Are you...

babybchbum

The heavy or soft sleeper in your relationship?

 I am the heavy sleeper and unfortunately it seems to be causing problems. My Cat has started with this routine of whining about 6:30-6:45 every morning and it wakes H up. He is getting upset with me b/c by the time I hear her it is about the 2nd or 3rd round of crying (after she has jumped on the bed...myside according to H).

I know that getting up with her to put her in the bathroom is giving in to the attention she wants/needs at that point so it is only positive reinforcement to her actions. How can I suggest ignoring her to my husband? I don't feel that it would be well taken if I suggested him wearing ear plugs to bed.

 Does anyone have a similar problem with pets and waking you up? Any and all suggestions are appreciated. This is my baby so I'd rather not re-home her although if we end up at that option she would go back to my parents house with the 2 other cats they have.

alzi

This does not sound like a re-home necessary situation. It if is THAT big of a problem, kick the cat out at night. Just close the bedroom door. We usually let the cats in, but if they are being annoying or doing laps around the bed or something, they get kicked out. No biggie.

bparkhur

Lock the cat out of the bedroom and invest in a loud fan?

MrsTiu2006

Our dog used to be terrible about waking us up. I'm the light sleeper so I would usually hear him first. We just started ignoring him and eventually he stopped. I keep our bedroom door open at night so I can hear the baby, but if I were you I'd try closing the door at night. Good luck!

amellis2

I think we are both soft sleepers, but I think I am softer than he is. 

When we go to visit my mom, her dogs know that if they need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, they can whine enough to wake either of us up, and we let them out.  I would just close the door, like Alzi said.

Also, my dad's cats "sing the blues" even night as they do a perimeter check around the house (they used to do this with my baby sister's socks in their mouths - I know, strange.) It only goes on for few minutes and then they are over it. 

jen812

alzigator:

This does not sound like a re-home necessary situation. It if is THAT big of a problem, kick the cat out at night. Just close the bedroom door. We usually let the cats in, but if they are being annoying or doing laps around the bed or something, they get kicked out. No biggie.

I agree.  I wouldn't re-home her for that.  Just shut the door. 

MrsChelseaP09

My stepfather had a similar situation where his cat would sit at his door and cry, loud all night long. He put a fan by the door and she stopped coming up to it.

My cat is currently clawing at the wall by my door. We used to have the cat box in our master bath and a kitty door in the wall from the living room into our bedroom. She is getting mad that she can't come in (because of the baby sleeping in the PNP) so she claws at the wall. Its frustrating to say the least. I am seriously considering rehoming ours. They have started clawing up the carpet all over the house. I am actually waiting for DH to get back home and we are heading to Lowe's to buy laminate flooring for the hallway because of the HUGE hole they clawed by the garage door.

2008PelicanBride

Me and H are probably about the same.  We have a dog that sometimes wakes us up in the morning.  It can be a problem when H is working nights and has only been sleeping for a couple of hours and I am gone at work.  We just try to ignore her and she usually gives up and goes back to sleep too, or goes into the living room and entertains herself.  But I'm not sure that will work with a cat.  GL!!

moonstone523

I see this as good practice for the baby. 

 

 

Aegis2005

I'm the light sleeper, and the dog wakes me up pretty much every morning.  When we got her a few months ago she'd get up really early, but we started keeping her up later (no napping at 9PM!) and taking her for a long walk around 10:45 and now she's so tired and has gone the bathroom that she sleeps to a reasonable hour.  A little different because she's a dog.  If we had a cat (which we wouldn't because we're both really allergic) I'd shut the door and get a loud fan for white noise.

tashaandsage

My H is definitely the heavy sleeper and I am light. But both of us used to get woken up by our cat. When we first got him he used to just walk up and down the hallway loudly meowing in the night. The worst of it was Beckett was so not good sleeper, and the incredibly loud cat would wake him. Sometimes I would have to put the cat in the garage (which is his favorite place to be anyhow) and lock the cat door. Eventually, he quit and now waits until he hears someone awake to start the meowing. I hope you can figure out how to fix this, so he doesn't have to go live with your parents. Especially since you'll soon have a baby you don't want to be woken up as well.

SouthSeasBride

I am the light sleep and DH is the heavy sleeper.  I used to be more of a heavy sleeper, but with babies, someone has to hear them and it's not going to be DH!  He barely wakes up to has blaring alarm.  I have to hit him to wake him up!

babybchbum

Honestly we'd rather not re-home her. Her crying is something new that has started since we (she and I) moved into H's house. She use to sleep through the night and only get me up if she was hungry, by biting my eyelashes.  We have tried closing her out of the room but we get the howling at the door all night instead.The Air Purifier in our room still doesn't seem to be loud enough to cover that

I'm going to try retraining her (as best you can for a 12 year old cat) with positive reinforcement when she is quiet and ignoring her when she "talks". I talked to H about this and he thinks this is a good place to start. We have also bought her some "relaxation" kitty treats in hopes maybe these will work as well. Between these efforts and H going to have surgery on his deviated septum in a month or so hopefully we will make some progress.

I think more of this comes from H is still getting acclimated to having a cat in the house since he was only use to the dog who slept with him. Now the dog sleeps on me.

Ps. Moonstone... we have a pup that sleeps with us as well who gets me up every 2.5-3 hours, although I don't complain. I think that is better practice than the cat howling.

 Thanks for the input.

alzi

PS, I have heard raves about Feliway, they aren't super cheap but they supposedly are really good for calming a cat. Even my vet has recommended them to people.