Cat Refuses To Stay Off Bed At Night

One of our 12 year old cats, a female has been jumping up on our bed every hour on the hour for the past three weeks. We say no and give her a gentle pat and she gets off, but then sits by the bed and waits until we fall asleep and jumps right back up waking me up every single time. We had this problem previously years ago, but we resolved it by shutting the door and not letting her in for 2 weeks, then for whatever reason she understood that in order to stay in the room she had to sleep in her bed not ours. We moved to a new home recently, and so I suspect this may be part of the reason, but the poor cat just does not get it. No matter how many times we kick her off, and I am exhausted. My fiance says it's cruel to close the door again, but I am ready to go sleep in the guest room. Why does she not understand?

Awww... poor baby. And poor you and your fiance. I'm sure you're right and it's the change in homes. Hopefully she'll adjust to the change soon. Meanwhile, sleep deprivation isn't fun, so I'm thinking after she wakes you up the 2nd or 3rd time, I'd put out of the room and close the door. If she figured it out the last time, she (hopefully) will again.

If you haven't seen it, here's the TCS article on How To Stop My Cat From Waking Me Up At Night (step-by-step Plan) which might be helpful.

Have you tried putting her bed on your bed? My cats have their own blanket which covers the bottom of my bed and they always stay there. If she's on her bed, but still close to you, she might feel safe enough to let you sleep through the night.

Norachan said:

Have you tried putting her bed on your bed? My cats have their own blanket which covers the bottom of my bed and they always stay there. If she's on her bed, but still close to you, she might feel safe enough to let you sleep through the night.

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Unfortunately there is no room for a cat bed in our bed, or that may work. My fiance is 6'3 and we are in a queen bed. We live in a 1920s home so you cannot fit a bed any larger in those rooms. Which is why it's such a problem. When she jumps on the bed she's either jumping on top of a human (usually me because there is more space on my side) or displacing a human to take up space.

rubysmama said:

Awww... poor baby. And poor you and your fiance. I'm sure you're right and it's the change in homes. Hopefully she'll adjust to the change soon. Meanwhile, sleep deprivation isn't fun, so I'm thinking after she wakes you up the 2nd or 3rd time, I'd put out of the room and close the door. If she figured it out the last time, she (hopefully) will again.

If you haven't seen it, here's the TCS article on How To Stop My Cat From Waking Me Up At Night (step-by-step Plan) which might be helpful.

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Thanks we will try that and I will check out the article.

Is there room to place a chair/small footstool/or similar type of small furniture nearby the bottom of the bed and place her bed on it? Maybe, she would be OK with being in her bed if it was relatively close in height to, and near,your bed?

We have just become used to the cats sleeping on the bed.

We dont even try to remove them. Its their bed now.

In fact they have even started using the pillows!

Here is arnold waking up in the morning after a good nights sleep.

But our guys get on the bed and then go to sleep.

FeebysOwner said:

Is there room to place a chair/small footstool/or similar type of small furniture nearby the bottom of the bed and place her bed on it? Maybe, she would be OK with being in her bed if it was relatively close in height to, and near,your bed?

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Unfortunately the way the room is set up there is barely enough room for me to walk by the bottom of the bed so that would not be an option. I suppose that we could try to construct something that would allow her to sleep at the same height but that would be difficult. She has a cat bed, a cat house, and a chair all of which she had no problem sleeping on prior to the move.

Purr-fect said:

We have just become used to the cats sleeping on the bed.

We dont even try to remove them. Its their bed now.

In fact they have even started using the pillows!

Here is arnold waking up in the morning after a good nights sleep.

But our guys get on the bed and then go to sleep.

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Awe so cute, glad that works for you. There is literally no room in the bed for two cats, my fiance and I, unless one of the cats is sleeping on top of one of us. And while her sister (the one that could care less about the being on the bed) will stay still sleep and not even alert you that she's there, this cat wants to sleep on top of you, on your head, or walks all over you the entire night.

Lisannez said:

Unfortunately the way the room is set up there is barely enough room for me to walk by the bottom of the bed so that would not be an option. I suppose that we could try to construct something that would allow her to sleep at the same height but that would be difficult. She has a cat bed, a cat house, and a chair all of which she had no problem sleeping on prior to the move.

