Overnight Adventures

[HelenRB]

I posted a few weeks ago about Lincoln, the senior (12-15?) cat I adopted from my aunt who has dementia. Overall, the two of us are doing really well. He loves to play, his few little digestive issues seem to have cleared up, and he seems pretty used to my routine during the day. He's very affectionate and I love having him here.

Our big remaining challenge is night-time. I feed him his wet food three times a day, so he gets a meal right before bed. I usually read for a while before turning out my light, and he'll often sleep quietly at the foot of the bed while I do. When the light goes out, though, it's another story. He walks all over me meowing, paws at my face, plays with my hair, and tries to walk on my bedside table which has a glass of water and a lamp on it. If I shut him out of the bedroom, he'll be okay for a while, but wake me up meowing at the door at around 2 and again between 4:30-5. He does have some dry food out that he could eat if he wanted.

Everything I've read says to ignore him. But I can't totally ignore claws digging into my eyelid, and I can't ignore him walking around on the bedside table. It doesn't help that I'm a light sleeper, and once something wakes me up, I'm up for an hour or two, and grumpy.

I'm sure I'm doing something wrong here. Please help me figure out what it is and fix it!

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Hi, H HelenRB - does he have a cat tree or perch in your bedroom that he can climb up and chill out on? Even a dedicated "cat shelf" or two can be fun and distracting for cats. We have a big cat tree, but also a lot of little beds and/or shelves right by our windows, and our cat likes to hang out by the windows and do what I call, "window hunting" (watching the view and critters outside). We pull up the shades on a few of these windows at night once the lights are out, so that she can see outside. It helps to distract her when she becomes alert at night.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. In addition to the good ideas from PushPurrCatPaws , is it possible to squeeze in a play session with him right before lights out? What would happen if you had a dimmer light that you could turn down but leave on when you sleep? And, does he have water available in your room for him - is he trying to drink your glass?

 

[rubysmama]

How long has he been living with you? It may be that he just needs to learn your night-time routine.

Here's a TCS article that might be helpful. Though it does say to ignore the cat when it tries to wake you, and I totally get how it's impossible to ignore cat claws in your eyelid.

How To Stop My Cat From Waking Me Up At Night (step-by-step Plan)

 

[HelenRB]

Thanks everyone

He has only been here about a month, so I know it's still new.

I will try and really have a good play session with him in the evenings before bed, to tire him out.

He does have a cat tree, but it's out in the main area of the apartment (which he has full access to). I only just bought it, so he's still getting used to it. At the moment he seems to prefer a carboard box from Amazon that I got the other day.

Hopefully as time goes by he gets used to the routine. I do ignore the meowing and pawing at much as possible, unless it's painful or he's about to knock something over!

 

[rubysmama]

Fingers crossed he starts having calm nights soon.

 

[HelenRB]

The past three nights have been pretty good!

I play with him hard at around 9:30, then feed him, and then he's been playing by himself for another half hour or so while I get ready for bed. He likes to put his toys in my shoes. Then he's tired enough that he falls asleep at the foot of my bed.

He wakes up and is active again around 3:30, but is happy enough at that time for me to shut him out of the bedroom.

I can definitely deal with that - one brief wake-up is much better than being walked on and squawked at all night long!

I'm also really glad to see him playing by himself. I worry about him having gone from such a full house to living with just me, so I hope his playfulness is an indication that he's reasonably happy.