Cat Walks Across My Pillow

alisad1981

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I adopted Merlin a week ago. I let him sleep with me the first couple nights, but he walks across my pillow several times per night and wakes me up. On Wednesday I was so sleep deprived that I had to take an afternoon nap. So I've closed him out of the bedroom the last few nights, only he meows so loudly and stays by the door all night, so I feel guilty. He's not trying to wake me up, so ignoring him won't work. How do I teach him to not walk on the wrong part of the bed?
 

Mamanyt1953

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Best of luck on this one. I haven't managed it with ANY of my cats, but that isn't to say that it cannot be done. SOMEONE here may have a genius idea that I've haven't thought of yet.

A couple of things that might help, though...cats are great lovers of "warms." Almost any warm will do. I have a heated cat bed on the other side of my own bed, and Hek prefers to snooze there. A heating pad, on low and wrapped well in a towel (two layers), might tempt him to desert the pillow for the pad. Also, get a good wand toy, such as Da Bird, and wear his little cat-fanny out right before bedtime. Then give him a small meal, and go to bed. A cat's natural pattern is "hunt/catch/kill/eat/groom/sleep" and the more you play into that pattern, the more likely your cat is to learn to sleep through the night.
 

losna

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I will second the play and feed before bed suggestion. One of our cats used to climb up the bookshelf and then jump on my head at night, and another would caterwaul announcing his successful hunt and capture of his toys at night. But when we started playing, then feeding, then going to bed they both calmed down and are generally quiet and sleeping through the night now.
 

Talien

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Put strips of double sided tape on your pillow. You'll probably need to wear a shower cap or something else to keep your hair from getting caught in it too, but after a couple nights of that he's probably not going to want to go anywhere near your pillow.

It also works great to stop a Cat from scratching something you don't want them to scratch.
 

losna

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Put strips of double sided tape on your pillow. You'll probably need to wear a shower cap or something else to keep your hair from getting caught in it too, but after a couple nights of that he's probably not going to want to go anywhere near your pillow.

It also works great to stop a Cat from scratching something you don't want them to scratch.
It depends on the cat though. Mine LOVE sticky tape. We have to hide the fur removal rollers because they kept peeling them to play with the sticky paper. :lol:
 

vyger

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Did you ever notice a kitten pile, they walk all over each other. Lay on each other, push each other. You asleep? to bad I wanna bite your tail and play. They are pretty light sleepers and awake almost instantly but then can immediately go back to sleep also. Younger cats especially do what they want to do with no regard for anyone else. There are few boundary's in a litter. That changes when they get older and become territorial which is why fights break out. They do learn some respect eventually.
For the most part mine have learned to respect my space. If I am walking and you don't move out of the way you likely will get steeped on. If they are on a chair and I want to sit down I hand motion them to move. If they don't then they get squeezed if it's not a big chair. They have learned it's a lot better to get down, let the big moose sit and then jump back on top which is then a lot warmer.
Ironically I had to learn the same type of things when I had horses. Having your foot steeped on by a horse hurts really bad. If they are shod with steal shoes it's even worse and will leave you limping for days. You learn to respect where you put your feet because they don't really notice. Oh, what makes it even worse is if they do step on you and you try to push them off they naturally shift their weight to counter balance it so they put even more pressure on your foot. You have to learn to reach down and tap their leg to "ask" them to lift it. It is a hard lesson. You also can't move them if they don't want to move. You can get pinned to a stall wall pretty easily and some horses will do it on purpose. A horse outweighs you almost 10 to one. You have to learn to respect that. Cats do need to learn that about people, that they are very out-sized, and most do. But for some it takes a while.
But for your problem you might try just giving them their own pillow. Mine have figured out where the "kick" zones are and generally avoid those spots. I can tell if I have had a restless night because the cats are in the corners or even on the floor. You think they bother you but imagine them being sound asleep and getting booted by some moose just because they have a weird dream.
It would be an interesting book title --- "Life in a kitten pile"

Not a terribly constructive answer but maybe somewhat informative.
 

susanm9006

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It could be worse. My cat does not walk around my pillow. Instead she leaps over me which feels like a twelve pound bowling ball being dropped on the bed several times a night.

But you could try lifting her up and depositing her on the other side as soon as she starts to walk across the pillow. I think this might annoy her just enough that she decides to go a different way around you. But hopefully not do a leap like mine.
 

neely

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Best of luck on this one.
:flail: I shouldn't laugh but the same thought crossed my mind.

Thank you for adopting Merlin. :thanks: My cat tends to want to sleep with me and walk across my pillow during the colder months. In summer when it's warm he doesn't typically come in bed. However, one thing I've tried is to hold him by my side and pet/stroke him. This makes him settle down and stop walking on the pillow. I don't know if it will work for you but it's worth a try. Best of luck! :goodluck:
 

tabbytom

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Since it's only a week after you adopted Merlin and I think the house or room is still pretty new to him. It's pretty normal for them to walk over to the other side to check things out as they think that's the best way to go.

My boy sleeps with me every night and I have a pillow just for him next to me and that's where he'll sleep but on some nights, when he's not that sleepy and is more inquisitive, he'll stay awake and look around and if he notice something across the bed, he'll walk on my pillow and at times step on my face and head to get across :lol:

You can try sleeping a little lower down the bed so that he has space in between your pillow and the headboard to walk across. But I think this is only temporary. He'll grow out of it.

Can you leave your door ajar so that Merlin can go in and out of the room without disturbing you? I do that sometimes for my boy.
 
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