Hello, my female cat (<2 years) is getting under the covers with me and my wife at night. It usually starts around 4am after she’s been quiet most of the night, and in theory we don’t mind, but the problem comes with her clawing our feet and ankles. Not slashing or anything, just prickling, but it’s still painful and frustrating. And right after that she’ll jump onto the dressers to mess with stuff.
I’ve been trying to get her to wait until my alarm to start acting out in the early morning by just ignoring her then dumping on the attention after getting up, but after a few weeks it hasn’t been very effective yet and my wife is very bad at the ignoring part. We have a covered cat bed currently stationed under my bedside table we call ‘the cave’ that she does use sometimes, but never sits still for long.
What I’m getting at is, how can I stop her burrowing and clawing? Or better yet, the obnoxious behavior in the early morning altogether. The only other thing I can think of is getting up when she starts being a gremlin to give her attention and trying to go back to sleep after, but wouldn’t that just be rewarding her behavior?
I’ve been trying to get her to wait until my alarm to start acting out in the early morning by just ignoring her then dumping on the attention after getting up, but after a few weeks it hasn’t been very effective yet and my wife is very bad at the ignoring part. We have a covered cat bed currently stationed under my bedside table we call ‘the cave’ that she does use sometimes, but never sits still for long.
What I’m getting at is, how can I stop her burrowing and clawing? Or better yet, the obnoxious behavior in the early morning altogether. The only other thing I can think of is getting up when she starts being a gremlin to give her attention and trying to go back to sleep after, but wouldn’t that just be rewarding her behavior?