Two things put me off getting a cat again...

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Our last cat lived to a grand old age, died a few years ago now. In many ways I'd love to have a furry little dude to hang out with again. However. Two things.

You either leave your doors ajar and spend the long winter evenings sitting in a draft or you get up to open the door for them on demand, like an unpaid footman.

Night time. Do you shut them in the kitchen and possibly wake up to them crying in the small hours. Or you don't and you're woken by them marching around the bed, nuzzling your face in the small hours.

Am I missing some easy fixes, or just fixes, to cat ownership?

We have always had cat flaps so comes and goes as he likes. He is 16 now. He seems to wake up when he heres us get up the only problem is if we need the bathroom at 5am he thinks we are getting up!

My two are house cats so I leave all internal doors open. However I'm moving house soon and will have a lodger so will need to close doors. Going to get these.

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I'd recommend rescues- my two come in at night for dinner and put themselves to bed. They're so well trained. They have a cat flap for easy access but prefer the garden door to remain open. They know they're never allowed out in the dark and over the last 10 years they've just got used to it. They're still grateful to be warm, dry and well fed bless them.

We asked local cat rescue if they had a cat who might prefer to be indoors (or need to be) then we would be interested. We are 3 floor so no popping out or cat flap possible.

She's been with us 7 years now and delightfully snoozes much of the night. She has a cute snore and prefers biscuits (expensive grain free ones for iffy tum which cost £££ obviously, because she has some kind of cat IBS). It is DS's job to feed her before and after school. Come 3 pm she's wandering about miaowing and waiting for junior cat slave to arrive back home.

Litter tray could get whiffy but I tend to change it quite regularly to avoid nasty pongs.

I was looking at cat rescue facebook today. I do have to go on and just look at all the ones I could adopt. Some lovely cats looking for new servants out there OP.

Our main issue is finding cat sitters if we go away.

My cat just looks at us at 11am for bedtime, sleeps at the end of the bed. Wakes up and goes downstairs if we're not up on weekdays. If we lie in at weekends she just sits on the bedside table staring at the radio alarm. She may not be super cuddly but I now realise what a very good girl she is!

I love my 2 cats beyond words. Your two concerns would never cross my mind. Sorry OP but perhaps you shouldn't have another one if they are that much effort/trouble.

@shortsaint same here. I get reproachful looks after 11pm. Ours doesn't hassle us. She does come and sit near the dinner table looking like Oliver Twist if it smells like we are having something interesting.

I did have to say to her (apologetically) look Pooks, it's an Indian take away, trust me it is too spicy for cats.

She gave me a look which told me in no uncertain terms that I was a downright selfish beast whose sharing skills were lacking.

100% agree with @stravagante adopt a rescue kitty. You can be matched with a kitty (or bonded pair who will entertain each other) that will be suited to your home. Indoor, quiet kitty who is more than happy to sleep all night? There are LOTS of them waiting for a home all over the UK.

I lost my bed patrol girl a few years ago, once she did her perimeter check she slept beside me all night, purred and snored like a tractor. Still miss that. Both her and her sister went to bed by 11 and gave me the death stare for waking them before 7. Except when one decided 3am was a good time for zoomies.

My cat goes out at night but even though she has a cat flap, will start the meowing under my bedroom window from 4 am onwards. She has a cat flap but wants to be fed and can’t get beyond the kitchen unless I get up. It drives me CRAZY. She has strictly controlled food as she’s overweight, so I feed her when I get up and then about 5 pm. If I fed her before I went to bed she would be absolutely starving, not having eaten since morning.
If I give her three meals she’d be fatter. If I feed her half at 5pm and the rest at bedtime that doesn’t work as she’s starving after half her feed at 5pm. I’ve tried shutting her in the kitchen at night but she absolutely hates it and hides from me or goes out extra early in the evening. I’m at my wits end.

Oh and another thing. Despite having two scratching posts which she uses, she has ruined the carpets . I am so frustrated about it. If we go out I shut her in the kitchen as she’ll wreck the carpets otherwise.

Thanks everyone. We would definitely be looking for a rescue anyway so thank you to everyone who suggested asking a rescue place to pair us with a cat (or cats?) who sleeps happily through the night. The getting up and down to get them in and out the room is more bearable than signing up for 20 odd years of broken sleep.

