Infuriating cat problem (but I love them)

[615bride]

Okay, I'm hoping someone out there will have some insight. We have two cats - Linus and Schroeder. They are brothers, have always been together and we've had them since kittenhood. They're about 2.5 years old. They're strictly indoor cats and have neever been outside, are neutered and have claws. They are snuggly and payful and we love them.

At night we close our BR door b/c otherwise they jump in bed with us, make us hot and get hair all over the bed and sheets. They sleep on the carpet outside our door for most of the night. About two weeks ago Schroeder started crying and ripping up the carpet outside our door starting at about 6:00am. We can hear the door rattling. We would get up and feed him, go back to bed...he'd start again. Since then it's gotten earlier and earlier and this morning it was 4:00am!!!:mad:

We've tried feeding him, playing with him, putting tin foil in front of our door (someone said cats don't like the feel of it and stay away), ignoring him but our carpet is ruined and we are notsleeping past 5:00am or earlier. Declawing is something I said I'd never do and honestly I think he'd still be crying and banging on the door.
He's not sick (only does this between 4 and six in the am), has food, clean litter and his brother is sitting next to him looking at him like, "What's your problem?"

Any thoughts? We're going to the vet today for a consultation but I was hoping someone here might have insight. It's is getting VERY frustrating not to sleep for no apparent reason?:confused:

Thanks in advance cat lovers! DH is threatening to make Schroeder stew!!!

[beejayw1]

Originally posted by 615bride
About two weeks ago Schroeder started crying and ripping up the carpet outside our door starting at about 6:00am. We can hear the door rattling. We would get up and feed him, go back to bed...he'd start again. Since then it's gotten earlier and earlier and this morning it was 4:00am...

Any thoughts? We're going to the vet today for a consultation but I was hoping someone here might have insight. It's is getting VERY frustrating not to sleep for no apparent reason?:confused:


I think you’re being trained very well. ;)

Actually, it’s good that you’re checking him with a vet, but what I think is happening is that he got lonely, made noise, you got up and fed him, and he learned that he could get attention by doing just what he’s doing.

Absent a medical condition, my suggestion is that you shut him somewhere safe and secure the minute he starts making noise (the bathroom springs to mind) and go back to sleep. A week of that should break him of the habit.

[RebeccaT]

I have two cats! Also brothers! ALSO NAMED LINUS AND SCHROEDER!!!! :eek: :D <insert twilight zone music here>

Anyway, to your question... if you really can't have them with you at night, I would try putting them in a more confined area. My mom puts her cat in the laundry room overnight, with his food, water, and a litter box. They'll probably cry at first, but they might get to the point where they just expect it and think nothing of it.

Also, it's good that you are taking them to the vet, just to rule out any other possible issues.

Good luck!

[PAMMELA]

To be honest, I think he just wants to be with you. I have two cats, female, Tabitha and Ilsa, both about 13 (young 13!), inside only, never been outside, and they are not declawed (NEVER!!!). Cats have a schedule and they are better than an alarm clock! They sleep in our room because the few times in the beginning that we shut our BR door, forget it! They scratch at the bottom, tear up the carpet, meow, etc. They just don't like closed anything. Tabitha sleeps on the end of our bed (she's not real loveable) and Ilsa sleeps right between us every single night! BUT at between 4:30 and 5:30 EVERY SINGLE MORNING Tabitha starts meowing. If we don't get up (like a Saturday say) she then will jump on our entertainment center, reach for our wooden blinds and start rattling them. She wants to eat and she doesn't take no for an answer! If we shut the door it does no good, it's worse! I think some cats just have to be with you, touching, all the time (Ilsa). If I'm on the couch, shes sitting on me, if I get up to go to the bathroom, she follows me. In the morning when i go take a shower, she sits on the sink. So I think it's just their nature. I doubt it's a medical problem, I think he just wants his way! It's true, THEY own YOU, not vice versa!

[Middydd]

Agree with the other posters, pretty well all you can do is lock them up somewhere when they start doing this. We've got a basement, so that's where ours get sent.

