First Time Kitten Owner Just Wanting To Sleep!

[PaisleyGirl]

So glad I found this site, I definitely need some help! I know most of these might just be regular kitten behaviors, however if there is any way that I can lessen them, or try and stop her from doing them, I'd be willing to try!

I have a (I'm guessing) 10mo Dilute Tortie kitten named Paisley and I feel I really lucked out with her since she is incredibly sweet and sociable, and for the most part, well-behaved. I adopted her through a rescue the animal hospital I work at works with, she was about 6mos old at that point and had been found living on a golf course with her sister. She's my first ever cat, and she will likely be the only cat I ever have.

Although she has been really great for the most part, the past week she has been incredibly active at night, more-so then she has ever been. It is now beginning to interfere with our sleep, and my boyfriend is at his wits end. She's good until around 2am, and then her energy just goes out of control. She runs up and down the hallways, meows loudly, jumps up/off of things, plays with the blinds, etc... My boyfriend is fuming because he is NOT by any means a cat person, and I'm really lucky he even let me adopt her in the first place. Neither of us have slept past 2am the past week due to her behaviors (once they start they don't stop until I don't even know when because we've already left for work), and its also disrupting our two large breed dogs, who begin pacing and acting up, which only further prevents us from sleeping. This morning he even breached the dreaded "I want to rehome her" because he really cannot stand her. I'm heartbroken because I really love her and know I lucked out with her temperament and personality. I'm hoping this is just a phase that she will grow out of, but are there any ways I may be able to help speed things along, or help make sure she sleeps throughout the night? I have the patience to get through this phase, but my boyfriend doesn't, so any tips, or thoughts on when she may grow out of it, would be much appreciated!

 

[catlover73]

Welcome to TCS. Paisley is beautiful.

I am going to ask you a few questions to see if you have tried some things. Does Paisley have access to food at all times? Have you tried playing with her to tire her out before you go to bed? Where is Paisley currently sleeping when you are in bed? I posted some articles that can hopefully give you some tips for Paisley.

I am going to post some articles to help give you some tips.
How To Stop My Cat From Waking Me Up At Night?
Beating Boredom - What Indoor Cat Owners Need To Know
Cats And Night Crazies!

 

[PaisleyGirl]

Thank you!

Yes, Paisley has access to food at all times. We do try playing with her before bedtime with a toy and I try to encourage her playing in her tree with catnip spray. Currently Paisley sleeps in one of our spare bedrooms on that bed (we have a lizard in that room and she loves watching her so she tends to stay in there) most of the time, but sometimes she sleeps at the foot of our bed. For weeks she was sleeping in bed with us for most of the night and when she did stray, she walked around the house and played but never loudly enough to wake us.

I so appreciate posting these articles, I will go ahead and take a glance at them. And whatever help you can offer would be so greatly appreciated!!!

 

[gentleheart]

I know that this isn't normally done with cats and may not work for this situation, but have you thought about kenneling/crating her, or maybe shutting her in the spare bedroom at night? People do this with their puppies/dogs all the time. At least then the 'night crazies' would be contained to one area.

 

[Desertmouse]

Oh my, what a beautiful girl ! Welcome to the boards!

It’s been awhile since I’ve had a cat that age, but I remember her being a handful. Let me add a couple of questions to catlovers list. Does she have any toys to play with at night? The first one that comes to my mind is the ball tracks. Is there a room she could stay in at night until she understands that you won’t come play at night? If there was one it would probably help with your dogs as well. Does your boyfriend play with her at all? You would be surprised how many people who aren’t cat people fall in love with them, and one of a great way to start a bond is through play and treats.

For what it’s worth, Paisley sounds like she’s in the middle of that teenage stage. That doesn’t mean she will just grow out of the issues, but it might help put a bit of perspective on what you see with her.

