Early AM bored cat starting to scratch carpet.

[jclark]

9.5 month old and over the past month he gets up at around 5 am and starts walking about the bedroom grumbling, messing with blinds, and has started to scrach the carpet in 3 spots (left & right side of dresser) and near entry way into bathroom.

The frustrating part is that in each location is either a scratching post or a horizontal cardboard scratch pad. He ignores a 2nd large scratching post.

He'll stop when I snap my fingers, and he'll run when I get out of bed to place him on/near a scratching post/horizontal scratch pad. I don't "scold" him and I dose each scratch pad with catnip.

Any suggestions on stopping this behavior? I'm really close to putting him in a dog carrier in a room down the hall when he starts up with this just so we can get another hours worth of sleep.

His brother doesn't do this and neither does the Sr. Coon.

 

[stephanietx]

Play hard with him before bedtime, feed him a serving of yummy wet food and go to bed.  This usually works to keep them asleep until you're ready to wake up.  I've used this with all my kitties for years. 

 

[laralove]

I resorted the spray bottle method to deter behaviors like this. I only had to spray in his direction probably a half dozen times over the course of week. Now if I just reach for a spray bottle, he'll look at me and trot off to do something else. I used it on the wide spray setting, so he never got nailed with water. I think this has helped to prevent him from being scared of it. He just doesn't like the drizzle it creates. So he doesn't sprint in fear or anything, just seems to decide whatever he was going to do isn't worth it and he redirects.

As for nighttime antics, he sometimes likes to bring is light up, squeaky toy to me in the middle of the night for a play session. I was shocked last night for three reasons:

1. He hasn't done this in a few days.
2. He played for AN HOUR last night then ate an entire can of FF right before bed. 
3. When he dropped the toy on me I said, "No Oliver," and he took the toy, jumped to the floor, dropped it, and jumped back up on the bed, curled up beside my legs, and went back to sleep.

This cat makes no sense, but gosh... I sure adore him!

 

[jclark]

Play hard with him before bedtime, feed him a serving of yummy wet food and go to bed.  This usually works to keep them asleep until you're ready to wake up.  I've used this with all my kitties for years. 

Last night was not very successful. I played with him and his brother for about 10 mins (he goes all out chasing the "kitty crack toy" and as a result was panting fairly hard so I quit). Will try for 15 mins today.

 

[stephanietx]

It will take him awhile to get used to the new routine.  I start this when I bring a new cat home and they're in the isolation room.  Basically, you're trying to wear him out so he doesn't have any energy left and is ready for a good night's sleep.  A cat's natural cycle is hunt, eat, sleep so that's what you're trying to mimic.

 

[jclark]

UPDATE: He still gets up at 5 AM, murrs around, and scratches the carpet. He's to the point where he'll scurry if he hears one of us snap our fingers or ruffle the covers thinking we're going to grab him. In the past when I did this I would just place him on a scratching board or near a post.

I don't mind that he scratches, but I just don't understand why he'll scratch the carpet right next to a post or a horizontal cardboard scratcher. I know its prime hunting time for him, but theres always some food left in the bowl and his brother doesn't do it. Gerrrr...

Two scratching posts and two cardboard scratchers in the bedroom, and he avoids them all at this time of day.

 

[pinkman]

Have you tried playing with him ON the scratching surfaces (posts, cardboard scratchers, etc) ? Also, how sturdy/big/tall are they? Do the scratchers move around easily? I found that the sturdier the post is, and bigger - my cats tend to enjoy them more. 

Also, since he's 9 months old - I encourage playing for more than fifteen minutes. You can do repeated sessions or cycle playing hard, to slow, to hard again. My dude has a lot of energy so this is what we have to do. 

 

[jclark]

Have you tried playing with him ON the scratching surfaces (posts, cardboard scratchers, etc) ? Also, how sturdy/big/tall are they? Do the scratchers move around easily? I found that the sturdier the post is, and bigger - my cats tend to enjoy them more. 





Also, since he's 9 months old - I encourage playing for more than fifteen minutes. You can do repeated sessions or cycle playing hard, to slow, to hard again. My dude has a lot of energy so this is what we have to do. 

One post is about 4 ft tall the other is maybe 18" from the floor. The tall one obviously doesn't move around easily and the smaller one could be pulled over. I do play with them on the tall post (He's a climber), but I wouldn't say that I include it in my daily play sessions.

We have 3 cats and the two young ones (my problem child and his brother) have taken to using the horizontal cardboard scratchers as spots to sit on in lieu of the carpert. It's not really something you'd want to play with them on because the container in which the inserts lay is slick on carpet* . I also apply catnip to all these items every once in awhile.

Keep in mind he was trained to USE these items, but for some reason he quit doing it in the early AM. He'll maybe hit the posts as he meanders around the bedroom before/after he does some quick grabs on the carpet. Of couse he'll use the scratching posts during the day but seems to have decided to avoid the cardboard entirely.



*Epiphany..I may have to take the cardboard out of their box because if they're too slick on the carpet he may have chosen to avoid them at night. hmmmm. Thanks for commenting about play!!!


On a side note: I play with these guys when I get home, during the evening when we're all downstairs before we do the nighttime push on hard play. Keep in mind I have littermates and TBH they still pound on each other throughout the day and when I'm home so it's not like he's doing nothing ALL day.