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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.

Original poster

Bed time for kittens?

100 replies

Redleaves15 · 01/09/2023 16:00

What time do your kittens usually go to sleep for the night? Granted they may not sleep through, but when's the first time they seem to go to sleep? Mines 12 weeks and I don't know if I'm keeping her up playing to wear her out for the right time! She gets food at 8 and plays til around 9:30 then I'll take her to her bed

OP posts:
Loobyloo68 · 01/09/2023 17:32

My cat comes to bed when I go. Also I used to always shout her in around 8pm, now 9 times out of 10 she's sat by the door by 8pm, so routine does work for some

Hellocatshome · 01/09/2023 17:41

LynetteScavo · 01/09/2023 17:31

I lick my cat in the kitchen over night. He has a bed, but usually prefers to sleep on the table (he's not allowed on the table but doesn't care). He wakes up when we go down in the morning. Sometimes he goes out of the cat flap and jumps through DDs bedroom window to annoy her. He sleeps most of the day so I guess he's awake for a lot of the night.

I wouldn't recommend licking your cat 🤣

UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername · 01/09/2023 18:28

Hellocatshome · 01/09/2023 17:41

I wouldn't recommend licking your cat 🤣

Show quote history

Yeah, the hairballs are nasty.

blahblahhhh · 01/09/2023 18:30

My cats bedtime is 10pm.

But she also goes to get at 9am 11am 12pm 3pm 5pm 7pm lol then any time inbetween 😂😂

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 01/09/2023 18:31

Cat bedtime...
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😹🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

NegativNancy · 01/09/2023 18:35

We all go up to bed together at around ten - me and DP with three fat babies on top of us in bed. During the night they go off to their various hidey spots and play with the toys, do some spider murdering etc. Then in the morning when they hear us stir, they come back into the bed. Little buggers.

JSmithIloveyou · 01/09/2023 18:47

I've had cats scince l was a child
. At the moment l have a 12 week old kitten.. never in my life have l heard anything so ridiculous concerning kittens/ cats.. you don't put them to bed.😂🤣😂. Their cats and sleep when they want hence the phrase " cat nap"
Mine just has the run of all down stairs and my bedroom. I've cat proved.. moved plants etc.
Also a cage is not for cats.. that's harmful and cruel.

missingyears · 01/09/2023 18:49

My cat goes to bed when I tell him too! We normally watch some tv on the sofa. Then I get ready for bed. Then I return to the living room and say "It's bedtime now kitty!" and he gets up and goes through to the bedroom. Mostly he goes happily, but sometimes he lets out some little protest meows on the way, because he wanted to stay up later.....but still he always goes to bed when I tell him it's bedtime.

It's so cute and makes me laugh every night!

missingyears · 01/09/2023 18:50

@teaandtoastwithmarmite your cat sounds like mine...it's so funny!!

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 01/09/2023 20:30

missingyears · 01/09/2023 18:50

@teaandtoastwithmarmite your cat sounds like mine...it's so funny!!

Aw so cute! Sometimes if I stay up later but go upstairs for something she follows me then looks really disgruntled when I go back downstairs 😆. Your cat sounds really cute

Toddlerteaplease · 01/09/2023 20:39

Soubriquet · 01/09/2023 16:24

Urm….you don’t put them into bed and tuck them up with a story. Cats will sleep where they want, when they want

Cheddar used to make me take her to Bed and settle her down!

Anxioys · 01/09/2023 20:41

My cat tells me when to go to bed! I get a hard stare at just past 11pm.

He doesn't go to sleep himself but I get eyeballed until I am in my pyjamas and in the bed. Then he can lie down.

Jesus. I'm so domesticated

Justcallmebebes · 01/09/2023 21:43

Anxioys · 01/09/2023 20:41

My cat tells me when to go to bed! I get a hard stare at just past 11pm.

He doesn't go to sleep himself but I get eyeballed until I am in my pyjamas and in the bed. Then he can lie down.