We don't shut the door, when they try to wake us up they systematically walk up and down the bed on top of us. If that doesn't work they tickle our faces with their whiskers.

One thing that sometimes works to break a cycle like this is to keep waking them up if they try to nap in the evening. If we see them sleeping we nudge them and start petting them. Sometimes they get so tired that they sleep the same hours we do.

[PAMMELA]

I think that is a good idea...When we are up we like to keep them up too. It's funny because Ilsa will be laying with us on the couch, and we'll get up to go to bed, and I ask DH where is Tabitha? And she already went to bed! She's in on our hopechest at the end of the bed where she sleeps! They have their own minds that's for sure!

[SPITFIRE]

I suggest buying a spray bottle and fill it with water and a little vinegar. When ever he behaves badly, give him a little spray. The smell of the vinegar (along with having to clean it off) is a good deterrent. I hope this doesn't sound mean!

Our cat often runs up and down the hallway "talking" loudly or bangs his paws against the bedroom door (which is open btw). He just wants someone to get up and play with him at 2:00am! The water bottle is the best deterrent we have found.

However, he still wakes DH up at 4:00 like clockwork for breakfast. He sits on the bed and meowing in his ear. Can't punish him for that! :)

[615bride]

Spitfire thanks for reminding me!!! We have tried spraying with water only and they don't mind it one bit! Do I have the only cats in the world that don't care about being sprayed?

[Escher]

We name all our cats after peanutes characters....we have had a Linus, and a Schroeder, but not concurrently.....

Right now Lucy and Franklin are gracing us with their presence....

I was going to suggest the spray bottle too.... it worked w/ one cat, but another (Shroeder!) Just looked around like "huh?" and was oblivious to the punishment.

I agree that you need to put your foot down, and become the boss in your own house....can't let them wake you up....and you should have the right to close whatever door you want. The idea of confining the problem child at least temporarily seems the most reasonable...just make sure they can't ruin the area in front of another door!

[summer02]

We've had the same problem - you'd think we have a poor starving cat. Unfortunately, I think that he is just lonely since he will dig at the door even if there is a full bowl of food AND he does it even if just one of us is in the bedroom and the other is up and around. The only thing that stopped the digging was double-faced tape in front of the door, but it also served as a DH trap and after finding one too many socks stuck to the tape I got rid of it. It was double-faced carpet tape so it was a little too sticky :)
He rips around at night and if the door is open, he likes to hurdle the bed at full cat speed.

[rosie_one]

Have children, then the cats will go and bother them instead. :D

(nevermind that for the first two years the kids themselves will be waking you up every few hours... :rolleyes: )

[RebeccaT]

Originally posted by Escher
We name all our cats after peanutes characters....we have had a Linus, and a Schroeder, but not concurrently.....


So has DH's family, they have had a Lucy, a Charlie, and a Snoopy. Too funny! :D

[DmOrtega]

PAMMELA - your cats sound just like ours. They get pretty set in their ways don't they? One of our cats, bless his heart, does the 6am wake up every morning. He starts with a small meow and over a few minutes will build in volume as well as length. During the week it's great, there is no way I can over sleep, but come the weekend, I've conditioned myself to get up and feed them and then go back to sleep. Hmmmm, who is training who? ;)

[JHolcomb]

Originally posted by 615bride
Spitfire thanks for reminding me!!! We have tried spraying with water only and they don't mind it one bit! Do I have the only cats in the world that don't care about being sprayed?

Yes! Tiva just sees us pick the water bottle up and runs and hides.

We have a hard time sleeping w/out her, but when we go to MILs, we have to put her in the garage overnight. She howls and scratches (she's not used to being apart from us at all) for an hour or so, but quiets down for the night. She'll wake up howling at 6 in the morning, but we can get about 5 or 6 hours of quiet out of her. Like everyone said, I'd try putting him in a more enclosed space.

[m4star]

My guess is that he's bored and wants you. That's what it is with my cats. They are up so why aren't you??

