Preventing Midnight Romps in the Bed

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How should I correct a misbehaving kitty?

Preventing Midnight Romps in the Bed

You are in the middle of a good night's sleep when Kitty decides that he wants some kind of attention: affection, playing, scratching, or any number of other things. Fight the tempatation to sling him across the room; cats are nocturnal animals and he may not understand that you need to sleep at night.
You could train yourself to pet your cat in your sleep, my husband and I have- in a manner of speaking-or you could try this:
When your cat disturbs your sleep, grab him and pull him under the covers. Leave his head out for fresh air, but hold him tightly under the covers. Hold him for at least 30 seconds to a full minute, until he squirms and cries. Then slowly release the hold you have on him, so he can 'escape'. Be sure to snatch after him like you are trying to capture him again.
After about one week of this, he should learn that disturbing your sleep will end in his 'capture.'
Only do this with bedtime behaviors that you don't like or want. If your kitty sleeps at your feet quietly, or curls up beside you to nap, don't associate this good behavior with the corrective measure of trapping him.

   

Comments

1/26/2007 6:00:29 AM
Yoyo said:

I have tried this, and even did it for 2 weeks at a time but my cat still comes back and disturbs my sleep. I think he thinks my leg is a female cat?? Can anyone help with more ideas!!


5/24/2007 8:51:51 AM
Anonymous said:

put a bucket of water near your bed. cat wakes you up, place cat in bucket. repeat. enjoy rest... kind of like shampoo, rinse cat, and repeat.


3/17/2009 8:18:06 PM
Devi said:

My kitten LOVES to get under the covers with us. He also loved playing with me when I was trying to sleep. I know it was because he wanted to interact and didn't understand we needed to sleep. In the end, we decided to get him a playmate and since we got her, we haven't been bothered with midnight playing...although I have been woken up a few times to my kitten lying down across my neck and purring.


6/14/2009 12:36:00 PM
Mark said:

I think around 5am or so, our cats go into a "pre-dawn" hunting mode or something; they want to be outside, pouncing on stuff. If you have an outside window, try making it a place where kitty can sit and watch (and hear) things going on at this time.

Our problem is one cat that likes to paw at my wife's face starting around 5am. The cat is older, clawed, obese, and will gorge on food until it vomits. It has learned that if it claws at "mommies" face long enough at night, then eventually food results. That is the only thing that would stop the behavior, but now even that is not working. We'll try this and see if it helps.




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