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

Original poster

10-month old kitten waking me up to play at 4.15am

26 replies

SupernovaSkye · 12/03/2025 14:38

Hi wise ones
I have a question about our ten-month old kitten.
He is a lovely guy, very well natured, is a house cat on the whole well behaved and has been neutured. However, kitten has started to wake me up very early in the morning - currently 4.15am but getting earlier every day - by chewing my foot, this morning it was my hair. If I keep the bedroom door closed, he will scratch on the door until I get up and open it when he will try to play with my legs... clearly he is in play mode at that time of the night and doesn't have a kitten/cat playmate to play with so is coming to find me.
I could shut him in the kitchen if I have to but is there anything else I could do here? I don't want him to be distressed or to scratch the doors / furniture if possible. But am also tired so would like to find another solution.
Btw this has been going on for about a month now and seems to be starting a little earlier every morning - was 6.15am and over some weeks is now 4.15am. I am putting our kitten out in the enclosed garden when he wakes me up and going back to bed but am v tired now!

Anything else I could do??
Tia
X

OP posts:
biscuitsandbooks · 12/03/2025 14:48

Our cats have always been shut downstairs with their water, food and litter trays. There's no way on earth I'd tolerate being woken up at 4am even once, let alone on a regular basis, lol.

He'll be fine downstairs.

MissMoneyFairy · 12/03/2025 14:52

Enjoy the lie in while you can, the clocks change soon so it'll be lighter even earlier, this is what cats do. I'd lock him downstairs with plenty of toys and just try and keep the room as dark as you can. Can we see a photo of mister mischief

101Kittens · 12/03/2025 14:53

Vigorous play followed by food at bedtime. Natural hunt and reward effort is followed by sleep. Establishing the routine might take a couple of weeks.

minipie · 12/03/2025 14:53

Shut him in the kitchen, make sure he has food. He will be FINE.

Original poster
SupernovaSkye · 12/03/2025 15:03

Here he is!!
Sleeping a lot today (funny that!).
So the kitchen is the way then.
The other members of the household felt that was cruel but being woken up at 4.15am is crueller so...

10-month old kitten waking me up to play at 4.15am
10-month old kitten waking me up to play at 4.15am
OP posts:
Original poster
SupernovaSkye · 12/03/2025 15:03

Thanks everyone xx

OP posts:
ScottBakula · 12/03/2025 15:03

My adult ( about 4 Yr old ) cat gets the zoomies at about 4 am but I know it's going to get earlier as it lighter earlier.
A very firm 'no' and put him on the floor if that doesn't work I yurn the hair dryer on ( not pointed at him ) but he doesn't like the sound so he dashes off to play zoomies around the rest of the house.

You can also buy toys that work on a timer so you could set it up ho off when he normally wakes you up so he can play with that too.

And erm cough cat tax please cough 😺

ScottBakula · 12/03/2025 15:05

Oh sorry x post , thankyou for the prompt payment 😄

angelspike · 12/03/2025 15:07

Does he have food down? Mine is much quieter now he has a timed feeder going off in the early hours! He gets up to eat and then goes back to sleep for a bit

101Kittens · 12/03/2025 15:07

SupernovaSkye · 12/03/2025 15:03

Here he is!!
Sleeping a lot today (funny that!).
So the kitchen is the way then.
The other members of the household felt that was cruel but being woken up at 4.15am is crueller so...

Awww he's a Scottish Fold. You need another playmate for him, he's bonded strongly with you and that's typical of the breed.

sunsunsunsunsunsun · 12/03/2025 15:12

I think it's cruel. You will adjust and he's only little. Make sure you leave enough food down too.

Original poster
SupernovaSkye · 12/03/2025 15:15

He has kibble down 24hrs a day.
He's a lovely guy and I don't want him to be distressed.
The next best option is to keep the bedroom door closed and he scratches on that to wake me rather than chewing my hair.
The go nuclear option is keeping him in the kitchen but he might get bored even sith all his toys!!

OP posts:
Leeds157 · 12/03/2025 15:16

Have you tried the Jackson Galaxy method, boil and simmer? We do something similar for our now 1 year old kittens, for 5 mins we do fast string time, then 5 mins rest, then 5 mins intense string time (as in walk up and down the stairs making them chase the string). We do this for maybe 35 mins in total, usually I play songs so the 5 mins of play isn't as boring for me, it lead to them not waking us up in the night

Original poster
SupernovaSkye · 12/03/2025 15:18

Leeds157 · 12/03/2025 15:16

Have you tried the Jackson Galaxy method, boil and simmer? We do something similar for our now 1 year old kittens, for 5 mins we do fast string time, then 5 mins rest, then 5 mins intense string time (as in walk up and down the stairs making them chase the string). We do this for maybe 35 mins in total, usually I play songs so the 5 mins of play isn't as boring for me, it lead to them not waking us up in the night

Thank you I will try this!

