Need advice: Cat thinks she is an alarm clock...

[d00df00d]

In the past few months, our cat has taken to sitting outside our bedroom door and mewing nonstop until we wake up, usually way too early in the morning. Things are getting very busy for me and my wife this time of year, and we cannot afford to miss out on sleep.


Here are some details:


- For months, we have been trying to ignore her until she stops. It hasn't worked; she always tries again the next morning.

- Keeping her away from the door at night is not an option; the way our apartment is, there is no way to do it without also preventing her from getting to the litter box.

- In the past, we have had success with a spray bottle or loud noises as a last-ditch way to control problem behavior. We can't do that in this case because she hears us as soon as we stir from the bed.

- Yes, I have read the articles that come up with a Google search. Those all refer to training methods that take a while. We certainly will keep trying them, but we need something that will work over the next few nights.


Any advice to get her to stop? I have a plan involving strategically placed speakers and a recording of an extremely irritating sound, but I figured I'd fish for something a little more civil...

 

[brianl703]

Place your vacuum cleaner right next to the door. When she meows, plug it in.

 

[speedkills]

you can always get another cat to keep the current one occupied.

 

[mahansm]

You need to figure out what benefit the cat is receiving from you when you get up (food, attention, etc...) and make it in her best interest to *not* wake you up.

I had a similar problem once because my wife would feed the cat as soon as she got up. From the cat's perspective, as soon as she woke us up she got fed, and she'd persist in obnoxious behavior until she got fed.

I replaced this with collecting the cat right after her first (successful) attempt at wakening us, placing her in the bathroom, and closing the door. I then went back to sleep until I decided I wanted to get up and then let the cat out and fed her. It only took a couple days for the cat to figure it out.

Cat's perspective: I wake them up and get removed from warm bed/litterbox access/soft sleeping place and shut in a small room with no soft spots. If I let them sleep I get to sleep in a warm place. Nothing I do has any effect on feeding time.

The early awakenings rapidly ceased.

 

[IndyIan]

Do you feed her in the mornings? In the long term, don't, once a day is fine for a cat.
Short term... Cat carrier in the trunk of your car? Or somewhere you can't hear it?

Or come out with a broom and chase it around for a few minutes. Go back to bed and repeat until you get mad enough to really whack it and the cat realized its days are numbered if it keeps waking you up.

Or maybe just get another cat now, we had only one for a while and it started to go nuts, meowing all the time, etc... Once we got the second cat it all stopped.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: brianl703
Place your vacuum cleaner right next to the door. When she meows, plug it in.


Utter brilliance.

My current vacuum cleaner has a push-button start, so it won't work for that. A hair dryer might work, though. She does seem categorically to hate the sound of anything with a noisy fan in it...

 

[eljefino]

Another thing cats hate are kids radio control cars. Park that by your door and keep the remote by your bed.

We cured a cat from sitting on our new recliner with that technique.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: mahansm
I had a similar problem once because my wife would feed the cat as soon as she got up. From the cat's perspective, as soon as she woke us up she got fed, and she'd persist in obnoxious behavior until she got fed.

I replaced this with collecting the cat right after her first (successful) attempt at wakening us, placing her in the bathroom, and closing the door. I then went back to sleep until I decided I wanted to get up and then let the cat out and fed her. It only took a couple days for the cat to figure it out.

Cat's perspective: I wake them up and get removed from warm bed/litterbox access/soft sleeping place and shut in a small room with no soft spots. If I let them sleep I get to sleep in a warm place. Nothing I do has any effect on feeding time.

The early awakenings rapidly ceased.

Originally Posted By: IndyIan

Or come out with a broom and chase it around for a few minutes. Go back to bed and repeat until you get mad enough to really whack it and the cat realized its days are numbered if it keeps waking you up.

Good ideas for the long term.

About the feeding schedule: We give her wet food at night around 10pm, and she gets dry food from an automatic feeder around 10 am, which usually is long after we wake up. One thing we might try is to feed her really late at night so hopefully she's still in a bit of a food coma in the morning.

 

[John_K]

We have this problem with one of our cats. Solution? Ear plugs!

John

 

[odie]

. People don't give cats enough credit for their intelligence and actually being social .

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: odie
People don't give cats enough credit for their intelligence and actually being social .

Social, yes. Intelligent, no; at least not in this case. This is instinctive behavior.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d
she gets dry food from an automatic feeder around 10 am


Having had cats all my life, I'd say that's your problem right there! My current 2 cats will basically conduct warfare against me in the morning if I don't feed them. As long as your cat is healthy and active, just keep a dry food bowel filled all the time and let the cat come and eat when it wants to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q

The other thing it might be, depending on the cats age and personality is, it simply wants attention and wants to play. Cats basically do 4 things: eat, play, poop, and sleep. Get some cat toys. Actually, my cats prefer rolled up pieces of paper and the almighty laser light. Run the cat out in the evening with the laser light and make sure the food bowel is full and I bet that will solve the problem.

Trying to change the cats behavior with a vacuum cleaner or speakers is only masking the problem of why the cat needs attention in the morning.

 

[odie]

We have a cat that knows what hungry means . We'll say " Are you hungry ? " and he'll jump out his chair and run to the frig and sit next to it . He also knows what get up in the chair and lay down is when he's being bad . We'll say ow , ow , ow as if in destress and he'll come running . Then there's goodbye when leaving the house and he'll come running to you . Last , when I'm in the kitchen he'll come over wanting to be fed and I'll say " No. Not yet " and he'll go running off . They never cease to amaze us . As for vacuum cleaning he'll stay put and we have to go around him or make him move .

 

[Papa Bear]

I suggest posting your query in the "firearms" forum (probably under the rimfire section).....

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: odie
As for vacuum cleaning he'll stay put and we have to go around him or make him move .


Ha ha! My Siamese cat fights the vacuum cleaner!

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d
In the past, we have had success with a spray bottle or loud noises as a last-ditch way to control problem behavior. We can't do that in this case because she hears us as soon as we stir from the bed.

That will simply make things WAY worse and make the cat become a sociopath. You're disciplining the cat when it simply NEEDS something - food, water, playtime etc. Cat's are very hard to discipline. They're very independent, yet they need lots and lots of attention, especially when they're young.

This would be akin to going into a restaurant when your very hungry or going to the gym when you want to exercise and having the staff yell at you and spray you with a fire hose. Kind of sends the wrong message!

 

[odie]

. A relative had a small female siamese that would chase me .

 

[Warlord]

Is she spayed?

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Originally Posted By: d00df00d
In the past, we have had success with a spray bottle or loud noises as a last-ditch way to control problem behavior. We can't do that in this case because she hears us as soon as we stir from the bed.

That will simply make things WAY worse and make the cat become a sociopath. You're disciplining the cat when it simply NEEDS something - food, water, playtime etc. Cat's are very hard to discipline. They're very independent, yet they need lots and lots of attention, especially when they're young.

This would be akin to going into a restaurant when your very hungry or going to the gym when you want to exercise and having the staff yell at you and spray you with a fire hose. Kind of sends the wrong message!

Like I said, it's only a LAST resort.

She doesn't seem to be cold (room temp is fine overnight) or hungry (she rarely finishes her food by the time she comes to wake us up). I sincerely doubt she's starved for attention, either, as she gets all she can handle when we're awake and around every day. My understanding of what she's doing is that it's just a social instinct. If I'm wrong, I'll change my tack.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: Warlord
Is she spayed?

Yes.