We Can No Longer Sleep Past 4:30am...

[earthwormgym]

Hey,

Hoping someone may have a solution we've yet thought of:

We have two cats - Arlo (1 year old) and Graham (8 months). Since we adopted Graham, we've kept him in a spare room at night just so his playful antics don't continue overnight. Arlo has been lucky enough to free roam, mainly because he keeps quiet.

Well, somewhat recently, Arlo has been meowing around 4:30am each morning wanting attention. This most likely stems from the fact that I occasionally have to get up that early for work. On weekends of course when we want to sleep in...well, his meowing is constant!

Here's what we've tried and why it didn't work:

1) Kicking Arlo out of the bedroom at night. He ends up meowing even louder (more constant) and tugging under the door with his paws. He then proceeds to tug at Graham's spare room door, thus making noise that way.

2) Letting Graham and Arlo roam free together in the living room and keeping them out of bedroom. Graham then starts meowing, tugging under door and wanting in bedroom. (SIDE NOTE: Surprising that Graham doesn't do that when locked in spare room...)

3) Allowing cats to free roam entire apartment. They end up jumping and running over bed and no sleep is allowed!

I think Arlo does it now because of his habits and routine, as when someone gets up to entertain him, he is quiet again. We just can't keep making it a habit, for our own sanity!

 

[rubysmama]

I feel for you, as I dealt with sleep deprivation when I first adopted my Ruby and she would wake me every morning around 5 o'clock. I finally started putting her out of the room and closing the door when she woke me, and she eventually learned waking me early wasn't worth it. Luckily for me, she didn't meow when I put her out of the room, so I was able to get back to sleep.

Both your cats are still young, and full of energy, so hopefully once they get a bit older, they'll be better night-time sleepers.

Here's a couple TCS articles that might have some tips for you. Good luck.

How To Stop My Cat From Waking Me Up At Night?
Cats And Night Crazies!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Can't add much to rubysmama 's advice here, and those articles are very good. I will add that when you read the first one, and you get to the paragraph about ending the boring routine, pay very close attention. Think about wild cats. Their entire lives revolve around a cycle, "hunt, catch, kill, eat, groom, sleep." Allowing your cats to "hunt, catch, kill (the playing) and eat" plays into their natural rhythm, which always gives us a leg up on problem-solving our cats!

 

[ailish]

I found two solutions to the harassing for attention and the flexible schedule issue. I get up for work at 6:00a and feed Ailish then. Of course, on weekends I don't get up near that early. I figured that asking the cat to change schedules two days week was a bit much, so I use single serving food and get up briefly at 6 on weekends to feed her. It takes a minute and makes everybody happy.

The one rule is that I don't, absolutely never, respond to wake up calls. Even if it's time to get up. She learned pretty quickly that harassing will get her no where. If it's time to get up and she starts her routine I wait until it stops for at least a brief period of time before getting up. At this point she harasses only rarely because it just doesn't work. As much trouble as people have with cats on the subject, I found she learned this lesson pretty quickly. You just have to stick to it 100%.

I even found that I can respond to her infrequent 4am bids for attention. I figured she was just needing reassurance, so the rule is, a few pets and then that's it. No ongoing interaction. Just, pet, pet, pet, I'm still here, back to sleep and prowling the house. I found that again, once she got that a couple of pets was all that was coming, I didn't get constant bids for a play session at all hours.

 

[Timmer]

I don't know what it is about the 4:30 a.m. time slot but when I got Timmer that was his time too. It took me years to figure that is about the time the birds start chirping outside. He thinks when the birds are up, so should the entire world be up. I just learned to live with it and walked around sleepy for years. Seriously. I'm not kidding.

 

[RufusGizmo]

yes, I try not to respond, even if I am awake. my two older cats have been doing it for years, as I used to get up very early about three a.m. but no longer have to. I used to put them in basement, but recently found two kittens that i put in basement at night, as they are not all fully integrated. (taking forever). plus I don't want the kittens to get in the action at two or three in the morning when the big guys start bothering me. (the kittens sleep through the night thank goodness). i just basically try to ignore them, and not give in no matter how hard they try. i cannot shut the door either as they will throw themselves against the bedroom door. I think it can be done though, when a friend stayed there for four nights while i was away, they totally did not bother her until about 6, and did that for two nights when I got back before they got back into their routine. good luck!

 

[Momto3newkittens]

yes, I try not to respond, even if I am awake. my two older cats have been doing it for years, as I used to get up very early about three a.m. but no longer have to. I used to put them in basement, but recently found two kittens that i put in basement at night, as they are not all fully integrated. (taking forever). plus I don't want the kittens to get in the action at two or three in the morning when the big guys start bothering me. (the kittens sleep through the night thank goodness). i just basically try to ignore them, and not give in no matter how hard they try. i cannot shut the door either as they will throw themselves against the bedroom door. I think it can be done though, when a friend stayed there for four nights while i was away, they totally did not bother her until about 6, and did that for two nights when I got back before they got back into their routine. good luck!

If I am not home my girl doesn't meow for my boyfriend to feed them. It's just when I am home too and it is so annoying haha I don't know what the difference is. They get fed at the same time with either of us. If you find a solution let me know lol