Do you or do you not allow your cat/kitten to sleep with you?

[abbybaby]

 
Thanks everyone for your responses! I am use to a cat sleeping with me, but not a kitten. Some days I try letting her in, but after about 20 minutes its 'jump on my face' time. So, I end up putting her out. Again, it breaks my heart but she doesn't calm down. Even with play sessions prior to sleep. I just find it gets her going more than anything. Keeping in mind, she was feral and I got her about 4 months into her life. So, I have some challenges for sure... *sigh* raising a kitten alone is tougher than I thought!

I can relate. I recently adopted a cat that I was told was two years old, but she behaves a lot like a kitten - I have an introduction appointment with my vet next week and will be interested in his opinion. I've tried letting her sleep with me a couple of times, but she has either started nipping at my fingers at 4 a.m., she jumps up on furniture and knocks stuff down (mostly things I have "rescued" from being knocked over by her in the living room) or she just rolls around on top of me like a little Tasmanian devil. Sometimes she settles down and it is nice, but it never lasts, so I have decided to keep her out - maybe I will try again when it gets colder.

The cat I had before, on the other hand loved to snuggle up against me when it was cold, or sleep on top of the covers or on the other pillow when it was warm. She also liked physical contact, so if I had one arm out from under the covers, she would plop herself down on top of it. She never nipped or batted at me, though occasionally if I was sleeping in more than she wanted, she would lick my eyebrow. I miss that and hope when Abby gets older she will be more inclined to settle down - but who knows? They are all so different.

 

[stewball]

My first three kitties all slept with me from kittenhood to old age. The two i have now sleep where they want but my door is always open.

 

[plan]

Having my cat sleep with me was a lot more of a challenge when he was a kitten, that's for sure. He was definitely a toe-biter and he would rocket around the bedroom like a madman in the middle of the night. But that's what kittens do, right? It's like being a new parent, you have to expect your sleep is going to be disturbed for a while.

During one of those energy-burst incidents in the middle of the night, my Buddy was rocketing around the room, emitting his trademark high-pitched trills and mews, talking talking talking, then he made one last beeline for the bed, gave this hilariously loud sigh, and collapsed next to me. He was asleep in less than a minute. Well, that told me I didn't play with him enough that day, and I started having better luck at night when I made a concerted effort to tire him out an hour before bed time.

So that's a potential solution: Play with them before bed, get them nice and tired, and you're giving yourself a better night's sleep too.

Of course, it's not all bad moments and disturbed sleep. One night, when Bud was a tiny eight-week-old kitten, I woke up and found him fast asleep, clinging to my forearm, with all four paws wrapped around my arm and his head resting in my palm like it was a pillow. I wish I had a photo, alas I did not want to move and wake him up.

 

[ermentrude]

Thanks everyone for your responses! I am use to a cat sleeping with me, but not a kitten. Some days I try letting her in, but after about 20 minutes its 'jump on my face' time. So, I end up putting her out. Again, it breaks my heart but she doesn't calm down. Even with play sessions prior to sleep. I just find it gets her going more than anything. Keeping in mind, she was feral and I got her about 4 months into her life. So, I have some challenges for sure... *sigh* raising a kitten alone is tougher than I thought!

I brought home an 8 week old feral kitten in June, but he didn't get out of seclusion until early July. There were a couple nights of "OMG - it's play time you silly ape - get up!" but I just held perfectly still and didn't engage. He'd eventually get bored and I'd get to sleep. I started on a Friday night and by Sunday he was almost there, by Tuesday he didn't even bother trying. Additionally, you might want to try to wear the little monster out playing before bed, that seems to help.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Variety is the name of the game with my kitten. She has several choices of beds around the apartment. Sometimes she'll sleep with me 2-4 hours a night, but this is usually split up into two sessions: around midnight, and around 3-5 am. At other times she never visits me at night. All I know is that when I close the bedroom off from her for those infrequent nights I need to get uninterrupted sleep for myself, I am taking away her ability to choose where she can go during the night. My innocent toes then "pay for it" early the next morning when I do finally open the door, by her nipping at them a bit harder than usual.
LoL.

 

[raysmyheart]

But I imagine a kitten would be rolling or walking all over the place so this wouldn't be much help!

I love this!  

 

[raysmyheart]

Speedy sleeps with me all the time.  Now, during the summer, the windows are open so she will get up and look out a lot if she hears something, but she usually sleeps right by my hip.  I love when I wake up in the night and feel her close by.  When it nears time to wake up, a lot of times she will jump up on the bed with a favorite toy that she obviously has gone to retrieve, and meow.  

During the cold months, she hardly gets up and is sleeping very close to my hip.  I have it programmed into my brain I think, to wake up before I change direction in bed, so as not to disturb her.  Don't ask me how I wake up like this before I roll over, but I know that I do!  

 

[katie lou93]

I have 5 cats.. 2 of them sleep up with me and my partner all night jessica and leo my two youngest jess is 1 and leo is 9 months, leo will sleep on his pillow behind my pillow and jessica sleeps lay on my pillow with her head on my shoulder/cheek! I get interupted sleep all night but no matter how much I push them down they get back up crying and if I lock them out of the room they scratch my door to buggery.. They have both done this from the day we got them (sepratly) my other 3 sleep up stairs but not always with us, normally molly who is 2 will sleep on the end of my son's bed but atm we have the foster cat in there so she can't so she sleeps in her bed next to my bed, poppy who is 4 will sleep on top of the chest of draws with her blanky she's had from being a kitten and Milly she is 2 aswell she sleeps between my partners legs at the bottom of the bed..

 

[katnisskitty]

oh yes! katniss cuddles right up with me and wraps her paws around my arm or neck and puuurrrrrrrssss all night

 

[tissa]

My Texas aka the Satan sleeps with me. I have always loved sleeping with my cats and i love sleeping with him. I do have issues with his because he takes hours to fall asleep (he wants to jump and play and bite me) and then he wakes me up every single day at 7.30 am like a clock! Luckily when he wakes me up in the morning he doesn't usually hurt me. He plays more gently (or may be i just wake up in time before serious bites come). Then i feed him and play with him and only wish for more sleep...

But if i don't put him to sleep with me, he will cry and scream by the door and i feel like a monster, so i give up and let him in. So he has been sleeping with me.

 

[akitty47]

When I go to bed, my cat will lay against one of my legs and sleep like that. After a while she moves about and lays on the towel I leave for her on the corner of my bed. Since she knows the time I usually wake up, she likes to beat my alarm clock in waking me up. Or something like that.

 

[lucentstreak]

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• lucentstreak
• Aug 17, 2015

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• lucentstreak
• Aug 17, 2015

My not so small fella and suckler has always slept with me since day one. The pic above is the first day that he moved in with me and it was a very early morning meeting at the SPCA for paperwork. He's a snuggler both for warmth and even in summer though he was quite a handful as a kitten in bed. I tried to lock him out but it was impossible and just leave the door open for him these days. Some days, I will wake up in the midst of my snooze to find that he has pushed me to one side of the bed or be tickling me in his breathing (see below). These days, he comes by as I get ready for bed for his nightly suckle (we still haven't resolve that) and head scritches.

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• lucentstreak
• Aug 17, 2015

 

[LotsOfFur]

Our cats have the option to sleep with us if they choose. out of 5 cats Chicken ALWAYS sleeps with me, Puff and Sophie come and go, "T" NEVER DOES and Zoe always sleeps with my DD#2.