You have to either:
1. punish him and make him stop (spray bottles work for some but I find that an empty bottle or tin can with pennies in it shaken really vigorously will scare the heck out of them too)
2. accept it and wake up

There really is not other way to "rationalize" to your kitty that you need your sleep.

[615bride]

It's fun hearing about everyone's cats and knowing that I'm not the only one "ruled" by my animals :D The vet appt is at 5:30 so we'll see what they say.

This is so embarassing but the reason we don't lock them in the bathroom (most logical place) is because Schroeder flushes the toilet for fun and I don't want that water running all night. All three of our bathroom doors stay shut becauser he flushes the toilet. Friends think it's hilarious...we are mortified!:o

We'll see how it goes. You all are probably right in that we contributed to the problem by getting up with him the first few times. What's funny is that Linus is just so mature and looks at his brother with pity....like he's the big baby that he is! So do we lock Linus up too? They really are always together. We put the fire on and they "make out" in front of the fireplace. DH jokes that we're going to get them a fur rug!:D

[PAMMELA]

OMG he flushes the toilet???? That is too much!! I love it!! LOLOLOL (smart kittykitty:D ) Forget getting any sleep that way! And along with the other poster, Tabitha's volume goes up the longer we stay in bed, so DH usually gets up to feed her then comes back to bed. The only funny thing that Tabitha does is she fetches. We get our dog plain hamburgers at BK sometimes and then just roll up the empty wrapper and throw it and she'll chase it, get it in her mouth and bring it back to DH to throw again. (She doesn't like me.) If he is watching TV and doesn't pick it up RIGHT NOW, she starts her scratching on the carpet!

[Tess]

If it were me I would leave the door open at night. I love having kitties on the bed-hair and all. I don't let the dogs sleep on the bed(too big) but they sleep in my room on their own beds.I would miss my cat.
Tess

[VictoriaL]

I had tears in my eyes, I was laughing so much as I read this thread! Our Dusty did this for a while. Yes, I made it worse by getting up to feed her, but she makes such a godawful spine-tingling gutteral howl that it scared us awake! Really, you couldn't sleep thorough that! Anyway, I can't let her come in the bedroom because I'm allergic to animal fur/ dander and I need one room in the house where I can breathe freely. So I placed two cat baskets, complete with pillows, for her and Spooky, outside the door and up against it (so she wouldn't scratch). It worked! I don't think that she's figured out that she can howl while in the basket... yet.

[hannah_phi]

Originally posted by 615bride
Spitfire thanks for reminding me!!! We have tried spraying with water only and they don't mind it one bit! Do I have the only cats in the world that don't care about being sprayed?

Nope! I swear Sinatra, who won't drink water out of his bowl, will misbehave just to get squirted so that he can "drink" the water off his fur! :rolleyes:

[ErinM]

Dogs can do the same thing. Every night, around 2 am or so, I have to let Cody out of my room so he can drink from his cup in the bathroom (yes, I fill up a cup and put it in the bathroom for him...I know I know...:rolleyes: )

Sometimes, I'm even sucker enough to let him out.

[PAMMELA]

I just love animals so much, this is a great thread! Dogs are the same way...my dog Bogie a black lab will be 14 in July (if he makes it) but our other lab died last june and since then Bogie now is an inside dog (after 13 years of totally OUT). He is on Deramaxx the hip wonder drug (at least for him) it's amazing how well he is doing, but granted he is in all day and night so doesn't do a lot of running around. Anywhoooo, he has the certain routines just like our cats...we have them separated now with a gate due to doggy liking kitty poo too much and eating out of the litter box:confused: which is a whole nother story!! So each night when we go to bed I usually go to bed first, then DH locks up, etc. and Bogie comes and says goodnight to me sniffling up on my side of the bed and then walks back to the living room to go to bed. We bought him one of those orthopedic type beds and he LOVES his bed!!! But then each morning during the week i'm always the first up at 5:00 (thanks to Tabitha) and I go, open the gate and in he goes to our bedroom around to DH's side of the bed now, and sniffles good morning! So cute with all their own personalities! Also this is a great thread to lighten up on after reading the moral/religion thread!! :D

[BigFatMooseCat]

Oh my, I was laughing so hard when I read this. My cat (who's a 14 yr old gray tomcat) wakes us up many mornings banging the cabinet door in the bathroom off our bedroom. He actually grabs it with his paw and opens and slams it really fast. We usually get up and put a towel or a show in it, then he resorts to meowing very loudly at the bottom of our bed until we get up. We love him though, wouldn't change anything about his great personality!!!

