Cat climbing all over us at night

mbcdefg

Me again I posted before about our new cat, Midge. Her personality is very different from our current cat, Pal, or any of the cats MH had growing up, so we're a little stumped on how to handle this situation: 

We got Midge on the 17th and kept her isolated in a spare bedroom on the first floor until Pal was used to her a few days later. Recently we stopped shutting her in the spare room at night. Pal has always slept at the foot of our bed and it's never been a problem, since he stays in one spot and doesn't make any noise until the 6 a.m. alarm goes off and it's time for his breakfast.

Midge, however, will not. stay. still. She started jumping up into the bed with us two nights ago, and she won't just pick a spot and lay down right away. She wants to walk all over, nuzzle our faces, and climb on our heads, and aside from purring she's not making noises. We're glad she's so affectionate but she's woken us up several times during the night. She did this to me for a while last night before she finally settled down ... right between our heads. MH said he could feel her breathing on his neck at one point. And if one of us readjusts, forget it, she's walking around again. She's not trying to play and she's not nipping or anything ... she just won't stop moving! Same thing during the day, whether she's walking around the house, playing with Pal or sitting on our laps. In nearly two weeks I haven't seen this cat stay still, even once. And at 6 a.m. she's awake and poking our faces for food, whether the alarm goes off or not (Sunday morning, ugh).

So, what do we do about this? I thought about shutting her in the downstairs spare bedroom again, but I don't really want to have to do that for the rest of her life if it can be helped ... if there's a way to teach her to be quiet at night, then I'd rather do it now so that she can sleep on the bed if she wants. Is this something she'll grow out of, or is this just her lifelong personality? I thought about getting a pet bed for our bedroom floor, but she wants to be close to us so I doubt she'd stay down there while we're in the bed. We're glad to give her attention and love, but she can't keep waking us up like this. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

KatiesCats

Um...shut her out of the bedroom.  We have 3 cats.  One is needy and won't settle, one is fluffy and will end up with his tail in our mouths, and the third is loud, bitey, and generally an asshoIe.  The third one is the reason the cats aren't allowed in our room at night anymore.  Not only does he talk too much, but he bites us when he's hungry (which is always).  Like, we have awakened to him biting our scalps.  It HURTS.

It seems easiest just to shut her out.  Everyone gets sleep that way.

KatelynS07

I can't offer much help, but I can sympathize. We share a bed with three dogs, and two of our 4 cats. One of the dogs and one of the cats are restless. The dog has to be under the covers because she's freezing most of the winter and spring, and the cat (my heart cat), stands on DH, under the covers dog, or me, and makes muffins, grooms himself, etc (although, he does settle down, and snuggle up to sleep after 15 or twenty minutes). Honestly, we've just gotten used to it. I like snuggling with them too much to kick him out of the room.

Luckily, everyone is quiet, other than purring and breathing.

breaness

Definitely just close the door to your bedroom. As much as we love snuggling with Sherlock and taking naps with him, bedtime is specifically cat-free.

mbcdefg

Thanks for the advice!

I sort of hate to do it since she'll be alone all night, but it won't hurt her. She'll get used to it and we need our sleep. Maybe she'll mellow out as she gets older and we can try again.

laptopprancer

Gene (about 18 months old) is more exuberant than Jonny.  He used to be really bad with the walking around and neediness while we're in bed, he's calmed down a bit and the rest I've basically learned to tune out.

If I give him pets and rubs in the middle of the night though? Forget it, he won't stop.  You need to totally ignore and burrow under the covers a little bit if necessary until she loses interest.

A solution would be to kick them out of your room entirely.  Myself, I like the cats to have access to the bedroom, it seems to make them happy and increases their affection for us.  I don't love having my kidneys walked on at 6am, but I love waking up to that cute face. 

Really it's what you can live with and what you can't.  But as I said, Gene did calm down after being with us for a while and aging a bit.  He doesn't bite my face or try to cut off my oxygen anymore (he would put his paw on my nose).

 

 

KatiesCats

laptopprancer:

Gene (about 18 months old) is more exuberant than Jonny.  He used to be really bad with the walking around and neediness while we're in bed, he's calmed down a bit and the rest I've basically learned to tune out.

If I give him pets and rubs in the middle of the night though? Forget it, he won't stop.  You need to totally ignore and burrow under the covers a little bit if necessary until she loses interest.

A solution would be to kick them out of your room entirely.  Myself, I like the cats to have access to the bedroom, it seems to make them happy and increases their affection for us.  I don't love having my kidneys walked on at 6am, but I love waking up to that cute face. 

Really it's what you can live with and what you can't.  But as I said, Gene did calm down after being with us for a while and aging a bit.  He doesn't bite my face or try to cut off my oxygen anymore (he would put his paw on my nose).

OMG you have a cat named GENE?!  Like Eugene?  I love people names for pets so much.  Our neighbors have a badass one-eyed cat named Neil, and I love that almost as much as I love Gene.  Also, our other neighbors have a badass cat named Gary.

breaness

mbcdefg:

Thanks for the advice!

I sort of hate to do it since she'll be alone all night, but it won't hurt her. She'll get used to it and we need our sleep. Maybe she'll mellow out as she gets older and we can try again.

 

If you leave your bedroom door closed at night, how would she be alone? The other cat would be outside too. 

grahamsm3

We we got our cat she did this for about a month (she was ~8mo when we adopted her) and then she decided to just settle in at the foot of the bed and sleep like a good cat.

So there is a chance she will grow out of it as she gets used to being allowed in the whole house and getting to visit you anytime.

msmerymac

mbcdefg:

Thanks for the advice!

I sort of hate to do it since she'll be alone all night, but it won't hurt her. She'll get used to it and we need our sleep. Maybe she'll mellow out as she gets older and we can try again.

If she's young, she will very likely calm down as she gets older. I once had a white calico who was like a blur. You never saw the cat standing still. But as she aged, she become like a regular cat. :-P Also, she won't mind being alone. She'll get to explore, run through the house, etc. Our cats cuddle with us, but don't usually sleep with us all night. They sit on the back of the couch and look out the window, sit in front of the heater (if its cold) or race each other through the dining room and living room.

michaelandjulie2

Our cats have their own room to sleep in. When one was sick and we had to separate them, I slept in the room with one of them. She climbed over me ALL night long. Well until about 2am, then she woke back up at 4am. I never hear them up in the middle of the night in "their" room and even if they are up, they are definitely not bugging me. They are really snuggly all the time during the day though, so I am not worried about them not being as affectionate. So if that is your main concern, I say lock them out. She will like being able to explore and you will like her more when you are well-rested.

laptopprancer

It's Gene as in Gene Kelly, we found him 'singing in the rain'.  But he is a Gene, for sure.

Jonny's jellicle name is Jon Voight, lol.

 

Kaiene

When we first adopted B, L and S, we shut them out at night. Baby kittens = no sleep at night. I felt bad, but when they got older, they were allowed into our room. B sleeps with us every night now and only gets annoying once the alarm goes off. On the weekends, DH gets up to feed them and sometimes goes back to sleep. It's just easier that way.

ScubaDreamin

Put 2 cats sleep in our room, but start out in the hallway. One sleeps in between DH & me and the other sleeps on the floor, unless she ventures to my neck to snuggle briefly, but then she sees her brother near my head and gets made.  Our boy is definitely more needy at night, he gets up and picks at the carpets, walks over the dressers, and us....I plop him in bed and sometimes it works and others it doesn't.  If they were locked out though, they'd scratch the door.  Your will probably grow out of it and settle down, but until then it will be sleepless nights !  maybe with both of them out, Pal will settle Midge down (?)