We've always put our girl away in the kitchen at night since her first night here. It's never been an issue, when she was young we'd make sure she had lots of toys and we'd sometimes hear her play, now I think she just sleeps all night except when we inadvertently leave something edible (or not) on the worktops that needs gnawing through! She's out all day pretty much so I think she sleeps in the night. She's not a door scratcher. Haven't got a cat flap because she's a prolific hunter and we like to keep her in at night.

I do play the role of unpaid doorman during the day though!

Mine gets fed at 9pm, guaranteed to come home for his dinner.

I also shut him in the kitchen at night, he sleeps on a velvet sofa in there like a prince so not exactly a hardship. I simply can’t be doing with him faffing around in the night. He’s known for pushing bedroom doors open and cavorting around/swiping my favourite ornaments off the window ledge just to make his presence known.

No cat flap here - I refuse to have one (had cats for 30 years), prefer them to be in or out.

I don’t find (confirmed by non pet owning friends) that there’s any smells. I feed Canegan and use cats best clumping smart pellets.

Mine gets me up at first light so I go down to feed him and he’s still got food, he just wanted my company.

They’re all different! We have three currently.

A wants to go out all day, every day.
B will go out for a bit then ask to come in.
C isn’t allowed unsupervised outdoor time because she can’t see very well and she eats dangerous stuff.

A will lie politely at the end of the bed, or on the windowsill at night.
B would climb inside my skin every night if allowed, and pokes me in the cheek or licks my eyelid if I’m asleep and she’s not.
C will tuck herself in sweetly next to me, until she wakes up bored at 3am and I hear her trying to break into the bathroom bin to eat cotton buds.

What do you mean OP? I feel rejected when my cat doesn't come for a cuddle in bed. Admittedly he hates too much physical contact and doesn't rock up before 5am and I have to make room for him because there's only one small spot on the bed he wants to be on, but my heart every time he comes.... He also doesn't seem able to jump on the bed without meowing at the same time.

Got used to the open door thing. Even when I have guests I get no privacy. I have to sleep with my bedroom door ajar so he doesn't get upset

Can't you get a cat flap for internal doors?

I am a a big advocate of locking in the kitchen at night. I have 2 cats from the same litter so they keep each other company. Cat flap on in only in the evening.

Ours are house cats with a catio so locked in at night . They sleep in the bedroom but have a cuddle and then go to their baskets on top of the wardrobe .

Per @piloqeula our cat has a wicker basket of toys in the kitchen - mainly mice with a few balls. Some days you get up and it’s like the Brambley Hedge picnic in there. I think if he hears one of us go to the loo he gets up, uses the tray, has some snacks and a play, but if we sleep through he does too. I often find him lying on the ironing board looking out the window like today. (Shame I can’t teach him how to use it!)

Cat flap.
My older cat only comes in for food or warmth in the winter.
New one was an indoor cat but recently stay in the garden or house.
Dh keeps him in at night but I've been known to let him out at 2 am just so he doesn't jump on my head.
I love them to bits so I would rather have them and all that. Comes with owning.a cat tbh.

Thing is, they're all so different. And being a cat means whatever you put in place will not be acceptable or suitable.

My very sweet, quiet little cat , that rarely leaves the house, has taken to refusing to use the cat flap, and howls like a banshee at the front door instead.
At 3am.

I have to let her in, as we have neighbours.

Our rescue used to be an outdoor cat so she has a one way cat flap (can't come in if he goes out) and is shut in the kitchen. Not a lap cat at all and although has his faults is a relatively easy cat so with the right one you could have a happy compromise (I do miss my previous snugglebugs admittedly)

We'd probably get a cat flap, don't have an issue with that, even though I'd have to get a new door to make that possible.

Don't really have an issue with a cat coming for a cuddle in the night, it's when they're meowing at you, you have to get up and they still don't really seem happy. I just don't think I can go back to that level of broken sleep. Maybe last cat was particularly bad for that.

I'd be up for getting a bonded pair from rescue if they would be more settled at night.

I foster cats and have a grumpy old stinky madam in at the moment, as a rule I don't let fosters into my bedroom as I'm such a light sleeper. But this poor old gal has been with me since March because no-one wants her, so I left my bedroom door open for her. Don't know what happened to her in a previous life but she refuses to get on the bed but does like to sleep on the bend in the stairs where she can still see me (my bedroom is downstairs). She also doesn't move, apart from to use her litter tray until I get up. Whatever time that is! So do try your local cat charity, especially one that has fosterers rather than kennels as they will be able to match you with your purrrfect (sorry! 😁) puss. It's time you filled that cat shaped hole in your life again! 😍