OP posts:
AnnaBalfour · 12/03/2025 15:28

I’ll go against the grain here, my two cats get me up between 4-6 every day and I allow it/live with it. If I dare close the bedroom door the screams are unreal.

Chewbecca · 12/03/2025 15:31

I always shut my cats in the (large) kitchen overnight, I'm not up for sleep disturbance under any circumstances. Kitchen has food, toys, litter tray and cat flap permanently on open so the garden is their nighttime playground, much more fun than my toes.

Original poster
SupernovaSkye · 12/03/2025 15:32

AnnaBalfour · 12/03/2025 15:28

I’ll go against the grain here, my two cats get me up between 4-6 every day and I allow it/live with it. If I dare close the bedroom door the screams are unreal.

Do you take them outside and go back to sleep??!

OP posts:
Original poster
SupernovaSkye · 12/03/2025 15:32

Chewbecca · 12/03/2025 15:31

I always shut my cats in the (large) kitchen overnight, I'm not up for sleep disturbance under any circumstances. Kitchen has food, toys, litter tray and cat flap permanently on open so the garden is their nighttime playground, much more fun than my toes.

This is how I feel really. Think we need a cat flap.

OP posts:
sunsunsunsunsunsun · 12/03/2025 15:51

SupernovaSkye · 12/03/2025 15:15

He has kibble down 24hrs a day.
He's a lovely guy and I don't want him to be distressed.
The next best option is to keep the bedroom door closed and he scratches on that to wake me rather than chewing my hair.
The go nuclear option is keeping him in the kitchen but he might get bored even sith all his toys!!

They are persistent little fuckers. Learn to work with it rather than put him somewhere on his own own. You will also in time learn to ignore it/go back to sleep.

He's waking you because you put him outside. The more you don't react the better it will be.

helpfulperson · 12/03/2025 16:04

I agree that a?second kitten would resolve this. They need a lot of play at this age. Are you able to provide that?

Original poster
SupernovaSkye · 12/03/2025 17:45

We are moving house soon @helpfulperson so was planning to introduce a second kitten once we've moved to somewhere with am extra room downstairs...

OP posts:
Judystilldreamsofhorses · 12/03/2025 21:58

For years we put up with our cat coming into bed at 5am - she would pull my hair and purr in my face. Cute. Usually she would settle between us until it was time to get up at about 6.45, and at weekends one of us would get up, feed her, let her out, then go back to bed. During lockdown and wfh we were getting up later, and tried shutting her in the kitchen overnight to see how it went. I was really worried, but she adapted right away and would trot through at the cues of getting ready for bedtime. I can’t believe we put up with it for so long!

We sadly had to have her pts last year, and now have a little boy cat who was one when we adopted him. After the initial decompression period he has been put to bed in the kitchen every night. It’s a big room, he (and our girl before) has litter tray, water, food, and several cosy sleeping spots. Our girl wasn’t much of a toy fan, but this boy loves balls and his mouses, so he has a wicker toy basket in there too. Sometimes I go through to find there’s been a mouse party overnight! He trots through and puts himself to bed most nights at his audio cue of my electric toothbrush, even if DP stays up later.

stormsandsunshine · 12/03/2025 22:56

Our cats (8 months) are mostly very good at night, but we always shut the kids’ bedroom doors (as otherwise they keep them up by rampaging round their room and jumping on furniture at about 10pm). If they start annoying us in the night our bedroom door gets closed too. They still have the run of the downstairs and stairwell - though they do have each other to play with which makes them less dependent.

Cats are good at training you. If you get up every day at 4:15 because your kitten bothers you, he has learned that bothering you at 4:15am is a successful training strategy. They are also creatures of routine so don’t let him get into a routine which is intolerable for you.

Original poster
SupernovaSkye · 13/03/2025 07:47

Just to say we gave our kitten lots of play time / walk last night and he slept through shut in the kitchen / living room this morning until 5am (could have slept longer I think but I wasn't sure so I went in to investigate and let him out at 5am... will leave till 5.30am tomorrow and then go to 6am - happy to get up at 6am!). So much easier than expected, thank goodness! Thanks for all of the tips x

OP posts:
Cornishbelle · 23/10/2025 14:28

@SupernovaSkye are things still going well? We're about to adopt a kitten and hoping to.ise similar strategy!