Pets ruining sleep

[JellySky]

I let a stray cat into my house 5 months ago and it moved in. We slowly introduced it with our dog and they generally just co existed. The cat was waking us at dawn which was 4am, walking around trilling and scratching window. We got him neutered, vet says he is 2 - 5 years old and since neutering, and possibly two cat fight injuries, he is less interested in going outside. He still wakes us at 5am, trilling and pacing around and now, pawing the dog which has the dog on edge and growling when the cat comes near him. The rest of the time they sometimes play chase together or just ignore each other.

I am sick of the cat waking us up every morning, noisy, and the dog jumping around to avoid the cat and growling.

The logical thing is to shut cat dowbstairs, but of course, he hates a door being shut and will persistently scratch it which we will hear. Is it worth persevering with?

Earplugs not an option, hurt my ears and dont block much noise when ive tried in the past. Its also not just me, its the kids too.

I dont want to rehome the cat and im not sure who would want a cat that is so noisy in the morning! Looking for tips, and hope, its like the newborn days!

Yeah I know. One of my cats likes to sleep on my face. Ive just given in 😂Sorry I dont know what the answer is.

Do you have a catflap? My 2 come and go as they please. They wake us in the morning if theres no food left so maybe top up food bowls before bed

My cat thinks that breakfast should be at the same time every morning, so on weekends I often get up, feed her & go back to sleep.

It's worth persevering in my experience but all cats are different and some are more stubborn than others. I have to split my calm adult cat (4yo) and my kitten (19 weeks) at night because he mithers her and then she swipes at him. Neither of them were particularly happy about it at first but they've got used to it now. I might let them free roam once he's a bit older and calmer and has been neutered.

I would try keeping him downstairs with access to a cat flap. I had a stubborn, noisy cat from kitten to 20+ years old. He never stopped being shouty and active at 4-5am but this arrangement worked reasonably well for years until he was very elderly when the noise and neediness ramped up.

Mine have always slept downstairs over night. Or outside. All scratching has been ignored.
does depend on your house set up though. Can the cat and dog be separated?

Yes the dog can sleep with us as he always does. I swear the cat swipes the dog sometimes just so the dog moves and the cat gets his warmed up spot!

Its not so bad in the day. Catflap is tempting but im not convinced he wants to be out as he doesn't go out for long.

Do you find they just like popping in and out repeatedly?!

Yes they do. The 16 year old never goes out from choice but the younger one pops in and out all day and night.

Lock cat downstairs. They soon get used to it. You could always look at getting an automatic cat feeder so cat gets fed and saves you getting up at 5am

Erm, I'm afraid this is just your life now (dog & cat owner speaking from years of experience!)

Ours go out at night! We live on a farm, so we have outbuildings that they can access, with insulated fleece bedding, adlib dry food, and water.

My fat, lazy, dopey cats who do fuck all in daylight hours cause havoc at night.

We can't close doors so we essentially just have to let them do their thing. Current game seems to be chasing each other up and down the wooden stairs for an hour commencing at 3am promptly!!

I make sure to give them regular pokes to waken them throughout the day in the hope it encourages them to sleep more at night. It doesn't.

I’ve always just trained mine that making noise/waking me up= chucked out of the bedroom and fussing at the door after being kicked out= spritz from the spray bottle. They do not want to be kicked out or to be spritzed. It didn’t take any of them long to learn, though I always have females as I’m not fond of male cats. My current one hops up and sleeps next to me and doesn’t make a peep until I wake up. If she wants to gallivant at 2am she goes elsewhere in the house to do so.

I don’t let my dog sleep in my room though as apparently (according to my neurologist) dogs are one of the biggest factors in poor sleep quality. I do wake up far less now that she isn’t scratching/shaking/sleep barking throughout the night. 😅

Mine used to dance on me and the bed every night, also starting at 3am like pp’s cats. Now they are shut in the kitchen at night. It took them about a week to stop hurling themselves against the kitchen door.

My cat has trained the dog to bark when she (cat) wants her food bowl filling.

The dog thinks this is an excellent new game and will gladly howl for us any time of the day or night, for the cat. Whom he adores.

The cat largely ignores the dog but thinks he is a useful idiot.

A cat flap does help. Or it did us for a while until the cat decided she doesn't want to be confined to that room with the cat flap, food and bed, so calls for the dog. Said dog now barks to let us know the cat needs a different door opening.

Not sure what the answer is. We had a cat where we tried shutting her in the downstairs. She ended up picking at the door and the carpet where it came to the metal bar at the door frame, until she managed to pull up the carpet and also the underlay. This was very annoying and also jammed under the door when trying to open it. We gave up and let her wander where she wanted

My cat tries to wake me up same sort of time every morning for breakfast. Fine on work days as its about right and a natural alarm clock. But on weekends really not happy about it, and tries all sorts of tactics to get me up.

She seems to have worked out that the quickest way to get me leaping out of bed is to do a small sick on the carpet on the landing. It happens so often now and only on a Sunday morning that I know she's doing it on purpose!

To be honest, I think it's worth going down the cat flap route. It'll save you having to keep letting him out during the day, and make things easier at night. One of my cats has literally just been out for a minute, he went out, had a wee and he's back now. Also, stretch last feed out as long as possible, or give half at teatime and half just before bed.

Cat flap and automatic feeder

Persevere - we slept so much better once the cat was shut downstairs in the kitchen. Dog is still upstairs with us. We had a cat flap though - microchip one.

Mine loves to wake me up at 3am most mornings. She doesn’t actually want anything but if she’s awake then it seems I have to be too. I thought she might be hungry so got an automatic cat feeder - which she’s scared of. I hide under the covers and try not to move in an attempt to deter her. This has so far been unsuccessful.

Keep the cat downstairs at night, either shut indoors with a litter tray, or with access to a cat flap. Leave some food down. She will get used to the idea and will stop scratching at the door.

I have several cats and they are shut downstairs, if they weren't I would never get any sleep. They are in the routine of it and never make a fuss.

Omg, I love this. I wouldn't love it if I was you, but for someone who doesn't have to live with the howling it's hilarious. The cat really is the boss of the house.

Cat flap!
Cats like to come and go and don’t let it upstairs…

This.