Casper says, "It's past your bedtime!"

[Caspers Human]

On two nights, during the past week, Casper did the cutest thing I've ever seen him do.

I was sitting by my computer thinking to myself, "It's getting late." I had decided to finish up what I was working on when Casper came into the room.

He sat by my feet. I thought he wanted attention so I reached down to pet him but, instead, he got up and walked to the door, looking back at me the whole time. I shut my computer off and walked over to the door. Casper was still looking back at me but, when I came near, he walked down the hall, toward the bedroom.

I went to the bathroom to wash up. Casper came in to supervise, giving me the same look the whole time.
When I finished, he walked over and sat by the bedroom door, still looking back at me.

I opened the bedroom door. Casper went in first and hopped up on the bed to watch me get ready.
I got into bed and Casper came over, purring loudly, while I got under the covers. I got situated, he laid down next to me and I petted him for a while before falling asleep.

It didn't dawn on me until this morning, what Casper was doing. I considered it, the first time, thinking it might have been a fluke. The second time was a repeat behavior, doing the same thing.

That's when I realized that Casper was trying to tell me, "Hey, human! It's past your bedtime! You should go to bed!"

It's the cutest damned thing I've ever seen Casper, or any other cat I've had, do!

I'm wondering... Do other people have cats who come to put them to bed when it's late?

 

[Kat0121]

Lilith does but she's not that subtle about it. She will stand in the bedroom doorway and yell at me until I fix her a nest out of her blanket and go to bed.

 

[Caspers Human]

Meow! "Human! It's late!"
Meow! "It's time for bed!"
Meow! "Human! Go to bed!"

That's cute!

Casper usually takes his daily naps on his Girl-Human's side of the bed but, when she's sleeping, he moves over to my side.
She usually goes to bed before me so, when I come in, Casper is often sleeping in my spot.

When I come to bed, I pet him for a moment and he often gets up and moves. Sometimes, he stays put so I gently pat him on the bum to get him to move. There are some times when even that doesn't make him move so I just carefully climb into bed as if he wasn't there and pretend to lay down on top of him. That gets him moving!

I can't imagine that Casper wants me to make his bed for him because, when I come to bed, it means I'm messing up his spot, not fixing it.

Maybe he likes sleeping in the middle of the bed between his two humans. Maybe that means, when I come to bed and mess up his spot, I'm actually making him a new spot to sleep. Maybe that's what he likes.

I know that cats are real creatures of habit and, when their humans don't come to bed on schedule, they get anxious.

I never thought that me kicking him out of bed would be part of his schedule.

I'll have to think about that.

 

[Anoxia]

It happened to me once. I got my girls after starting a new job that needed a more rigorous sleep schedule, so they were used to me going to bed on time. There was one night a new event came out for a game, and by 3 AM I was still playing. My quiet cat came out of the bedroom, walked to my desk, looked up at me, and screamed. In terms of volume it was comparable to a normal meow, but to her pipsqueaky vocal chords it might as well have been an air horn. I was so shocked I immediately turned off my computer, and she escorted me to the bedroom.

I've since moved and my desk is now right next to the bed so she doesn't have to "remind" me where my bedroom is anymore, but on nights where I stay up late, she'll either fall asleep right under my pillow or with her head held up and facing me (eyes closed, of course).

 

[KittyJ]

That's hilarious. It would surprise us how many times our cats are trying to tell us something like that.

 

[susanm9006]

Routines including timing is very important to cats. At a certain point, approximately 6:00 pm I usually move to the living room and turn in the TV. If I am delayed for some reason, Willow will sit next to my recliner and stare at me until I finally move over to it. Then she immediately jumps up to lay next to me.

 

[Tik cat's mum]

Patches does he sits looking at me and if I don't move he'll jump onto my knees and meow at me. He even does a pee before bed. When he was a kitten I used to put him in the litter before we went upstairs. Now he takes himself off for a pee at bedtime.