Cat Biting My Hair & Scratching Me In Sleep

PawprintsOnMyHeart

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For the past week my 1.5 y.o. cat Jasper has started biting my hair and scratching me while I try to sleep. He will bite a chunk of my hair near the scalp and twist. I have woken up to it 3 times this week. When I’m awake, he’ll reach out and paw at me with his claws, usually on my face. Just this morning, he woke me up by pulling my hair, scratched at me multiple times, bit and pulled my hair 4 times while I was awake in the past 30 minutes, and is also aggressively rubbing his head on me. It’s painful and really tangles my hair up, plus he’s scratching at my face which really isn’t good. After I’m awake he will lay with me for a little while but I know if I go back to sleep he’ll do it again. I’ve had him for a year and never seen this behavior. I adopted a female cat two months ago but that is all that’s changed. I free feed them so he has food, his bowl is not empty.

How can I stop this behavior? Why is he doing this? It feels like he’s seeking attention, but it really hurts.
 

susanm9006

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Every time he does it tell him “no” and shut him out of your bedroom for the rest of the night. He is old enough where he should catch on that if he plays with you he is going to lose bedroom privileges. If that doesn’t work then I would permanently shut him out when you go to bed.
 

FeebysOwner

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I am curious how he gets along with your new cat. Where does she sleep? I realize you have had her for 2 months and his behavior just started, but I am still inclined to think there is a connection since he never did anything like this before. Is he jealous of her, by chance?
 
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PawprintsOnMyHeart

Mom to Jasper (3yrs) & Jade (2yrs)
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I am curious how he gets along with your new cat. Where does she sleep? I realize you have had her for 2 months and his behavior just started, but I am still inclined to think there is a connection since he never did anything like this before. Is he jealous of her, by chance?
She sleeps at the very top of their tall cat tree, and he usually sleeps either in a lower basket on the tree or on the top of one of his scratching posts that has a circle to lay in. They play together/chase each other often and every now and then there's some mutual grooming exchanged. He may be jealous, but I'm not sure what he would be jealous over — she only occasionally spends time with me and is definitely not a lap cat like he is, preferring to sit next to me and even this is a rare occurrence. She likes her space and hates laying on me, while on the other hand Jasper will lay on me several times a day sometimes for hours.

He hasn't done the hair biting for the past week (as far as I know) so not sure what that was about, but he is 100% still scratching at me and waking me up at ungodly hours. :sigh:
 

FeebysOwner

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Oh, I thought he slept with you at night. So, he just leaves his cat tree perches and comes into your room to annoy you? At least the hair biting/pulling has subsided. It is possible so will the bugging you at night, over time. I still think he is adapting to having another cat in the house, and even though they seem to get along fairly well, it doesn't mean he doesn't feel insecure about her being there. Once he realizes life has not drastically changed for him, he might just stop this behavior altogether on his own.

Maybe these TCS articles will give you some insight on the concept of cat jealousy (and, whether or not it applies) as well as some ideas you might want to try to stop him from bugging you at night.
Cat Biting My Hair & Scratching Me In Sleep
Do Cats Get Jealous? (and What To Do About It When They Do) – Cat Articles
 
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