Gettint your cat to STOP wanting to sleep with you

[madasplaid]

Hi everyone. I'm at the end of my rope and I am desperate for help.

We have three cats. Masha, Hani and Wolfie. All three of them have had free run of our house and come and go from our master bedroom all night.

We are expecting our first baby in November. As baby will be in the master with us for the first few months, and we don't want baby and kitties together in unsupervised situations, we figured we should get the cats used to not sleeping in our room, so they don't have the combined stress of being kicked out and a new baby all at once. It's especially good timing because we are both working from home due to quarantine, so we can give them plenty of attention during the day to make up for the lack of bedtime cuddles.

It has been absolutely terrible. Masha and Wolfie, the 2 most social, people seeking of the bunch are fine with it. They stay quiet all night and may meow at the door when it's close to breakfast time, but that isn't super common. Hani, the middle kitty, who is normally very independent (cuddles only once in a while on her terms, will disappear for hours to be on her own, not very people oriented) has been crying and scratching at the door for hours at a time. We have tried using fans and noise makers to drown her out, but sometimes it sounds like she is slamming her little 6lb body against the door with the force of a rugby player. It has been over a month of this and she shows no signs of improvement. My husband has taken to going to the guest room with her just so we can sleep. Once one of us is no longer behind closed doors, she is back to her normal self. Tonight I snapped, got up and locked her in a bathroom... for about 10 minutes until I felt guilty and let her go.

We already use Composure calming treats for the cats, have feliway spray and diffusers throughout the house and cozy beds with blankets and with our scent on them set up on her favorite perches.

Doesn't anyone have any advice or techniques they have used in this situation? I lost a previously healthy cat very suddenly due to hepatic lipidosis caused by stress. I want my fur babies and my new human baby to be able to live in the same home harmoniously. I'm terrified this behavior will not only continue through my last 6 months of baby crying free nights, but also continue and wake up the baby much more than necessary.

 

[tabbysia]

If you are worried about the cats getting into the baby's crib at night, they do sell crib tents made for this purpose. My sister put one of these over her son's crib when he was a baby. She actually had it over his crib until he was two, and it was fine. It's a good way to keep the kitties happily in your room and the baby safe (not that the cats would try to harm the baby). I think that she got hers at Babies R Us, but Amazon has them too.

 

[victorrskat88]

yeah there are lots of products to protect the crib try that..kitty doesnt have bad intentions and doent know

 

[ArtNJ]

The fear that a cat can kill a baby by suffocation is a legacy of the era when sudden infant death syndrome was not understood. I mean, if a cat is repeatedly jumping into the crib, thats a problem, but just having a cat in the bedroom should be pretty much the least of a new parent's worries. While a cat could theoretically suffocate a baby, there are no confirmed cases of this happening that I've seen. By contrast, parents co-sleeping with a young baby is VERY dangerous and kills with some regularity.

Cats Suck Babies' Breath
Do Cats Really Kill Babies by Sucking Away Their Breath?
Cats kill babies? Bunk, experts say

Bottom line, new baby brings a lot of worries, but this should not be one of them. The more you know

 

[madasplaid]

The fear that a cat can kill a baby by suffocation is a legacy of the era when sudden infant death syndrome was not understood. I mean, if a cat is repeatedly jumping into the crib, thats a problem, but just having a cat in the bedroom should be pretty much the least of a new parent's worries. While a cat could theoretically suffocate a baby, there are no confirmed cases of this happening that I've seen. By contrast, parents co-sleeping with a young baby is VERY dangerous and kills with some regularity.

Cats Suck Babies' Breath
Do Cats Really Kill Babies by Sucking Away Their Breath?
Cats kill babies? Bunk, experts say

Bottom line, new baby brings a lot of worries, but this should not be one of them. The more you know

I know and understand that this is a myth. However, cats are curious and my cats have never interacted with a baby before. Even articles debunking that myth say not to allow cats to sleep in the same room as the baby unsupervised. I also lost a cat to stress and would hate to be in a situation where there is a new baby crying all the time, mom and dad aren't able to give as much attention, and they are suddenly kicked out of the bedroom because it isn't working out. As such, for both the baby and the cats safety, I would rather keep them separate for the time being.

 

[rubysmama]

Congratulations on your pregnancy! I understand your concerns about cats and babies, so maybe this TCS article will be helpful:
Cats And Babies: All Your Questions Answered!

As per keeping your cats out of your bedroom now, I guess you have to make your bedroom undesirable, and some other place more inviting. Here's another article that might have some tips for you. How To Stop My Cat From Waking Me Up At Night (step-by-step Plan)

I also did a site search for "bedroom". Here are the results: Search Results for Query: bedroom
(note some won't apply to your situation, but there should be some that will be similar)

 

[susanm9006]

If you do go with keeping the cats out of your room then you will have to go through the screaming, scratching, begging of the cat at the door without giving in. If you do that even once you are back at square one. So get earplugs and be prepared to wait it out and ignore the noise for as longs it takes. It could be days but it could also be weeks or longer.