilst I am
outside, but I am then entitled to sleep on a bed all night whilst he is outside.

Are you 14 ! "U wot m8 "lol

It’s part of having a cat, don’t be mean. We lost our sixteen year old cat at the end of last year but spent years through the winter months letting her in and out, there was no way I could hear her crying outside and not let her in, she had an outdoor house too.

OP clearly not brought up on a farm. The animals are there to be fed and watered and includes farm cats whose role is to keep down the rat and mouse population.
They shouldn’t be allowed inside because they lose the ability to keep warm outdoors.
So chuck him out and put his feeding bowl and water in the barn with a bed.
He’ll get the message.

It's a farm cat and you live on a farm. Shut it out overnight and it will find a shed or barn somewhere warm to sleep.
I couldn't be having my cat wake me up in the night. He's not allowed upstairs at all and is shut in the kitchen at night with access to a cat flap.

My cat likes to sleep on my head or next to me in the bed. I wake up sore and stiff but I love him being with me

Are there sheltered indoor spaces he can access if you shut him out? Lots of PP have mentioned barns but you’ve said pile of hay - are there barns he can get into?

I certainly wouldn’t lock him out without any indoor shelter available.

Also safety, are there other cats around? If so he needs a safe place to sleep that they can’t get into.

You can get renter friendly cat flaps that are designed to work with a window (for example) I’d have a look at these.

It’s really not ok to lock him out in winter and declare he has fur so he’ll be fine.

Just find him another home. You’ve got no business with a cat.

This. And it’s cruel not to provide a litter for an indoor cat. You say he won’t use it be he will if he’s desperate. I don’t like being sleep deprived either but would you be able to sleep knowing he was freezing and crying outside. Keep him in with a litter and buy a pair of good earplugs.

"They shouldn't be allowed inside because they lose the ability to keep warm outdoors"

😂

I feel your pain. My cat is an arsehole too. Would you allow the dog to sleep upstairs? So the cat can have the kitchen.
Pets rule the roost unfortunately !

Aren't animals including cats designed to live outside? That's why they have fur. OPs car is a farm cat son it's not as if there is the danger from traffic and there will be plenty of places the cat will be able to find to sleep

Cats actually have low tolerance to very cold temperatures despite having a fur coat (there is info on this online). I’m afraid as far as the cat is concerned it is allowing you to live in its home rent free and you are there to serve.

Following with interest as also get annoyed with our cats night time habits.we have tried a cat feed timer so food appears at 5am but it's not very successful.best solution we have is leaving her outside with porch access.if you have an outdoor area or get a little cat kennel I would make that her home and feed her there for all meals and even have a timer maybe.cats are fine outside and people are not fine woken in the night.id rather ours went out in the day and slept all night but we seem to be cat led about when she wants to go out,which seems to be night time.

Just leave a window open, I know it’s not ideal in winter but neither is getting a cat when you don’t have a cat flap

@LittleLapwing do you have a shed? Or can you get a small one?

It's not right to leave a cat out all night in the middle of winter without the option of coming in doors and I assume you don't have a hay barn...

When I had a semi-feral cat, I installed a cat flap in the shed in which I had an outdoor cat shelter with hay. Each night I'd put a heated pad in too for him. It meant he was warm, had somewhere sheltered and safe to sleep.

You wouldn't even need a full size shed, even a large storage box would suffice.

I hate to disillusion you OP but cat owners are on call 24/7 and early morning starts are all too common. We can’t have a cat flap either and my cat bounces on my head when she thinks it’s getting up time.
Perfect nuisance but horribly normal, I think.

We have a similarly demanding cat. I swear they seem to know when you’re on your last nerve etc and just how to play it.

we have a cat flap now so no issue. When we were renting we just left an upper window, one of those less than quarter windows that just opens a bit. We left it open and built a tower inside and outside for him to come and go as he pleased. It wade on the ground floor but an upper part of a window.

we did get some unwanted cats in though. But it is an option.

We have a cat flap but they’re on a curfew because it’s more dangerous for them to be out at night. Also I don’t like finding dead rats on the kitchen floor in the morning.

So one of them wakes me up regularly at 4am by poking me in the face because he wants a cuddle. Cats are creatures of habit and if you don’t give in and get up to feed and let them out, they give up on the yowling eventually. The cuddling I don’t mind indulging because the purring and warmth of his body pressed against mine makes me go right back to sleep.

Don’t lock him out if he’s not used to it - it takes time for them to build up the extra thick coat that outside cats require.

More toys for them at night (cat tree, cardboard boxes, tunnel, scatter a load of toy mouse). Also try one of those timer feeders to come on in the night during their active hours so they get a snack. Make sure it has a couple of litter trays, bowl of water upstairs and down. It’s hard with kids but try and play with it before bed too so it’s not craving your attention so much. Sympathies though, OP, because my cat likes to walk across my 3YO while she’s asleep to try and wake the house up. Some nights are better than others but the above is stuff we’ve tried with varying success! Not one we’ve tried, but my parents are giving their elderly cat a dose of hemp oil before bed to calm him down in the night - it works wonders apparently. But I don’t know how ethical it is for a young healthy cat who isn’t particularly agitated, just happy to see you. Hope you figure something out.

Leave him in the kitchen with access to a litter tray. Simple.

Don’t leave the dog out. Insane suggestion. Cats are far more able to be left out.

The Mumsnet dog haters get on my tits.

My cats are always in during the night but not in our room, due to cat nocturnal ways, I’m not waking up at 3am every day.

I think you need to rehome the cat as you've explained that you can't install a flap.

My cats have a window open for inside/outside access. We also live on a farm and it’s a toss up whether they spend the night outside or on a bed, even in deep cold.