Active cat in the middle of the night

[Anonymous]

How to handle a cat who gets active in the middle of the night? My cat first starts by asking for food, then comes scratches my arms, (lovingly) bites me. If I don't entertain, he starts knocking things down the night lamp table, scratching on the side of the bed, meowing which is more like yowling. If I feed him, he sits quiet for half hour. The process of trying to wake me up again starts. I have tried tiring him out with toys before going to bed and also giving him his full meal before I go to bed. With that he stays quiet for a few hours and becomes extremely active by 2 am. I can keep him in another room through the night but his meow will still wake me up. Keeping him in the basement at night is another option but I want to avoid that. What have you done with your cats so they sleep through the night? I need at least 5 hours of unbroken sleep to function well during day time.

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing your cat is younger than 2?

Cats are like toddlers. They need a completely dark, completely quiet room for the best sleep. Even a loud snorer will alert them (especially if the snorer jolts or gets loud).

Once my husband started wearing his sleep apnea mask, the cats started sleeping better. They generally sleep soundly from midnight to 6 am. Sometimes they may wake up and come cuddle if they are cold, but they settle back down pretty quickly. That's only if I have the shades closed, and no birds are singing in pre-dawn hours (worse in the spring).

My sister had to crate her cat at night because he was so naughty. He has settled into that routine, but it took persistence of being in there only while she was asleep, and only for 5-6 hours.

[Anonymous]

We followed this advice with ours and it worked: https://www.jacksongalaxy.com/blogs/news/train-your-cat-to-let-you-sleep

Play ~2 hours before bed, feed 3 meals/day with dinner as late as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing your cat is younger than 2?

Cats are like toddlers. They need a completely dark, completely quiet room for the best sleep. Even a loud snorer will alert them (especially if the snorer jolts or gets loud).

Once my husband started wearing his sleep apnea mask, the cats started sleeping better. They generally sleep soundly from midnight to 6 am. Sometimes they may wake up and come cuddle if they are cold, but they settle back down pretty quickly. That's only if I have the shades closed, and no birds are singing in pre-dawn hours (worse in the spring).

My sister had to crate her cat at night because he was so naughty. He has settled into that routine, but it took persistence of being in there only while she was asleep, and only for 5-6 hours.

No, he is an 11 year old who thinks he is a toddler. Plays with toys like he is 6 months old.
He was really good the first 6 years to sleep between 11 pm to 4 am, although he has always been a mischievous cat. I have been waking up multiple times through the night to have him let me sleep. He is an active boy all day through. So he has definitely been getting enough exercise. He has been overly mischievous at nights last 5 years. He was neutered when he was 5 months old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We followed this advice with ours and it worked: https://www.jacksongalaxy.com/blogs/news/train-your-cat-to-let-you-sleep

Play ~2 hours before bed, feed 3 meals/day with dinner as late as possible.

thankyou

[Anonymous]

I never did figure this one out. My 17-year-old cat was a night owl till the very end. His worst was scratching on the wall of my bedroom.

[Anonymous]

Have you gotten his blood levels (particularly thyroid) checked recently? Especially since you said he is 11 and this seems to be a new behavior? Our cat with overactive thyroid became like this at night because his metabolism, energy, etc was in overdrive. I would set up a vet visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How to handle a cat who gets active in the middle of the night? My cat first starts by asking for food, then comes scratches my arms, (lovingly) bites me. If I don't entertain, he starts knocking things down the night lamp table, scratching on the side of the bed, meowing which is more like yowling. If I feed him, he sits quiet for half hour. The process of trying to wake me up again starts. I have tried tiring him out with toys before going to bed and also giving him his full meal before I go to bed. With that he stays quiet for a few hours and becomes extremely active by 2 am. I can keep him in another room through the night but his meow will still wake me up. Keeping him in the basement at night is another option but I want to avoid that. What have you done with your cats so they sleep through the night? I need at least 5 hours of unbroken sleep to function well during day time.

This too shall pass but, you have to be consistent. I would keep him out of your bedroom and wear ear plugs. I had a cat who would throw their body on the door to get me to let her in. You can't do that you they will keep it up. Cats are nocturnal but, eventually they will calm down once you stop rewarding him/her. I have five cats and they do not sleep in our room and they do not bother us ( except in an emergency0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you gotten his blood levels (particularly thyroid) checked recently? Especially since you said he is 11 and this seems to be a new behavior? Our cat with overactive thyroid became like this at night because his metabolism, energy, etc was in overdrive. I would set up a vet visit.

This has been the case since last 5-6 years. So not really new. This is the first time I decided to get an opinion here. His most recent vet visit was 5 months ago and we got his detailed blood work and urine work done (since he is in double digit age) and all was normal.

[Anonymous]

You have to completely ignore the cat, as hard as it is, as destructive as they may be. By Day 10, they will stop, and learn that they're not getting what they want by being active.

Trust me, I thought that this was impossible with my cat/kitten. Those 7-10 days were rough, but the "sleep training" by COMPLETELY ignoring them, really did work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to completely ignore the cat, as hard as it is, as destructive as they may be. By Day 10, they will stop, and learn that they're not getting what they want by being active.

Trust me, I thought that this was impossible with my cat/kitten. Those 7-10 days were rough, but the "sleep training" by COMPLETELY ignoring them, really did work.

Thank you. I will try this too. My guess is my husband will drive both the cat and I outside the room ha ha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you gotten his blood levels (particularly thyroid) checked recently? Especially since you said he is 11 and this seems to be a new behavior? Our cat with overactive thyroid became like this at night because his metabolism, energy, etc was in overdrive. I would set up a vet visit.

Wad just going to say this.

[Anonymous]

thought all cats where like this? Mine sleeps all day and up most of the night

[Anonymous]

Our cats aren't allowed in our bedroom at night. Period. We pay plenty of attention to them during the day, especially now that we work at home most of the time. Cats are by nature crepuscular to nocturnal. It's got nothing to do with age, health issues, etc.

[Anonymous]

My 9 yr old cat jumped on my bed at 1.45am last night. I showed her the door and I closed it. End of story.