Simon Kitty likes to wake me up at 3 in the morning :-(

[rox63]

I adopted my ginger boy Simon just after Thanksgiving last year. He's about a year and a half old, full of energy and mischief, and totally adorable. Except that between 3 and 4 AM most days, he starts trying to wake me up by pushing things off my bureau and nightstand, attacking and noisily crumpling any paper he can find around the house, or harassing my older female kitty so that she loudly yells at him and runs off. This is all very noisy, and wakes me up most of the time.

Last night, I threw him out of my bedroom and closed the door. He then spent the next hour scratching at the door and making pitiful sounds, still keeping me awake.

There is plenty of dry food and water available to him all night. I do give the kitties a bit of wet food in the evening and in the morning. He does prefer the wet food, but I know that he also eats dry food. Shortly after I give him the morning wet food, he goes to sleep.

I'm getting seriously underslept. I live in fairly small condo, so I don't have a basement I could put him in overnight. I do have a small spare bedroom, but it's right next to my own bedroom, so that wouldn't help much. Any suggestions would be welcome.

[Paper Roses]

1. No suggestions, just sympathy. My new kitty does the same thing.

She seems to fins that 3:30 or 4:00 AM is just the best time to wake up...and to wake me in the process. I get the crying, wet nose in my face and all the other 'wake me ups that she can think of.
This same kitty starts calling me at about 8:30 to tell me it is time to go to bed. I love her, she is a sweetie but this habit is driving me nuts. It must be something left from her pre-shelter days.

This same sweet kitty, who came from a 'not fit for anything' situation is also the fussiest eater. Only Fancy Feast Shredded chicken. Will eat nothing else. No other brand, no other flavor, no people food. I've got my hands full.
Good luck, I'd love to hear your solution.

[rox63]

2. Thanks for the sympathy :)

It's good to know I'm not alone with this problem. My other kitties (one I still have, and another who crossed the bridge last year) never did this sort of thing.

[badgerpup]

3. Sometimes they tend to go all "Rocket Cat"...or get the 'rips'...

...that's when your cat rips around the house at 90 miles an hour like their furry little butt is on fire.

If you have more than one, 4AM is usually the hour they play "Elephant Race", "Howling Banshee Gotcha Tag", "Bet I Can Knock Over More Stuff That Makes Noise Than You Can" (aka "Crash") and other quiet games to occupy themselves until their human wakes up.

Four ack-emma is when my monsters usually want door service to go in and out and in and out and in and out (repeat until you're ready to :banghead:)...yet they're frequently sacked out in their beauty sleep by 9AM (yep, morning.)

Cats:shrug:...whattaya gonna do...

Might I suggest (WITHOUT sarcasm) earplugs for when the door is shut?

You do have my sympathy....:hug:

[rox63]

6. Yep, that sounds like my boy

I guess I just have to get used to it.

Love your names for all of their games. :)

[Curmudgeoness]

4. Do you feed the wet food as soon as you get up?

I have found that not putting food out as one of the first chores in the morning tricks them into not thinking they will get food just because you wake up. Feeding is the last thing I do after I wake up and before I go to work, so there is nothing in their brain to suggest that waking me up will result in food. It seems to help.

Losing your temper and yelling at them can't hurt either. Sooner or later they may settle down if they know you are not happy (you know, in ten years when the kitty thing is over).

Other than that, maybe Lunesta. For you or for the cat, doesn't matter.

[rox63]

5. I've been waiting until right before I leave for work before serving the wet food

I used to feed them when I first got up. But I figured if I waited, maybe that would help.
But it didn't. :(

Are the ginger kitties just more hyper than other types? Is it because he's a boy kitty? (he is neutered) I've only ever had girl kitties before him.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. Well, pooh, that was my best suggestion.

But do keep that routine up. No food just because your feet hit the floor!

So far (duh, experience of two days) my orange is not causing me problems, but then again, I sleep through fire alarms so who knows what he is doing. I had a longhair orange boy once and he was not a problem either, very mellow. So...I don't suppose it is all about ginger kittehs. Nor is it boys, since my girls have all been more of pests than my boys. Boys have always been more mellow in my experience.

Who knows, different cats, different personalities. But....he is young, and young means spunky and trouble. I hope he will get more sedate with time....and before you go crazy. Best wishes.

[rox63]

8. He is definitely a love, despite his boisterous ways :)

He's sitting on my bed right now, wondering why I'm sitting in front of this silly 'puter instead of giving him scritches and cuddles.

[Curmudgeoness]

9. LOL, that seems to be all I can see of Sammy too.

"Am I bothering you yet, am I bothering you yet, am I bothering you yet????"

[Warpy]

10. He's a bratty teenager and will likely mellow out a bit in a year or so

Until then, stick him into the spare bedroom when he acts up. Buy yourself a box fan and a set of earplugs. The combination will deaden the pitiful meows and provide white noise to cover them up. Eventually he'll get the idea, but just realize that cats are a bit slow sometimes, that brain's the size of a walnut.

Just make sure he's got a litterbox in there.

[murielm99]

11. My cat goes through long periods when she does this.

She pokes her face in mine and chirps. She paws me if I refuse to wake up. After a few minutes, she screeches for food. If I want any peace, I feed her. Then she races through the house. Then she pokes her cat-food-breath-face into mine for awhile.

After a few weeks of this, she stops for awhile. I am allowed to sleep through the night.

I know it may be a mistake to feed her, but the screeching gets to me.

My two daughters have cats who do the same thing.

There is something about that 3:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. period that sets them off. Maybe that is when most human cat owners are most soundly asleep. The kings or queens of the house cannot allow that! They must be served!

[MissHoneychurch]

12. All I can say ... Simon's cat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q

:rofl:

[rox63]

13. Love the Simon's Cat cartoons. :) n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. When I acquired Kidley, one of my concerns was the early morning wake-up call

As a free-lance Japanese-English translator, I sometimes have to work on Tokyo time, which means having a deadline at 3AM, Minneapolis time.

Obviously, I can't be woken up at first light.

At the suggestion of friends who are experienced cat owners, I did two things:

1. His previous owner (my cousin) had never given him wet food, so there was no problem making his wet food feeding occur in the afternoon.

2. When he woke me before I was ready, I said, "NO!" sharply and pulled the covers over my head. If he came and started trying to "wake" me after the clock radio came on, I petted and praised him and told him what a good, smart boy he was.

After about a week, his little cat brain got the message: Wake the Person up before she's ready, get a sharp rebuke. Wake the Person up after the radio comes on, get lots of loving attention. Right!

Sometimes I wake up a bit before the radio comes on, and I half-open my eyes to see Kidley poised, ready to spring into action as soon as he hears the radio.