Am I being cruel

[Regretstartingthis]

My new little rescue cat has been settling really well, but last night was not keen to be put back in my spare room (her original settling in space). Since I need my spare room back for guests in a few weeks, that's not a bad thing - so instead she had free roam of the house (except my bedroom) and it's safe to say I didn't get much sleep. I've probably been struggling more than she has to adapt to her being here, and sleep deprivation is not helping at all.

Would it be cruel if I kept her in my kitchen diner overnight instead? She has her food, water and litter tray in there and I can also put her bed in overnight. I just don't think free roam is going to work long term, as I can't cope with being woken by zoomies at midnight and then meowing outside my bedroom door every couple of hours after that.

That’s exactly what Ive done with my three.

Easy clean floor.
Far enough away so I’m not woken with cats shouting in the middle of the night.
Gives then their own space to settle in.
Leave curtain open so they can see the birds etc and not be bored.

(Not that I had three at the same time, only two at any one time).

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

All of our cats have got used to being shut downstairs overnight. We have one boy cat at the moment and his catflap locks at 10pm and opens very early in the morning, and he stays downstairs in our large kitchen and utility room. He seems to be fine! If he wasn't shut downstairs he'd wander the corridors upstairs yowling 😂

Mine all get put to bed and are all very keen to go, they love their routine. They eat supper, have a okay then settle down for their “big sleep”.

Cats don't naturally sleep in one chunk overnight like humans. They do lots of small chunks of sleep throughout the day and night. If possible I'd make sure she at least has a few rooms to go around downstairs, it's not really fair when people shut them into one room for the entire night and expect them to sleep through like a human or dog would.

Some do adapt to your sleep hours. Mine did but we have had her from a kitten. She's also learned to be in overnight and she wakes me up to let her out, usually about 6am ish.

If you've a routine, they can adapt.

Op is yours a full house cat? Maybe a cat flap to a catio access if possible from the kitchen? Just overnight then move it away from that area? Just thinking your cat can go outside and look at the world then.

Where I live, we couldn't have a catio outside but shes safe enough and has her own routine.

Mine is closed downstairs overnight, as was my last cat. I even ended up replacing the door handle with a knobs style one on the door they are shut behind after previous cat learned to open it.

Our Siamese goes to bed with someone and sleeps under your arm with her head on your chest , if you want to turn over you just move her to the other side . She also doesn’t like getting up early .

One of mine is good as gold! Gets in the Airing cupboard when we go to bed comes out at some point early in the morning & sits in the window to watch the birds, the other one though comes to bed for regular cuddles!

Cats love and need routine. I've always had our cats sleep in the kitchen overnight. I know they don't sleep the entire time but that's the routine so they accept it and I get some much-needed sleep!

She's fully indoors at the moment - never been outside so the Cats Protection have advised she needs to stay inside for at least a couple of months. Although I may end up getting a catio, so that could be an option longer term.

Ours is in the kitchen overnight or he’s a total pest at first light. He has a bed in there, his cat tree, my office chair with a cosy blanket, and his favourite spot, an Amazon box on top of the fridge. (Plus litter tray, water, and any food he hasn’t eaten up.) He knows the audio cues for “beddy bed”, things like teeth being brushed and the radio being switched off, and will often take himself through unprompted. If he’s out, he’s called in for bedtime.

We have a wicker basket of his toys in there and sometimes he’s clearly been having a good old rampage around with balls or stuffed mice, but mainly you hear him hop down when you turn the door handle. If I had a camera in there I would bet we would see he sleeps in his bed until it gets light, gets up and goes to the litter tray, then up in the cat tree by the window to watch the birds outside.

One of mine got cross if you stayed up late past her bedtime. You could see her pointing at her watch.

Ultimately she would sit in front of the TV if she deemed it was getting outrageously late

Perfectly fine. It's where my puppy is, although I'm sure she'd rather be with me. She's staying down there until I'm confident she can make it through the night.

My cats are only allowed downstairs - if they ever get past the door into the hallway it’s very boring for them as we keep bedroom and bathroom doors shut at all times
Finlay has lounge, dining room, kitchen and the great outdoors to keep him entertained

Our cat is restricted to only the kitchen at night although he can also go outside as he has a cat flap. He has a chair on the kitchen with various blankets to sleep on. In the winter time he will often go and settle himself down on his bedtime chair around 10pm. And even in summer he is often settled / sleeping on that chair if I have to come down in the night.

My cat has the whole of downstairs to wander at night and has a cat flap to go in and out. She's not allowed upstairs due to twice peeing on our carpets. (downstairs is flooring). I've had her since 3, she never did zoomies or anything she was always timid as a rescue. I remember cat sitting my friends kitten once and it kept me up all night whizzing around and meowing. It would drive me nuts so I think you are completely right to settle the cat downstairs.

Thanks everyone, that's reassuring. I think the kitchen is going to be her new bedroom :)

Mine are shut in the kitchen at night. Your sleep is sacrosanct. They will get over it. Cats can be by nature very solitary creatures so it is not the same as isolating a pack animal.

Mine are all shut downstairs overnight. They have free roam of downstairs, except the cat flap.
one we got as a rescue kitten, and he spent a couple of weeks in his safe space first, then was only shut downstairs when he and resident cat were ok with each other.
they're all totally used to the routine now, they come in and settle down in their preferred chairs and don't seem to move much overnight.'

I'd give her another week of free roam and see how she adapts. I adopted 3 kittens together (different litters but same age, all three were "the last one left").

They'd try and wake me up to play at night at first but once they learned I'd always ignore them they stopped. Now we all sleep in a big pile right through the night.

When they get tired in the evenings they'll come nap in my lap waiting for me to go to bed. Then they'll all follow me down the hall to the bathroom, then bedroom, waiting for me to do my nighttime routine before climbing in with me. It did take a few sleepless nights to start with but I have no regrets at all.