Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : That Darn Cat again, please help!!
jimintn
06-24-2005, 06:53 PM
About a month or so ago we moved into a new house, and I asked the question on this forum asking for help understanding our cats behavior. I got a lot of answers and really do appreciate the help, but now I need more help. Our cat's clock is backwards. He is waking us up every morning between 1 and 2 wanting to eat, and then a lot of times he is waking us up again around four because he wants more to eat or wants some cheese to eat. Is there something we can do to turn it back around where he is eating when we get up instead of the middle of the night? He may be finding a new home in the fish pond if we don't figure it out.
(Hopefully this will help you make it through the remainder of the afternoon, Morea!)
morea
06-24-2005, 06:56 PM
lol @ jimintin! :p
yup, give me a few minutes to type up a reply.
morea
06-24-2005, 07:00 PM
I copied bits from this article: http://www.perfectpaws.com/noct.html
(I would have just linked it, but didn't like the pop ups.)
Cat Nocturnal Behavior and Activities
Cats are nocturnal. It is normal for them to be active at night. If you find this annoying, rather than punish your cat for following her natural activity schedule, train her to shift her active phase to earlier in the evening or later in the morning.
Who's Training Who?
The first rule of treating this behavior problem is not to make matters worse. One reason your cat is acting this way is because you are allowing him to. Some owners actually get up and play with their cat, thinking he is lonely. Others feed the cat and then wonder why kitty wakes them up in the middle of the night. Basically they have been training and rewarding him to do so. Certainly you should be sensitive to your cat's needs and feelings, but if he is lonely or hungry, then play with him or feed him earlier in the evening.
Day or Night Shift
Cats are most active from middle/late evening to the early hours of the morning. The only thing wrong is that the cat's activity schedule is 180 degrees out of phase with yours. All that needs to be done is to change your cat's working schedule from night-shift to day-shift. This is much easier than it sounds.
Try to tire out your cat early in the evening. This will greatly increase the likelihood that he will sleep at night.
The more regular you make the cat's new routine, the quicker he will adjust. Schedule feedings and playtime at regular intervals that are appropriate for the schedule you wish your cat to keep.
Patience
Anytime during the day or evening when you see your cat sleeping - wake him up! Gently be a pest just like he is towards you at 3 in the morning. Don't let him sleep. Insist that he play with you now. In 10 days to 2 weeks your cat will sleep all night long because he has been sleep deprived during the day and because he is content that his needs are being filled. It may take 10 days to 2 weeks to reset kitty's internal clock so don't be discouraged that during this time, even though you are doing every thing right, he will still automatically wake up or think he wants to play in the wee hours of the morning. Just wait it out. If you give up too soon, you will have to start all over again.
Patrick Shannon
06-24-2005, 07:00 PM
My cat would always come in my room way too early in the morning and would jump on my head to wake me up to feed her.
Can you shut the door so the cat can't get in? Then you can feed it at the proper time in the morning and then it will likely "learn" it's food schedule.
morea
06-24-2005, 07:01 PM
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/nocturnal.html
morea
06-24-2005, 07:07 PM
I have found that with *my* cats, locking them out of the room ends up doing more annoyance than good. They will sit outside the door all night long, crying as if their hearts were broken, and scratching at the bottom of the door as though to say "please, PLEASE let me back in, I promise I will behave!!!" (of course, if I give in, they completely forget that promise.)
As a matter of fact, I have the opposite problem... when I go to bed, ALL of my cats want to cram into the bed with me. I obviously need a much bigger bed. :p
When I get home I make sure that they get up and get moving. I feed them dinner around 7 - and they get breakfast around 7am. I don't leave food down for them because it is not good for them. (I won't go into all the details of why at the moment.)
I try to play with them during the evening, but if I don't they normally entertain each other... don't laugh, but have you considered getting a second cat? Sometimes that makes all the difference in the world with behavior problems.
morea
06-24-2005, 07:17 PM
like the "patience" section of that article says, if you give in and give the cat a treat or play with him, it will only reinforce the bad behavior.
