How to change sleep pattern and set boundaries - a rescue cat

[belochka]

Hi all,

As some of you might have read in the intro, I am very new to cats - my family rescued a sweet guy and now we have all sorts of questions.

Here are my questions:

1. As a result of the abusive and unloving circumstances of this cat's previous place of living, he became used to sleeping through the day and bouncing all over at night. His night active lifestyle can be very disruptive to our sleep and we all have to get up very early for work.

Is there any way we could help him learn to be active during the day and sleep at night?

2. When he is running and jumping all over at night, he loves to jump on us sleeping which, of course, wakes us up dozen times per night.

How can we teach him that jumping on us/bed at night is a 'no,' but it's ok to jump on us/bed during the day?

Thank you!

 

[catwoman707]

Welcome!

Basically it all falls in to place by getting them to sleep during the night, which might mean containing him where it's dark and there is nothing to do.

I know this because I have a cat rescue group and have a 'cat room' where I care for medical needs, nursing moms, young kittens, etc and always get comments from adopters on how amazed they are that their new kitty sleeps during the night.

This is because they are in large cages, and when I'm done for the day I shut the room down, only leaving a nightlight and calm music on, and it somehow trains them to sleep at night and in the morning I go in there and open it all up again, clean their cages and give toys and let them interact.

Yeah, no. I would not be okay with being woke up all night long by a spunky wide awake cat!

 

[DreamerRose]

You need to put him a separate room until he sleeps during the night. On the weekends when you are home, wake him up during the day and play with him to help him get his days and nights straightened out.

 

[awesomepawsome]

Mine have their own room.  But, I shut the door when I need sleep and don't want to be interrupted because of their "kitty crazies".  It doesn't happen often but when it does, it's best just to let them have at it.  I try to play with mine or stimulate them in some way while I am up and at home.  It doesn't always have to be play.  Just keeping them awake with grooming or talking to them, etc.  That way, and they usually do so anyway, they are more prone to sleeping when I want to do so. 

 

[catnissmamandod]

My cat was like this once too. What i did was i would play with her right before we would go to sleep like with a string or feather whatever interest her/him the most. I also would give her some milk and for some reason that really sets the sleepy mood. good luck and hope this helps!! xo.

 

[belochka]

Thank you all very much for sharing your experience.

Providing a separate space for him sounds like a good idea, but the problem is right now we live in an open space apartment, so that is not an option.

At night we do turn all the lights off, so it is as dark as can be - but that does not calm him down. Quite the opposite - he becomes very active.

And there aren't things for him to do or play with as we just got him, but he doesn't seem to need much - he seems to be enjoying to just sniffing everything and jumping on and off things, furniture and us, of course.

We've been trying to distract him when he is trying to nap during the day - we'd be petting, playing, talking to him to prevent him from dozing off, but so far - not much success. Besides, he becomes kind of discontent when we try to prevent him from falling asleep. We'll keep at it though, of course.

Milk? - that's an interesting idea. It is often recommended for people before bed, too - so def. worth a try.

Hopefully, we'll find a way to change this.

 

[DreamerRose]

Please don't give him any milk. Adult cats are lactose intolerant and it will make him sick. I mentioned it about Mingo to show he liked it as a kitten, but did not as an adult. It IS a good idea to play with him for a good while before you go to bed and then follow playtime with a meal. This sometimes makes cats sleepy.

 

[belochka]

Thank you all very  much for sharing your experiences.

Providing him with a separate space might be a good way to teach him, but the problem is right now we live in a studio which means no extra rooms

Please don't give him any milk. Adult cats are lactose intolerant and it will make him sick. I mentioned it about Mingo to show he liked it as a kitten, but did not as an adult. It IS a good idea to play with him for a good while before you go to bed and then follow playtime with a meal. This sometimes makes cats sleepy.

Thank you for your input, DreamerRose. Will keep trying to play with him. Need to find something that will engage him as right now he does not seem to be interested much in anything in particular.

 

[catwoman707]

Da Bird or a laser light, those are both excellent for wearing a cat out!

 

[margd]

Check out this article for some information on resetting your kitty's circadian rhythm.   http://www.thecatsite.com/a/cats-and-night-crazies   It refers to the stalk, run, pounce, catch, kill and eat method of getting cats to sleep at night.  

 

[belochka]

Thank you, catwoman and margd! Will check these out!