[AZLorena]

How about opening the door to the bedroom at night and trying it for a while. Find a comfy cat bed or perch or something and sprinkle catnip on it to encourage you cuties to sleep on that....not on the bed. It does sound like he is lonely without you at night.

My ex-roommate and I both had a cat when we moved in together. In the beginning I would close my door at night to keep Rocky (hers) away from my kitties food. She swore that he had tried the stuff and wouldn't eat it. Turns out he adopted me along with Cherubino's food. At night he would BODYSLAM my door until I opened it. I would even have to lock it because he figured out how to open it. He would also reach under the door and play with the thingy on the bottom of the door that would keep the door from slamming into the wall.....(we would just call it the "doiiiinger"....because all you would hear was doiing.....doiiing.....doiing....until I took it off of the door) For a while I would just open it, and run out and chase him with the squirt gun. I lost a lot of sleep that way. After a few months of this he trained me well and just I finally started leaving the door open and he slept with me for the next 4 1/2 years that we lived together. Rocky now lives in CA, but I still miss his CATTITUDE!

It was hilarious.

Lorena

[HDgirl]

I think he just wants to be with you. Sorry, I don't have any advise as we leave our bedroom door open.

I have two males Artemus and Gizzy. Artemus is the one who needs to be with someone at night, if Gizz is around he's probably under the bed. Normally Artemus sleeps in DD's room but she's got this small animal circus goin' on so she doesn't want him in there. Occasionally, at some point in the night, we will hear him scratch at her door and DH= will yell 'cut it out' and he stops. Must be the voice. :rolleyes:

Gizz is the one who wakes us up....well, me. Always just before I usually get up...so I thought it soooo cute. It started to get earlier and earlier and DH= was not pleased. So I had a little 'talk' with Gizz and told him Andy was going to stew him if he didn't stop the early wake up call. The next day it was back to the regular time and he doesn't wake us on the weekends. How strange is that?? He's just my little sweetie!! :D

[ellery]

I'm bumping this because I randomly stumbled on to it. I'm laughing so much that I'm teary-eyed, as one of my fur-babies purrs and meows and begs for attention next to me. I thought I was the only one with weird animals!

So how did the situation resolve itself?

That's one of the things that bugs me about the board. I get all sucked into stories and funny situations and it's rare that anyone updates to let us know what happened... I can't help it. I'm curious. Learned it from my cats... ;)

Leah

p.s. Mine have learned to knock things over, rattle the blinds, etc. The smarter one has learned that knocking a lamp over REALLY gets mommy's attention... God forbid they learn how to flush. Hilarious!!!

[615bride]

Vet said there's no medical problem. Oh, this is so embarassing. After spending some time with Schroeder and hearing all of our stories about him she concluded that he is actually a VERY smart cat (I'm so proud) and directed us to a book called... are you ready for this? Felinestein: Understanding the Genius in your Cat!

For now, they are both locked in the downstairs half bath each night. Daddy (DH) has unhooked the toilet bowl flusher so Schroeder can't flush all night. In the beginning Linus looked at us as if to say, "I didn't do anything wrong!" but I couldn't split them up. They have a litter box and water bowl for the night. It's kind of a pain b/c now our half bath is not people-worthy but hey, we're sleeping! We have to sleep with a noise machine because around five am Schroeder starts to "protest" by banging on the door. We call it the construction crew. I get up with them an hour later, let them out, feed them, etc. So far it's working.

