Keep a Cat from Waking You Up

Has your kitty brought in mice through the cat flap at 3 in the morning? Has she taken a flying leap onto your softest and tenderest parts? Or is she just meowing at you enough to get you out of bed? Cats are masters of doing things in a calculated way. This can often ruin a good night's sleep. If you find yourself having these issues, there are some steps you can take to help you get them under control.

Steps

Changing Your Circumstances

1. Understand why your cat disturbs you at night. Most cats have basic, obvious reasons for being up at night. Your cat is most likely bored or hungry, or she may need you to clean the litter box.
   • Your cat is quite often left inside the house all day while you are at work or school with little interaction. She sleeps all day and may be bored at night with no one to play with.
2. Do not feed her. One of the worst things you can do is jump up as soon as she meows or pounces on you and feed her. She will think that is the best way to get more food and will continue the behavior. Holding out for a long time before giving in is also a bad choice. This may even encourage her more than giving in right away. She will think it is a game to see how long it will take you to finally wake up and give her food. The delayed gratification is more like a chase, which speaks to her instincts. It's better not to give in at all.
3. Remove temptation. Cats like to jump from high places and pounce on things. When you are sleeping, you are the perfect target. Look around your room to see if there are common places that your cat pounces from. Look for high shelves, headboards, or dressers that she might climb on to get to you at night. If possible, you can remove them from your room or re-position them so she can't jump on you. If that isn't possible, put slippery cloth on them or cover them with items that she can't knock off. This will deter her from jumping up to those areas and pouncing on you.
4. Minimize your cat's access to vermin. If your cat wakes you up by bringing you vermin, you need to stop the behavior. Keep the cat indoors at night if she's an indoor/outdoor feline. This will remove her ability to bring you kills in the middle of the night. If your cat uses a cat flap to have outside access instead of a litter box, this may not be an option. If this is the case, keep the cat in the room that has the cat flap. This will allow her to get out but keep her away from your bedroom so she can't bring you mice in the middle of the night.
5. Keep your cat out of your bedroom if possible. You can try to give her access to a secure room at night. Leave her in a nice, warm place with some food, water, and comfortable places to sleep. This will keep her out of your room at night and let you get a good night's sleep.
   • If you want to reward your cat for good behavior, you can reach a compromise. Keep your cat out of your sleeping space on weeknights, but allow her in on weekends when you can at least sleep in if you are woken up during the night.

Training Your Cat

1. Ignore her meowing. When your cat first starts meowing at night, you want to make sure she is okay. If you decide that she is not sick and has enough water and food, she may just want your attention. If the behavior keeps up every night, you have to ignore her. This may be difficult at first, but it will pay off in the end. If you come to her every time she meows, you will be reinforcing the negative behavior.
   • Don't punish her or give her any attention at all. She is looking for any acknowledgement from you, even it you are disciplining her.
   • If she won't stop, leave a toy hanging off a scratch post at the end of your bed for her to play with instead of bothering you.
   • If your cat doesn't stop, you can buy earplugs or headphones so you cannot hear her until she gets the hint.
2. Feed them before bed. You can feed your cat right before bed if she wakes you up to get fed in the middle of the night. Don't worry about giving her a full meal, but make it large enough that it feels like more than a treat. This mirrors a cat's natural rhythm. They hunt, eat, groom, and then sleep to get more energy for the next hunt. If you feed your cat before bed, she will be full and want to sleep to regain her energy for her next hunt. It will also train your cat to know that late evening food means bedtime.
   • You can also buy a timed feeder that will release food for them in the middle of the night. Instead of waking you up, your cat will learn to go to her bowl on her own instead.
3. Play with them. One of the main reasons your cat may be awake at night is because she is bored. If your cat is alone all day, she will want to play and expend some energy when you are home. Try to make time to play with your cat every day. Drag a toy across the floor and let them chase it. You can even give them something distracting to play with alone. As long as she uses some of her built up energy, she will be more likely to sleep better at night.
   • Get toys that mimic the movement of animals such as birds or mice. Play fetch with ping pong balls or furry mice toys. You can even leave toys out with catnip in them during the day so she can play by herself when you aren't around.
   • Play with your cat until she seems to tire out. This will ensure that she will sleep better every night.
   • If your cat is social, try incorporating playtime with other cats. You can also get another cat to help her be more active during the day.
4. Stop them from biting. If your cat likes to bite your fingers or toes, try to deter it from happening at night. Before you go to sleep, cover yourself completely with the sheet or blanket. You can also wear socks on your feet to keep your cat from seeing your toes move and thinking they are prey. Give her something else to nibble on.
   • Give her access to catnip toys, sisal balls, scratching posts, or anything she likes to chew on.
5. Be firm. Don't waver on your decision for your cat. If you do decide to shut her out, whether it's from the bedroom or from a whole range of rooms in the house, stick to your plan. Once the cat realizes you mean business, she will put up with the new arrangement. If you cave in, the cat knows things are back right to the way it wanted them to be all along.

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Sources and Citations

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