 

[Etarre]

Hello from the owner of another dilute tortie. Paisley is such a cute name for her, and I love her cute little face. Can you try setting aside more time to play with her in the evening? Juniper has a short attention span for play, but while we're watching TV in the evening, I keep the laser pointer handy and she has learned that she can take a break to check the window, take a nap, etc., and the laser pointer will come back out when she comes looking for it. It's particularly useful to get her running back and forth a lot to really use up her energy.

If Paisley likes watching your lizard, maybe she'd also enjoy looking out the window to amuse herself. Does she have a windowseat or perch where she can look out at anything interesting? And toys for independent play, like the toys with balls on tracks or the kickeroos, can encourage her to play quietly instead of meowing for attention.

I've also read elsewhere on this forum that blinds can be dangerous for cats, so that might be something to check in to. If they're tempting and noisy, can you tie them up out of her reach before going to bed?

Another thing to think about is what changed from the first weeks that she was with you and simply slept on the bed quietly for most of the night. Perhaps she was simply worn out from adjusting to a new home. Or maybe she was getting more attention/playtime. Finding the root of the change might be useful.

Good luck! It took my husband a bit of time to warm up to Juniper, but now he's as in love with her as I am. We all have our own schedules for bonding. And I can understand how being sleepless would interfere...

 

[kittyluv387]

So what i do is close the door at night lol. Really need my sleep. It might be good to get her used to this while young.

 

[PaisleyGirl]

I know that this isn't normally done with cats and may not work for this situation, but have you thought about kenneling/crating her, or maybe shutting her in the spare bedroom at night? People do this with their puppies/dogs all the time. At least then the 'night crazies' would be contained to one area.

Hi! Yes we were discussing that. I don't think I want to crate her because I do want her to have access to her litterbox and her food. Closing her in the room is an option, but the issue is she has been bouncing off the walls in that room loud enough to wake us as well (we closed the door for a few hours yesterday). So I'm at a loss!

 

[PaisleyGirl]

Oh my, what a beautiful girl ! Welcome to the boards!

It’s been awhile since I’ve had a cat that age, but I remember her being a handful. Let me add a couple of questions to catlovers list. Does she have any toys to play with at night? The first one that comes to my mind is the ball tracks. Is there a room she could stay in at night until she understands that you won’t come play at night? If there was one it would probably help with your dogs as well. Does your boyfriend play with her at all? You would be surprised how many people who aren’t cat people fall in love with them, and one of a great way to start a bond is through play and treats.

For what it’s worth, Paisley sounds like she’s in the middle of that teenage stage. That doesn’t mean she will just grow out of the issues, but it might help put a bit of perspective on what you see with her.

Thanks so much! So glad I found them!

She has a scratcher, a ball track, and her cat tree. Its hard to leave a bunch of toys around for her because of my dogs unfortunately. She can stay in the one room that she sleeps in with the lizard, but she's been bouncing off the walls in there too (we closed her in there a couple nights) and its still loud enough to wake us. I have no idea what she could possibly be doing to make that much noise!

Unfortunately my boyfriend doesn't play with her at all. I'm lucky if her pets her at least once in a day. He unfortunately just sees her as a nuisance I think I'm really going to get him to start interacting with her now as well.

I was thinking maybe she was going through her "teenage phase" so I'm a little relieved to hear that! I know she may not possibly completely grow out of it, but I'm hoping maybe some of the behaviors will taper off?

 

[gentleheart]

You can get a kennel large enough for her to play with toys and fit a small litterbox and food/water in there. One of those mesh playpens made for small dogs would work fine. I've found them for around $30. I've thought about getting one for my small bird to give him space to fly when I put him outside, instead of him going out in his small travel cage. They are fully enclosed.

 

[PaisleyGirl]

Hello from the owner of another dilute tortie. Paisley is such a cute name for her, and I love her cute little face. Can you try setting aside more time to play with her in the evening? Juniper has a short attention span for play, but while we're watching TV in the evening, I keep the laser pointer handy and she has learned that she can take a break to check the window, take a nap, etc., and the laser pointer will come back out when she comes looking for it. It's particularly useful to get her running back and forth a lot to really use up her energy.

