Cat waking me up, any ideas?
Discussion
We've got two Bengal cats of around 2 year old.
They're chalk and cheese, totally different in personality. One is quiet (apart from when hungry) and docile and the other is much smarter, quite loud, and restless, a bit more active lets say.
Now what we do at night is shut them in the kitchen where the litter, bed, water etc all is. The reason we do this is because otherwise they run around all night and act like nutters, i.e. waking us up while we sleep (we live in a flat).
Anyway, more recently the smarter of the two cats has realised that it can make quite a lot of noise by banging its feet (like scratching but with claws not out) on the door. Now they're fine usually, but recently its been starting this at 5am.
Was wondering if anyone had any tips? My only thought has been to stick a big bit of carpet to the back of the door so it can't make any noise against the hard wood...
They're chalk and cheese, totally different in personality. One is quiet (apart from when hungry) and docile and the other is much smarter, quite loud, and restless, a bit more active lets say.
Now what we do at night is shut them in the kitchen where the litter, bed, water etc all is. The reason we do this is because otherwise they run around all night and act like nutters, i.e. waking us up while we sleep (we live in a flat).
Anyway, more recently the smarter of the two cats has realised that it can make quite a lot of noise by banging its feet (like scratching but with claws not out) on the door. Now they're fine usually, but recently its been starting this at 5am.
Was wondering if anyone had any tips? My only thought has been to stick a big bit of carpet to the back of the door so it can't make any noise against the hard wood...
HA!
for about 10 years my cat has banged on the bedroom door to be let in every single night, an when she wants to go out she bangs on it again.
if she wants something during the night so will push her face about an inch from mine and meow quite loud till I wake up.
i now leave my door open so she can come an go when she wants.
for about 10 years my cat has banged on the bedroom door to be let in every single night, an when she wants to go out she bangs on it again.
if she wants something during the night so will push her face about an inch from mine and meow quite loud till I wake up.
i now leave my door open so she can come an go when she wants.
Can’t offer much constructive help I’m afraid, Bengals are very persistent
We also have 2 Bengal cats, which sound quite similar in personality to yours. The younger cat (8 years) is quiet, and very nervous. He will mostly not come near any humans, although he can be VERY vocal when he wants something from us (e.g. treats or to be let outside at 5am)
The older cat (9 years) is extremely friendly and loves human contact. He usually meets us at the door when we’ve been out, and often comes running when calling his name. He does however, have exactly the same “feature” as yours. If he is shut out of somewhere he wants to be, especially if we are in that room, he will resort to “scratching the door” although without his claws, which is still rather noisy. Alternatively he will just yell until someone acquiesces to his wishes.
We have found it simpler to let him in. This is not a perfect solution though, as he likes to be fed at 5-5:30am, and so will resort to different tactics. One is to push things off of surfaces. His favourite are glasses of water; he has learnt that this gets a speedy reaction. It there are no glasses about, then he will try anything which can be pushed off that will make a lot of noise. He’s quite cleaver though, as he won’t do it all in one go. It’s shove…shove…shove.. until we wake up and react, or off it goes. Another tactic is to run up and down the pillows, over our heads, until we are awake and can provide him with what he wants. We find it easiest to get up and serve them their breakfast before they start knocking stuff of surfaces and the problem escalates ;-)
We also have 2 Bengal cats, which sound quite similar in personality to yours. The younger cat (8 years) is quiet, and very nervous. He will mostly not come near any humans, although he can be VERY vocal when he wants something from us (e.g. treats or to be let outside at 5am)
The older cat (9 years) is extremely friendly and loves human contact. He usually meets us at the door when we’ve been out, and often comes running when calling his name. He does however, have exactly the same “feature” as yours. If he is shut out of somewhere he wants to be, especially if we are in that room, he will resort to “scratching the door” although without his claws, which is still rather noisy. Alternatively he will just yell until someone acquiesces to his wishes.
We have found it simpler to let him in. This is not a perfect solution though, as he likes to be fed at 5-5:30am, and so will resort to different tactics. One is to push things off of surfaces. His favourite are glasses of water; he has learnt that this gets a speedy reaction. It there are no glasses about, then he will try anything which can be pushed off that will make a lot of noise. He’s quite cleaver though, as he won’t do it all in one go. It’s shove…shove…shove.. until we wake up and react, or off it goes. Another tactic is to run up and down the pillows, over our heads, until we are awake and can provide him with what he wants. We find it easiest to get up and serve them their breakfast before they start knocking stuff of surfaces and the problem escalates ;-)
You sure they wouldn't sleep if you let them into your bedroom? Our cat (Maine Coon) takes himself off around the house at night, rarely sleeping in the same place twice in a row. But when he decides to sleep in our bedroom, he just parks himself between us and dozes off. No trouble at all.
ETA: forget it. Bengals sound utterly bonkers.
ETA: forget it. Bengals sound utterly bonkers.
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 26th September 19:21
I take it they don't go out then. If our 2 are out for 4+ hours in the day then in the main they will just sleep through the night.
I used to close the door when we had only 1 cat but he used to attack the door to come in. Now door is left open and he will sleep anywhere without fuss. The other cat until the last 2 months or so would be put to bed in a bedroom and locked in. Everything she needed was in there, and she would sleep. Sometimes she would wake before we did but most of the time she would wake with the squeak of the door handle.
I used to close the door when we had only 1 cat but he used to attack the door to come in. Now door is left open and he will sleep anywhere without fuss. The other cat until the last 2 months or so would be put to bed in a bedroom and locked in. Everything she needed was in there, and she would sleep. Sometimes she would wake before we did but most of the time she would wake with the squeak of the door handle.
okgo said:
No they don't go out. They seem happy though. I might try the letting them go wherever thing. But I just know they would start charging about when they got bored.
Give it a try - ours (not Bengals) go wherever they please and quite often come into the bedroom but only ever seem to wake my wife, so no harm done...I'm a Bengal slave, however I let mine sleep on my bed, leave dry food in her bowl at night, generally she will sleep on my bed tucked in behind my knees where it's warmest and sleep through, only times she wakes me if I forget to leave out food or if she has been outside (microchip cat flap) caught me a present and wants to show me.
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