A cat will sleep (on average) 16 hours a day. I make sure that if my cats are asleep when I am home (and NOT in bed) I go wake them up and try to get them to play. Their favorite toy is Da Bird (http://www.thecatconnection.com/Da-Bird-Cat-Teaser.html), which you can usually pick up for around $5 or $6 at your local pet store.
Mynock
06-24-2005, 07:39 PM
get a dog.
I THINK CATS ARE THE VERY NICEST THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD! :p
morea
06-24-2005, 07:42 PM
tee hee hee
Mynock
06-24-2005, 07:48 PM
You're lucky it's Friday:P How many cats do you have at the moment, morea? Do they sleep above or below the covers? Or do you not use covers like the people mattress commercials?
Tyger
06-24-2005, 07:50 PM
morea...why aren't you a vet?
morea
06-24-2005, 07:53 PM
I am not a vet because I can't deal with that much suffering on a daily basis... or with people who come in with a healthy animal to have it euthanized because they don't want it any more. Makes me sick.
Mynock, I currently have 9. I have rescued 27 all together though! And they mostly sleep all around me on top of the covers, but one or two will try to sneak under the blankets if I let them. :p
Mynock
06-24-2005, 08:00 PM
8600 woot?
morea
06-24-2005, 08:01 PM
huh?
Mynock
06-24-2005, 08:22 PM
You just passed 8,600!
morea
06-24-2005, 08:23 PM
LOL! I didn't catch that... :p
steve-o
06-24-2005, 08:25 PM
Play with your cat and tire him out. When I get home, I try and run my cat up and down the stairs using string toys, fake mice, etc.
Cats tire quickly. They don't have much stamina. Quick birsts at a time. So having them go up and down the stairs is key.
morea
06-24-2005, 08:27 PM
I live in a ranch so I don't have stairs, but my variation of cat exercise with the feather toy is called "on the bed, off the bed. on the bed, off the bed..." you get the picture. :D That wears them out right quick.
nice photo, steve-o! how in the world did you get him to hold still for that?
steve-o
06-24-2005, 08:32 PM
You'd think I was taking a picture of the cat, but in fact I was taking a picture of the chair to send to a furniture refinisher, so of course, the cat wanted to be part of the shot. I mean she wouldn't budge from that spot.
If I wanted to take a picture of the cat, of course, then she wouldn't have been accommodating in the slightest.
I live in a ranch so I don't have stairs, but my variation of cat exercise with the feather toy is called "on the bed, off the bed. on the bed, off the bed..." you get the picture. :D That wears them out right quick.
nice photo, steve-o! how in the world did you get him to hold still for that?
Here's some well behaved cats :D http://www.mcmorran.org/kittens/
Or you could try this, This (http://www.bonsaikitten.com/bkintro.html)
Or as a last resort, this (http://www.perpetualpet.net/photo.htm)
Neballer
06-24-2005, 08:45 PM
kool that is some seriously messed up $h!t
DeleteYourself
06-24-2005, 08:59 PM
lmao.
I THINK CATS ARE THE VERY NICEST THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD! :p
I think naked women and beer are the nicest things in the world....but to each his own.
Neballer
06-24-2005, 09:12 PM
I'll second that.
greyghost
06-24-2005, 09:25 PM
Being out in the woods, far away from everything, and enjoying a glass of wine is the bestest thing in the world. (imho). lol.
morea
06-24-2005, 09:47 PM
Kool, that is legitimately disturbing. :eek:
True LOL but only two of them are real and none of them will wake you up at 2:00AM :D
jimintn
06-24-2005, 11:41 PM
Thanks for the information! I appreciate it! Sorry it took so long to respond back, I got roped into helping with something at work right after I posted.
MD - I did have a dog, but had to give her away because of allergies and she shedded a lot, no matter what we did. Giving her away was one of the hardest things I have ever done.
One of Kool's links could come into play if we can't get him turned around (kidding...sorta).
I hope everyone has a great weekend!!