Hi guys,

About eighteen months ago we adopted a rescue cat from the local animal shelter in Jersey - he is FIV positive and therefore an indoor only cat.

For the past year or so he has had the full run of the house and took to sleeping on the end of my bed during the night

This was no problem until a few weeks ago when both myself and my partner have been (play) savaged several times (protruding feet and hands swiped at, that type of thing) during the night. While it does no serious harm, it is becoming an issue as being woken up several times a night makes us both extremely grumpy the next day.

The past few days we have taken to shutting the bedroom door with him outside but this has resulted in the secondary problem of our cat sitting outside the door and loudly "mewing" for hours straight during the night, presumably because he is lonely. I could shut him in the lounge although this would require relocating his litter tray which is not ideal.

I am thinking that we are simply going to have to grin and bear the "mewing" until he gets used to being on his own at night, but if anyone has any thoughts or advice it would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks
Simon

try putting the tv on or a radio...he will hear voices and feel a little more settled =]

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Our kittens have their own bedroom at night and they have great delight in waking us up ALL through the night, at first we went in, snuggled them down etc and they just kept on doing it because they got what they wanted!

We decided to stop going in to them and we just started saying 'night miley, night maisie', (it was a bit like an episode of the waltons!!) and eventually they stopped scratching and meowing!! it took a while (weeks!!!) but it worked eventually, i just think they need to know that we are still there?

(They still have great pleasure in waking us at 5.30 for breakfast though!!!)

Just keep persevering with it, your kitty will soon get used to its new routine.

Do you lock them out of the bedroom Maisie?

My cat has suddenly started waking us up at 5am/6am to let him out of the cat flap. He's been doing it for several weeks now. This morning Michelle was up at 05:30 to let him out. I think he just needs the loo because he's only out for 5 minutes and back on his Ikea mouse bed...

Do you think this is just a habit that could be broken? Or just his toilet time (which I don't want to mess with)...

He runs around the house doing a very odd meow as he runs... And then if he gets no reaction, he jumps on the bed, and onto our chests (and he weighs quite a lot, even with the missing leg!)

Little bugger...

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Archie Cat - Please read the story of my amputation...
http://www.archiecat.co.uk

Yes we do shut the door, our situation is a little bit different to yours though as they are indoor cats and have a litter tray in their room

We shut the door on their room every night now as they used to keep us up all night bouncing up and down the stairs and generally tearing around the house no sleep = me very mardy!! ha ha ha

I really dont know if his habit could be broken, im sorry, but its worth a try, what about putting a litter tray beside the cat flap at night so he doesnt have to go out??

HTH x

Cor, I can't imagine what he'd be like if I locked him in a room overnight. Perhaps I should try it!

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Archie Cat - Please read the story of my amputation...
http://www.archiecat.co.uk