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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

Cat waking me up at night!

21 replies

Gifmestrength · 22/02/2021 19:14

I know this is common and cats wake up their owners but I'm not sure what to do with my girl, she scratches at the door of the living room to come out at 4am most days and wakes me up as the room is underneath mine. She has ample space to play and food/toys in there. She also goes out most nights til about 12am so I'm not sure what to do now! I'm fed up of being woken up and due another baby soon so would rather get some sleep while I can!

What does everyone else do with their cat at night? I've thought about leaving her out all night but feel mean doing that, and can't leave her to sleep upstairs as she will wake my daughter up!

Also my house is really small which doesn't help!

OP posts:

LadyWithLapdog · 22/02/2021 19:33

No idea, sorry. Mine does the same and it’s exhausting. Past two nights we locked her in the kitchen but she still woke us up. I feel mean letting her out till morning so I wait till she deigns to come back in.

AlCalavicci · 22/02/2021 19:37

I feel your pain , my cat always goes in for kitty parkour at about 3am which involves him tearing round the house , leaping on furniture , using me as a spring board and generally causing a racket .
I had no idea a small creature could sound so heavy footed !

GOODCAT · 22/02/2021 19:53

Never sorted this out. Our cat is worse with longer daylight hours. I wonder if blackout curtains would help but rather doubt it. I don't have kids but have had years of interrupted sleep!

CannotOperateOnThisFailure · 22/02/2021 19:59

We have reduced 90% of this by putting a bowl of dry food next to our bedroom door. They come up to annoy us, find a bowl of food and forget what they came up for. It was an instant win.

Bythehairywartsonmywitchychin · 22/02/2021 20:11

Even though I have an automatic pet food feeder, I have to put DC1 in the bathroom overnight, or he wakes me up every 4/5 hours and is a complete pest until he is fed.

Luckily he knows the drill and goes into the bathroom quite happily (I put his bed, bowl of biscuits, food as well as the automatic feeder in there) and he stays there until the morning. If I need the loo overnight, he is generally curled up in his basket sleeping.

DC2 generally leaves me alone if I leave food in the automatic pet food feeder until 7/8 am. She wakes me up by meowing and purring loudly when she walks in my bedroom to say good morning, she then walks over me and will gently paw my face until I wake up. I can cope with that, just not the every 4/5 hours with DC1....

sunflowersandbuttercups · 22/02/2021 22:36

Can you leave her in the kitchen or something?

My three have full rein of downstairs overnight with access to food, water and litter trays. We have a door at the bottom of the stairs so they can't get up we don't hear them at all unless we sleep in and don't feed them

Original poster

Gifmestrength · 22/02/2021 22:47

No sadly the living room is the only place as it's the biggest room, I think she would go even more crazy in the kitchen! I'm half tempted to turn the garden shed into a kitty granny annexe for her, clutching at straws

Maybe I should have got 2 cats, feel bad for her now!

OP posts:

Ibizafun · 22/02/2021 23:02

I think two cats are so much easier; keep eachother company at night.

Original poster

Gifmestrength · 22/02/2021 23:05

The worry is if I get another one and they hate each other then I'll have to keep them apart. I don't think I can take the risk of that!

OP posts:

minipie · 22/02/2021 23:06

Do you have a cat flat?

Crakeandoryx · 22/02/2021 23:14

We've started leaving our cat in the kitchen overnight for this very reason. He has scratch posts, toys, food, tray and bed. I'm sick of being woken up at 5 every morning.

sunflowersandbuttercups · 22/02/2021 23:22

Imo cats are much better in pairs or more

I know people say they're solitary animals but we have three unrelated cats and they're great company for each other.

I often come home and find them all cuddled up in a pile 😊

Original poster

Gifmestrength · 22/02/2021 23:27

Ahh @sunflowersandbuttercups that's so sweet! No cat flap but I leave the window open for her to go in and out.

Maybe it's the closed door thing, I might try leaving the door open tonight and see if it makes a difference. If my sanity can handle it

OP posts:

changi · 22/02/2021 23:28

I know people say they're solitary animals

I don't know why people say this because they live in groups naturally.

BikeRunSki · 22/02/2021 23:30

Ours gets shut in the kitchen

Slub · 22/02/2021 23:48

Two of ours sleep on DD's bed all night and are no bother. One cat sleeps on our bed and will wake us up anytime from 2.30 in the morning if we are unlucky or it might be 5.30 if lucky. Always me who gets up to let him out the bathroom window - but when he wants in he hammers on DD's window.
I tell him what a pestical he is a trillion times but we all luffs him! 😍

HariboBrenshnio · 23/02/2021 07:02

I have two 6 month old kittens and they seem to be awake all night. . They chase each other around like loons from 3am, and if I dare stick a hand out the duvet, they're licking me awake. They have the run of the house though, and tend to sleep in the kids beds when they do finally sleep. I manage to sleep through then most of the time, and the 7 year old gets up at 6am daily anyway so sorts them. Do you have kids you could train?

sunflowersandbuttercups · 23/02/2021 07:19

@changi

I know people say they're solitary animals

I don't know why people say this because they live in groups naturally.

It's weird to me too.

Having had a solitary cat, a pair and a trio of varying descriptions over the years, I'd say they were all happier living in a group.

Ours are currently 5 (male), 4 (female) and 8 months (male). They all get on perfectly - share food and water bowls and litter trays with no bother.

We also never did the slow introduction thing that's so popular - we just let them get on with it never had one single fight either. The odd hiss maybe but they soon managed to work things out without fur flying everywhere.

Part of me does wonder whether painfully slow introductions over weeks/months doesn't make things worse.

NutellaEllaElla · 23/02/2021 07:30

@Gifmestrength

The worry is if I get another one and they hate each other then I'll have to keep them apart. I don't think I can take the risk of that!

If you get an adult cat from a shelter they will help you choose a cat friendly one and will understand if it didn't work out and of course you can try another one!

Mumdiva99 · 23/02/2021 07:57

Ours started in the kitchen, then one decided she wanted to sleep in a bed by the radiator upstairs. She was so snuggly I relented and left the kitchen door open. The other cat wanted a better place to sleep and has decided that's daughters bed....as long as she can get there sleep from 11-6:30 before waking her up. I'll take that. Meanwhile other kitty is still curled in her bed.

BlackCatShadow · 23/02/2021 08:02

I think two cats are so much easier; keep each other company at night.

I have 2 cats, but they still wake me up separately super-early. I'm not convinced getting another cat will help.

A friend suggested an automatic timer bowl set for 4 am. That might work. I usually have to get up to pee at 4am, so just feed the cats while I'm there and go back to bed.

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