If Paisley likes watching your lizard, maybe she'd also enjoy looking out the window to amuse herself. Does she have a windowseat or perch where she can look out at anything interesting? And toys for independent play, like the toys with balls on tracks or the kickeroos, can encourage her to play quietly instead of meowing for attention.

I've also read elsewhere on this forum that blinds can be dangerous for cats, so that might be something to check in to. If they're tempting and noisy, can you tie them up out of her reach before going to bed?

Another thing to think about is what changed from the first weeks that she was with you and simply slept on the bed quietly for most of the night. Perhaps she was simply worn out from adjusting to a new home. Or maybe she was getting more attention/playtime. Finding the root of the change might be useful.

Good luck! It took my husband a bit of time to warm up to Juniper, but now he's as in love with her as I am. We all have our own schedules for bonding. And I can understand how being sleepless would interfere...

Hi! And thank you so so much! And Juniper, I love that name as well!

I try to set time aside to play with her at night but sometimes it's a little on the difficult side, especially since I'm the only one who plays with her. She does love the laser pointer, and I know it would tire her out, but my Rottweiler also goes CRAZY for the pointer, and last time I had it out he almost trampled her trying to chase it However maybe I can lock my dog up in my bedroom for a little while so she can run around and play with it and get some energy out!

She does have a kickaroo and cat tree, which she does play with, especially since the cat tree has a "busy box" with a light up ball in it. She loves playing with it, and it used to not bother us at all, but now she is slamming it (I have no idea how, I haven't seen it, just heard) with so much force lately it sounds like she's going to break it! She doesn't have a perch, but we do have a bay window in the kitchen that looks out into our backyard and a table pressed right up against it, so she spends a lot of time on the table watching all of the birds (since our bird feeder is set up directly in front of there). She is definitely very curious, though, as she tries to look out of all of the windows as well, which leads to the blinds issue.

Speaking of the blinds, they are the really heavy, thick paneled blinds. I have tied up all of the strings so she can't play with them, but she likes to stick her face through them to see outside. It makes me nervous, especially when we aren't home, since I've knocked them over myself and I'm afraid if she knocks them over she'll hurt herself due to the weight and the fact that she is a very dainty cat.

I think she was adjusting to everything at that point, and now she is well adjusted and comfy! Its also difficult since we're both at work all day and I honestly think she spends the majority of the day sleeping, so she gets all of her energy out at night. Since we aren't home though I'm unsure of any other things we can do to alter that.

 

[PaisleyGirl]

So what i do is close the door at night lol. Really need my sleep. It might be good to get her used to this while young.

I would totally do that but my boyfriend has a huge aversion to shutting doors! He absolutely refuses to shut our bedroom door at night

 

[PaisleyGirl]

You can get a kennel large enough for her to play with toys and fit a small litterbox and food/water in there. One of those mesh playpens made for small dogs would work fine. I've found them for around $30. I've thought about getting one for my small bird to give him space to fly when I put him outside, instead of him going out in his small travel cage. They are fully enclosed.

This definitely looks like a good option to look into! Thanks so much!

 

[catlover73]

I agree with trying to figure out if there was anything that changed from when she used to sleep through the night on your bed. When I adopted my Starbuck at 6 weeks old and she started sleeping with us she would wake us up grooming us every 2-3 hours. She was never noisy but she had to stand on your face while grooming you. Eventually she stopped waking us up to groom us. She does it before we fall asleep or when we first wake up. She still wakes us up once in a while but it is not the norm anymore. Starbuck is 12 years old now so I don’t remember how long it took her to stop waking us up. My hubby is a cat person so we just put up with the lack of sleep. Does Paisley like to be in the bed under the covers at all? Starbuck liked to sleep in the bed so we gradually started to pick her up and put her in the bed when she would wake us up. Being in the bed seemed to help get her to go back to sleep. She would put herself under blankets to sleep on her own.

