Hi everyone, I am new here. I have a 7 month old kitten. He ususally wakes me up around 6AM for food, or at least I thought that was why he woke me up. For the last two weeks he has been waking me up at about 2AM, he purrs loudly, rubs against me and tries to get under the covers. If I stop petting him he licks me and gets in my face. I tried petting him for a while, thinking he would fall asleep, but he just keeps right on bugging me! I have tried giving him food in the middle of the night, but he comes right back to wake me up. Last night I tried putting him in the other room but he sat at the door and cried. He's such a sweetie but I just can't tell what he wants and I am not getting any sleep! My husband and I sleep together and he doesn't bother my husband at all. If I get up he follows me and when I get back in bed he is right back to purring and trying to wake me.
Has anyone else experienced this problem? I know it doesn't really sound like a health issue, but I am concerned all the same. This has never happened with my other cats.
I don't know if this could be related but when we adopted him, the vet couldn't tell if he was neutered or not. His testicles haven't appreared and she checked the abdomen for growth on Monday but found none. We adopted him when he was 3 months old. He doesn't spray or anything. I don't know if the waking me up problem could be related somehow.
My cat won't let me sleep!
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puddypaws100
Re: My cat won't let me sleep!
Hi there,
Assuming your kitty is healthy, this is fairly common -- cats are known to be nocturnal. You might want to consider "reprogramming" him. I did this with my 3 and it really works.
You simply make an effort to keep kitty awake during the day (start to do this on a weekend when you'll be home). Just keep waking him up (the same way HE wakes YOU up at night). By the end of the day, kitty will be tired enough to sleep at night. You might have to do this a couple of days -- if you go to work you can "phone" kitty several times during the day to make sure he's not sleeping too much.
You may still get the occasional visit, but cats are creatures of habit and they seem to like routine, so if you can get him used to this schedule most likely you'll get more sleep. Good Luck! He sounds very sweet.
Assuming your kitty is healthy, this is fairly common -- cats are known to be nocturnal. You might want to consider "reprogramming" him. I did this with my 3 and it really works.
You simply make an effort to keep kitty awake during the day (start to do this on a weekend when you'll be home). Just keep waking him up (the same way HE wakes YOU up at night). By the end of the day, kitty will be tired enough to sleep at night. You might have to do this a couple of days -- if you go to work you can "phone" kitty several times during the day to make sure he's not sleeping too much.
You may still get the occasional visit, but cats are creatures of habit and they seem to like routine, so if you can get him used to this schedule most likely you'll get more sleep. Good Luck! He sounds very sweet.
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emilyb
Re: My cat won't let me sleep!
I'd love to hear if this works! I recently got back from a 2-week long trip and for whatever reason my year-old kitty keeps me up all night yowling. He's been known to wake me up early before, but now it's continual, about every 2 hours throughout the night. I've ruled out any obvious physical problems (he doesn't seem to be in pain or distressed, he just wants attention). I thought it might be separation anxiety since I was gone for so long... but I really like this idea and am eager to try to get him "programmed" to my schedule.