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It may be the move was stressful and at her age she finds comfort in being close to you.

Purr-fect said:

It may be the move was stressful and at her age she finds comfort in being close to you.

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Totally agree with you there. Unfortunately once this type of habit gets started with her it's VERY hard to break. So we would rather just nip it in the bud. She's not the type of cat that will just sleep on the bed while she's scared or transitioning to the new place she will expect to be there permanently. Both myself and fiance work very long hours and are total grouches without our sleep.

We've always shared our bed with our cats, but Austin is a challenge and if I'm really tired and he's really being a P.I.A., I'll close the door. Eventually I'll open it again. If he was just sleeping, it would be fine, but he does stuff like attack my feet / legs under the sheet (including biting), lay on husbands legs and poke him with his claws, jump up on the headboard and walk back and forth. And the worse is when he jumps over onto the dresser where we have the tv and start scratching the screen. I'll usually put up with the other stuff, but when he does that, out he goes. Sometimes I will take him to the other bedroom, but usually he'll come right back. That's when I close the door for awhile.

Lisannez said:

Both myself and fiance work very long hours and are total grouches without our sleep.

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When I first adopted Ruby, she would wake me every morning 60 to 90 minutes before it was time for me to get up. She'd go away, then come back a few minutes later, so there was no time to get back to sleep. After a few weeks of this I had no choice but to put her out of the room when she woke me, as I was getting sleep deprived. I can't remember how long it took, but after a while she stopped waking me and would wait till my clock radio came on.

In your case, since it may be related to the move, I wonder if Feliway might be something to consider. I've never used it, but some people find it helps. There's also calming treats/collars. And music for cats.

Is there a closet in the room?

If so, can you put a small bed on the closet floor with some items of your clothing for her to sleep on?

misty8723 said:

We've always shared our bed with our cats, but Austin is a challenge and if I'm really tired and he's really being a P.I.A., I'll close the door. Eventually I'll open it again. If he was just sleeping, it would be fine, but he does stuff like attack my feet / legs under the sheet (including biting), lay on husbands legs and poke him with his claws, jump up on the headboard and walk back and forth. And the worse is when he jumps over onto the dresser where we have the tv and start scratching the screen. I'll usually put up with the other stuff, but when he does that, out he goes. Sometimes I will take him to the other bedroom, but usually he'll come right back. That's when I close the door for awhile.

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I think some people are share the bed with animals people and s some are not. Personally I don't sleep well to begin with so adding animals into the mix makes it worse. I would like to be able to do w hat you do and sleep with them once in awhile, but unfortunately this cat is very much a creature of habit and its a very hard habit to break with her once it gets started. Last night we did shut her out of the room. She did not cry at all and in the am I found her on the bed in the guest room. we have never had more than one room before! So maybe she does not want to be with us, as much as be on a human bed. Fingers crossed.

Purr-fect said:

Is there a closet in the room?

If so, can you put a small bed on the closet floor with some items of your clothing for her to sleep on?

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There is but she wants to be on the bed we have tried that. But as I said above last night she slept on the bed in the guest room. So maybe it's just a bed not our bed? We have always lived in a tiny apartment with one bed, now we have three. Fingers crossed.

Sorry, I don't see the problem.

KittyCatCove said:

Sorry, I don't see the problem.

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Problem would be lack of sleep leads to poor work performance, inability to pay for the lifestyle our cats are used to (LOL) and two generally unhappy and angry owners. One of our cats would be fine, she does not move does not bother us. But the ragdoll walks all over us, meows, etc so we get zero sleep.

Lisannez said:

Problem would be lack of sleep leads to poor work performance, inability to pay for the lifestyle our cats are used to (LOL) and two generally unhappy and angry owners. One of our cats would be fine, she does not move does not bother us. But the ragdoll walks all over us, meows, etc so we get zero sleep.

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Yeah, you do sound a bit angry.

- Close the door and keep cats out of the bedroom at night
or
- Buy a king size bed.

Sorry, I have no solution for you, but I'm laughing because I can't go to sleep at night unless my cats are on the bed.