Have you tried putting a price of dirty laundry in her room with her at night. Perhaps having something that smells like you in the room will help her sleep. Perhaps a stuffed animal to cuddle with would help. Just make sure there is nothing she can pull off and eat on the stuffed animal.

 

[rubysmama]

Hello and welcome to TCS. Paisley is paws-itively adorable.

As much as we all love cats, there is nothing worse than sleep deprivation. I know, because when I first adopted my Ruby, she would wake me too early every morning and I quickly became sleep deprived. I eventually had to resort to putting her out of my room and closing the door. Eventually she got the hint, and stopped the early morning wakeup calls.

Paisley is still a kitten, so you'll have a while yet till she calms down into a boring, sleeps-a-lot adult cat. So for now, if you can, I would suggest having a kitten-safe room with her litter box, food and water, toys, and a cat tree or cat bed, and putting her in there and closing the door when she wakes you up.

She's been spayed, right?

As for your boyfriend, I bet he'll eventually become a cat person. I mean, who could resist sweet Paisley's darling little face.

 

[RufusGizmo]

do you have a basement? I used to have to put my now two older cats in the basement, since they would be up all night. I now put my kittens in the basement, just so they don't get the older guys bad behavior, since the older ones have never grown out of keeping me up all night (sorry). and do watch for the blinds. i walked into the basement the other day, and never even thought of the basement window, and one of my kittens literally was standing on the ledge of the window, and had somehow got her head into the pully thing on the blinds. I almost had a heart attack right there. I think the only way to make cats stop is to keep them away from you, because any type of reaction in the middle of the night is going to keep them coming back for more.

 

[Desertmouse]

Thanks so much! So glad I found them!

She has a scratcher, a ball track, and her cat tree. Its hard to leave a bunch of toys around for her because of my dogs unfortunately. She can stay in the one room that she sleeps in with the lizard, but she's been bouncing off the walls in there too (we closed her in there a couple nights) and its still loud enough to wake us. I have no idea what she could possibly be doing to make that much noise!

Unfortunately my boyfriend doesn't play with her at all. I'm lucky if her pets her at least once in a day. He unfortunately just sees her as a nuisance I think I'm really going to get him to start interacting with her now as well.

I was thinking maybe she was going through her "teenage phase" so I'm a little relieved to hear that! I know she may not possibly completely grow out of it, but I'm hoping maybe some of the behaviors will taper off?

Hmm....I think if I was in your shoes I would make the room with the lizard her room for the night, assuming there isn’t a worry about her getting to the lizard. Catlover had a great idea about putting something with your scent in the room. I would also suggest putting a cat carrier with the door either makes so it can’t shut on her or taken off. Cats can sometimes use it as a cat cave, because it’s fairly small and enclosed it makes them feel safe and hidden, plus of course it has the added benefit of making trips where she has to be in the carrier much easier, if she only sees the carrier when it comes time for scary car rides or vet visits she will try and run when she sees it.

I definitely think you should get your boyfriend involved in playtime. Lucky you have the perfect reason to start. Just point out to him that it is needed for him to get some sleep.

I try to set time aside to play with her at night but sometimes it's a little on the difficult side, especially since I'm the only one who plays with her. She does love the laser pointer, and I know it would tire her out, but my Rottweiler also goes CRAZY for the pointer, and last time I had it out he almost trampled her trying to chase it However maybe I can lock my dog up in my bedroom for a little while so she can run around and play with it and get some energy out!

I so get this. I have a lab who does the same thing, and don’t even get me started on “Da bird” toy, he likes it more then the cat! There is laser toys like that I THINK you can set timers for, so it might make a good toy for the kitten room at night. You mentioned that you have a back yard, would it be possible to put the dogs outside for say a hour before bed so you can play with the cat before bed? They might be happier with that then going in a room if it’s possible. I know my lab would start barking if I tried that, but then he can be a cry baby .