Thanks for asking, Leah. I loved hearing everyone else's pet craziness stories too! :D

[mbrogier]

I had to kick my kitties out of my room because I have severe allergies--to them. I actually have to lock my door because my female, Gris, can actually open shut doors. My mom felt bad for her "grand-kitties" so she got them pet beds. The kitties took over our guest bedroom and love their thermal cat bed. They haven't been banging on the door trying to get in to sleep on me to get warm. I'm still looking for a trunk or chest to turn into a bed...my male, Macavity, likes to hide, so he'd love an enclosed bed big enough for two. Sometimes the cats are sitting in the hallway waiting for us to get up. They don't fuss much...I have scolded them for scratching. I also keep their nails clipped so they don't damage the carpet. I hate that they can't be in the bedroom with me---maybe if the allergy shots work and I'm no longer allergic...

[ellery]

Originally posted by 615bride
Felinestein: Understanding the Genius in your Cat!

So funny!! :D Thanks for the update! I'm thinking now that maybe I don't have it so bad with my furbabies (who obviously aren't as smart as yours - thank goodness!). I've only lost one lamp in 9 years...

;)

Leah

[catharine]

Oh my gosh – this is the funniest thread! I am printing it out for DH because I know he thinks ours are the only cats who meow at the door all night. I love them so much (Earl Grey and Pepper, both around 3.5 yrs). I would love to let them in the bedroom at night, but they keep DH awake. Mostly it is Pepper who will wrap himself around your head and purr, purr, purr. So sweet, but not really conducive to sleep.

So they are locked out every night (unless I negotiate with DH for my birthday or another special occasion). For whatever reason lately they have been waking us up earlier and earlier, meowing nonstop at the door. However, we never respond to them (and yelling hasn’t worked in the past). (Earl used to tear up the carpet in our old place but that seemed to stop when we got Pepper. We were told to try putting down aluminum foil…)

DH did tell me Monday morning that the reason we had quiet that night was because he had a little talk with the cats and explained that we needed our sleep and that they would have to cut it out. :) Maybe he has to talk to them every night because the past two nights were so bad. We give them plenty of attention, food, etc. but we just ask for 8 hours of quiet.

I will try the vinegar spray thing. Earl is so funny, he knows when he is going to get squirted, and he kind of bunches up his face, as to say “Come on Ma’, I can take it. I know its coming.” It really doesn’t work at all.

Cats are the best!

[dublchk]

I love this thread!! I wish any of my cats were smart enough to learn how to flush a toilet. It nice to know that I'm not the only one being "trained" by my cats. Mine started waking me up earlier and earlier. Soon I was getting up at 4:00 am, dumping food in all 5 dishes (yes, I said 5) and stumbling back to bed.

I started thinking about the whole training thing and have managed to slowly ease them back to 6:00 am. I would just wait 15 minutes after they started complaining before I got up. After a couple weeks, they began calling me 15 minutes later. Slowly I've changed it back to my normal wakeup time of 6:00 am.

Trevor (a barn cat before a foot injury) still jumps on my bed and whines loudly. I just shove him to the floor and go back to sleep. When he's truly convinced he's starving to death (he weighs 15 lbs), he will walk on my pillow and stand on my hair. I can usually convince him to cuddle up under the covers with his head on the pillow, which will buy me a few more minutes of sleep. Thank goodness he only does that on the weekends.

On rare occasions Kraft (my caramel-colored tabby) gets antsy in the morning. He doesn't whine, he just smacks me in the forehead with his paw. It scares the heck out of me, but it wakes me up.

The other three just sit back and wait for their brothers to wake me up. I stumble into the kitchen and they're all lined up by their normal eating spots.

I don't mind having my cats in the bedroom at night. I live in a mobile home and all the doors have a space under them. Trying to close my cats in a room only encourages them to reach under, grab the door and rattle it. Very annoying little trick.

[buffygirl]

One of my kitties, Michael, used to do the same thing, dig at the carpet when our bedroom door was closed. DH put clear packing tape over the area he liked to dig and that pretty much took care of it. It looked a little tacky (pardon the pun), but after 2 or 3 months we were able to take the tape off and Michael forgot about the digging.:)

BTW my kitties are the Dream Team, Michael, Hakeem and Charles.:p

BK