Jesus. I'm so domesticated

I love this 😀

ShadyPaws · 01/09/2023 21:45

Contemplating mine isn't a cat now
He comes to bed when I do and sleeps solidly until I get up, whenever that is
If I can't sleep he glares at me disturbing him

missingyears · 02/09/2023 00:49

This is a great thread....I'm loving reading about all these cat bedtime shenanigans
!

ilovesooty · 02/09/2023 00:58

My kitten has his own bedroom and is happy to be taken to bed when he gets tired, around 10pm. My older cat comes up with me later when he hears me say "Bedtime. Dreamies"

When I get back from my holiday I'm going to try letting the kitten have a free range bedtime.

andrainwillmaketheflowersgrow · 02/09/2023 09:17

As everyone has said, you can't really put a cat to bed for the night and expect it to sleep!

With kittens we've always shut them in a small room/space overnight with their food, water, litter tray, scratch post, some toys and a bed/blankets. Whether they sleep or not I have no idea Grin

mondaytosunday · 02/09/2023 09:48

My cats sleep on and off all day, and are always out when I get up. When little I locked them downstairs (to save my sanity) so they 'went to bed' then. Now they have a cat flap so if active at night it's fine (I still shut the hall door). They often have a long snooze while we are watching tv of an evening - quite nice having the two cats and two dogs draped around the livingroom!

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 02/09/2023 19:23

Anxioys · 01/09/2023 20:41

My cat tells me when to go to bed! I get a hard stare at just past 11pm.

He doesn't go to sleep himself but I get eyeballed until I am in my pyjamas and in the bed. Then he can lie down.

Jesus. I'm so domesticated

Love it! My cat is pretty similar 😆

tigpig · 02/09/2023 19:50

Cat comes to bed when I do. I was a bad kitten parent and just let him co sleep from day 1. He gets really arsey if we don't go to bed when we are expected to.
He sleeps under the duvet all night head on pillow.
Cats do what the hell they want. You don't have to night train them. You just allow them access to where you are prepared to accept them.
In my case I took my prescious new kitten to bed with me and he grew into an entitled spoilt brat who expects cuddles and luxury all night now.
( he is wormed, flea treated, fully vaccinated )

ilovesooty · 02/09/2023 21:16

The trouble is if I let my kitten into the bedroom at night he'd play with my toes and jump on the older cat. No one would get any sleep.

I'll give it another go after my holiday.

soddingkitten · 02/09/2023 21:32

I don’t think it’s such a mad question. Sodding gets shut in our kitchen overnight, so he does get put to bed - as in carried or coaxed (with Dreamies) to the kitchen and shut in.* The cat flap is also locked overnight. What he gets up to as soon as my back is turned is anyone’s guess.

  • I can’t be doing with cats disrupting my sleep. Been there, done that. Nope.
NotanotherboxofFrogs · 02/09/2023 22:00

I have 2 cats. I got them at 8 weeks old. They spent the first 6 months being put to bed at night. So around 9pm I would feed them and put them into a soft crate to contain them safely and put a sheet over the top of it to signify sleepies and then release them again in the morning. Then I took away the soft crate after they had been neutered (at 5 months) and were ready to have the freedom of the house.

Now at night, I feed them and if I lie on the sofa in the living room watching TV, they are most put out as one likes the armchair at night and the other likes the sofa. If I get up for a drink in the night to go to the kitchen, I have to pass thru the living room and they seem pissed off with me disturbing them. They get let out in the morning to go and play and do their cat things but I don't hear a peep at night from them. Occasionally a bit of growling in the living room window if another cat has crossed into their territory. They have plenty of room to run around and play-act.

MidnightMeltdown · 02/09/2023 22:15

LouisCatorze · 01/09/2023 16:21

Remember that cats are by nature nocturnal so your kitty may not settle to sleep for long periods during the night. I'm not sure you can sleep train them like human babies.

No cats aren't nocturnal animals. They're normally most active at dawn and dusk

gm2023 · 02/09/2023 22:22

My two cats sleep in the kitchen - usually, one on a dining chair and the other on the sofa but sometimes the sofa is begrudgingly shared. We don’t put them to bed but we shut the kitchen door after they have been fed their evening meal and our children are asleep. When we pop in to get a drink or make a cup of tea in the hour or two before we go to sleep, they’re always dozing happily. They were young adults when we got them, and they are now 13 and 10, but I can’t say I’ve ever given any thought to putting them to bed. They just fall asleep when they want to sleep. They’re awake when we go down in the morning but the older one has stopped greeting us at the door and now waits for us to enter the room before she gets up!