 

[PaisleyGirl]

I agree with trying to figure out if there was anything that changed from when she used to sleep through the night on your bed. When I adopted my Starbuck at 6 weeks old and she started sleeping with us she would wake us up grooming us every 2-3 hours. She was never noisy but she had to stand on your face while grooming you. Eventually she stopped waking us up to groom us. She does it before we fall asleep or when we first wake up. She still wakes us up once in a while but it is not the norm anymore. Starbuck is 12 years old now so I don’t remember how long it took her to stop waking us up. My hubby is a cat person so we just put up with the lack of sleep. Does Paisley like to be in the bed under the covers at all? Starbuck liked to sleep in the bed so we gradually started to pick her up and put her in the bed when she would wake us up. Being in the bed seemed to help get her to go back to sleep. She would put herself under blankets to sleep on her own.

Have you tried putting a price of dirty laundry in her room with her at night. Perhaps having something that smells like you in the room will help her sleep. Perhaps a stuffed animal to cuddle with would help. Just make sure there is nothing she can pull off and eat on the stuffed animal.

Hi! I'd definitely need to really think if anything has changed since then! I have actually never tried to put her under the covers before, nor has she tried to get under herself. She does have a suckling issue on certain material blankets, so for a while it was hard to have her sleep in bed with us as well. I think I should try having something on the bed with her in the other room to help her sleep! She destroys stuffed animals though, and they make her go a little crazy, so I think clothing would be the best option!

 

[PaisleyGirl]

Hello and welcome to TCS. Paisley is paws-itively adorable.

As much as we all love cats, there is nothing worse than sleep deprivation. I know, because when I first adopted my Ruby, she would wake me too early every morning and I quickly became sleep deprived. I eventually had to resort to putting her out of my room and closing the door. Eventually she got the hint, and stopped the early morning wakeup calls.

Paisley is still a kitten, so you'll have a while yet till she calms down into a boring, sleeps-a-lot adult cat. So for now, if you can, I would suggest having a kitten-safe room with her litter box, food and water, toys, and a cat tree or cat bed, and putting her in there and closing the door when she wakes you up.

She's been spayed, right?

As for your boyfriend, I bet he'll eventually become a cat person. I mean, who could resist sweet Paisley's darling little face.

Thanks so much! I totally knew she'd be in that phase, but I was hoping maybe it was a little thing she'd get over quickly haha.

I think I am going to begin putting her in the room when she does act up, since that is the room her litter box is in. She doesn't have any toys in there, but I think I will grab some and put them in there as well! And yes, she has been spayed! As soon as she was old enough, I did it

I hope he will, however he did see this when I was reading it and said "I can - I can resist Paisley's face easily" hahaha

Thank you so much for the advice!

 

[PaisleyGirl]

do you have a basement? I used to have to put my now two older cats in the basement, since they would be up all night. I now put my kittens in the basement, just so they don't get the older guys bad behavior, since the older ones have never grown out of keeping me up all night (sorry). and do watch for the blinds. i walked into the basement the other day, and never even thought of the basement window, and one of my kittens literally was standing on the ledge of the window, and had somehow got her head into the pully thing on the blinds. I almost had a heart attack right there. I think the only way to make cats stop is to keep them away from you, because any type of reaction in the middle of the night is going to keep them coming back for more.

My boyfriend really wants to put her in the basement! My only issue is our basement is unfinished, and there is SO MUCH she could get into down there that I think is dangerous. We have septic/well so we have a sump pump but we also have areas of the walls that are bare and open and I just see her getting into too much trouble down there

And the blinds really do scare me! I have to see what I can really do to discourage it, because if they fall on her I'm certain she'll get hurt