Can I train my cat to stop waking me up?

[maggiethecat]

We're new cat owners and have had our 2 yo rescue cat for about 6 weeks and she's lovely. However I've never been so sleep deprived for a long time!

She sleeps in dd's top bunk bed but gets out at about 6am, or earlier, and insists on someone escorting her downstairs for breakfast which someone usually does and then they go back to bed. But after she's had breakfast she'll go back upstairs, sit on the landing and meow until someone pays some attention.

If she wakes me up too early I'll go on to the landing and say "No Lola" and then go back to bed but tbh I don't think she stops meowing, I think someone else has just been getting her so she stops the racket

Any hope at all of trying to get her to stop waking us up

No way - what if it’s very cold, raining, the cat is hungry or wants a sleep or is being bullied or chased by another cat or a fox? Shutting them outside would feel very mean and also for my cat would make it much more likely she would find another home (my cat visits several neighbours regularly and would likely move in with one of them if we shut her out).

@Runningdownthathill most road traffic accidents happen to cats overnight so quite the opposite they are shut on also prevents the dusk and Dawn hunting if you time it well.

Eventually they may condescend to get into your rhythm. Can u leave dry food or a treat out? To not bother u

Water pistol by the bed, likely to take a couple of days and won't hurt her.

Mine is patient in the morning but like my DCs when they were babies, has her biggest meal at 10pm. She runs around chasing toys on the stairs before eating so sleeps heavily through the night.

FelicityFlamingo - judging from this thread, sense is not so common 🤣

Our cat goes to bed in the kitchen, she has food, water and a litter tray, she waits patiently for us to get up. I hear her jump down from one of the kitchen chairs as I come down the stairs. She often goes to bed before us and gives us the evil eye if we dare to enter the kitchen after she's settled down for the night.

WTF would anyone shut their cat outside for the night? If that’s your take on pet ownership then just don’t bother having one. There’s always been a huge debate on indoor vs free roaming cats, but surely one of the most well known things is that majority of free roaming cats have their lives cut short at nighttime.

I guess I’m lucky. My cheeky monkey spends 80% of nights curled up on the bed (tends to wrap his paws gently round my arm in a cuddle). Most mornings he leaves me in peace but, if he does decide I need to get up, he VERY gently strokes/bats my cheek with his paw - it’s actually really cute, he is so blooming gentle with it.

I’d find it completely alien to shut a cat in a room overnight, but in the 10+ years I’ve had mine I haven’t had a need to, so can’t really compare experiences. The first six months or so were a bit of a PITA, but soon chilled out pretty quickly - which surely is default setting for a cat, I definitely want to be reincarnated as a cat!

Cats are very vulnerable out at night The odd night when they won’t come in is unavoidable but there’s still the outhouse catflap so there’s somewhere safe and dry to go.
Ours pulls your hair and bats your face in the night. So she is locked in the outhouse with the boiler in it. Warm, dry, food, water and litter tray. We have peaceful nights.

I can't train mine, so I trained me to ignore them, they soon learn.
They have constant dry food, a water fountain and can get in my bed whenever they want so not neglected.

Train a cat? Nope. Give up.

@DappledOliveGroves *

That is pure genius.*

She realises a conspiracy is afoot! She never came upstairs this morning and DH fed her when he went down at 7. Is it too soon to start celebrating? 🤔

I sat up until 3am last week because mine wouldn't come in. She has the odd night on the tiles in the summer, but I wouldn't leave her at this time of year.

Our cat learnt our alarm! As soon as he hears it he must think, oh they'll be getting up now and in he trots

@Furries

WTF would anyone shut their cat outside for the night? If that’s your take on pet ownership then just don’t bother having one. There’s always been a huge debate on indoor vs free roaming cats, but surely one of the most well known things is that majority of free roaming cats have their lives cut short at nighttime.

I guess I’m lucky. My cheeky monkey spends 80% of nights curled up on the bed (tends to wrap his paws gently round my arm in a cuddle). Most mornings he leaves me in peace but, if he does decide I need to get up, he VERY gently strokes/bats my cheek with his paw - it’s actually really cute, he is so blooming gentle with it.

I’d find it completely alien to shut a cat in a room overnight, but in the 10+ years I’ve had mine I haven’t had a need to, so can’t really compare experiences. The first six months or so were a bit of a PITA, but soon chilled out pretty quickly - which surely is default setting for a cat, I definitely want to be reincarnated as a cat!

I’ve had loads of cats. They have always gone outside at night and none have come to any harm. My current cat has a cat flap and a bed inside she can sleep in, but she prefers to be out.

Ours is 7 and regularly wakes me up between 5 & 6. We are open plan and so cannot shut him downstairs. Bedside clocks are blue tacked to bedside tables, because he fires them across the room if you ignore him. Now he can't do that he walks all over you, howling loudly and if you ignore that he starts scratching up the carpet and if you ignore that he nibbles up the inside of your arm. You cannot ignore him as he just escalates his behavior. I have perfected the art of getting up, going downstairs and letting him out without really waking up.

I love how it’s ok for us to be woken up but if you disturb them you get a death stare and disgruntled moaning.

We lock our cat in the kitchen at night when we go to bed..he has a catflap. Because arlynd 3am he jumps all over us purring playing biting!!! Tried it several times but he does it everytime plus goes in DS bedroom...can open doors and wakes him.up!!!!

My cat has managed to train my husband to stroke her in his sleep. No idea if you can train a cat though 🤔

@Runningdownthathill

Does no one shut their car outside at night?

A friend does this, and her DC was doing a project about the cat, so they bought a tracker collar to see how far he roams at night. Turns out it's about five minutes up the road where he goes in through somebody else's cat flap and joins their cats for the night.

Bedside clocks are blue tacked to bedside tables, because he fires them across the room if you ignore him. Now he can't do that he walks all over you, howling loudly and if you ignore that he starts scratching up the carpet and if you ignore that he nibbles up the inside of your arm. You cannot ignore him as he just escalates his behavior.

Your cat sounds amazing 😂

They have always gone outside at night and none have come to any harm.

There’s a big difference between allowing your cat out at night and shutting it out at night.

My two used to do this then I started feeding them their main meal between 9-10pm and the sleep most of the night now and don't bother me for food until then! (They have biscuits out all day)

Dont feed her until you are ready to on your own schedule, as someone said. I bet she falls into the new routine more quickly than you would think.

On a side note, the clock change has completely messed up my cat's body clock. Not so noticeable in the mornings but she keeps asking to be fed an hour earlier at night!

No our last cat was relentless at night, we tried ignoring the behaviour but he wouldn't stop constant meowing and cuffing for hours! So he had to go into his own space (the conservatory) at night. We couldn't even just shut the bedroom door as he would howl and scratch at it. Our current cat sleeps all night like a human and is mostly awake during the day. My husband has had 10 cats in total (only 1-2 at any one time) and he reckons they are utterly untrainable, some are just naturally better behaved than others Before I owned a cat I really thought if you were consistent you could shape their behaviour like a child or dog, I was so wrong!