Cat keeps my wife and I up all night...

[moonchicklovesku]

I SOOOO understand!!! We have two cats in our apartment and in particular my boyfriend's likes to wake us up by licking us or crawling on us, etc. It's very frustrating. We got to the point we were shutting the door but then it got too hot in the room. I've even tried shutting them up in the utility room where all of their stuff is. After I did this they stopped waking us up for a couple of nights and then were right back at it. I understand. Like you, we also tried different things to make sure they were being fed, getting enough attention, etc. Basically, we decided she just likes attention at all the wrong time:-P Lol. Good luck w/ yours though.

[kiggityca]

cats are creatures of habit, and also have a different logic then we do. they learn that an action they take leads to an end result they like. when my cat wanted to come in the house, he would climb the tree in our yard, jump onto the roof, walk around to my parents' bedroom window, and meow, and either someone would come to my parents' room and take off the screen to let him in the window, or come outside and coax him down the tree. obviously, it would make more sense to come to the front door and meow. but cat logic told him: climb a tree + jump on roof + go to window + meow = get in house. your cat's logic is, go in bedroom + annoy you = you wake up + you come in living room = she sleeps. my suggestion would be to just close your bedroom door. she will probably meow the first nite or maybe a few nites, but if you just ignore her, she will learn that meow at door = no result. if you keep your door open, you will have to just ignore her when she comes in, as hard as it is.

[Gillian]

Your cat must be related to mine.

He is terrible. I am constantly sleep deprived. He doesn't select a specific time to act up but typically it is just after I've finally dozed off.

His behavior includes pouncing on me, meowing, howling and walking repeatedly across me with his 14 pound peg legs driving into my body.

I also tried the water bottle. It worked for a while but eventually he learned to enjoy the water and also thought that it was a game.

I had a limited amount of success with one of those sound sensitive robot dogs that bark - don't laugh I was desperate. It took about a week for my cat to become oblivious.

Shutting him out of the bedroom causes so much drama that I am afraid of the neighbors calling the ASPCA. He throws himself at the door and howls until I let him in. I have tried my tough love method of shutting him out for an extended amount of time. He will stop after about an hour and then pick up and continue where he left off with repeat performances about every other hour until morning.

I am a wreck. I am now considering roasting some turkey for him in hopes that I might get some benefit with the tryptophan or purchasing some cat sedetive (if there is such a thing).

Help!