Conference misery::feline_v1

Do you have a litter box in the apt. or does he HAVE to go out to "go"?
He may be trying to tell you that he can't hold it anymore.
(If you have a litter box in the apt. nevermind)
Becky (and Tsunami)

    
    Best of luck to you!!!!  For the past year Bailey has woken me up
    between 5:00 a.m. & 5:30 a.m.  Every once and a while he throws
    in a 4:45, but thank goodness those are few and far between.  It's not
    that bad on a week day, but I'm less than pleased on a weekend or
    holiday!  I gave up trying to change him, so I just lumber out of
    bed to feed him and then try to catch some more zzzzzzzz's!  The
    kicker is that he is so damn cute about waking me up.  He'll butt his
    forehead against mine and purr away.  I melt, he gets fed. O.K., so
    now you know who runs my household.... ;')
    
    
     

    Never had any doubt, Marlene!
    
    cin
    

    verne is in school for his pilot's liscense thanks to alan.  he does
    the same thing to us every morning.  during the weekends its between
    3-4 a.m. and during the weekends .. thank god its around 6-8 a.m.
    so alan throws him literally off the bed.  i don't like this, mainly
    because i love him to snuggle up to me at night but his purring drives
    my SO crazy and he claims that he has imsomnia and can't get back to
    sleep once awakened.  we have tried to leave him outside the room but
    he meows like bailey.  if we don't pay attention to him he startes
    throwing the things off the shelfs and tables in the room.  
    
    maybe he just wants some attention.  have you tried playing with him
    before you go to sleep?  wear him out!  who knows, it might work.
    
    cj, verne and shirl(who is still changin' the channels on my vcr!)
    
                                             

    
    Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
    
    re: .1
    	Yes, I have a litterbox in the bathroom which Rascal uses when he's
    	inside.
    
    re: .2 
    	I can deal with being woken up as long as there is something I can
    	do quickly (such as letting him out in the summer) and then go back
    	to sleep.  I wish I could just feed him and he'd shut up :^).
    
    re: .4 giving him attention
    	I have sometimes played with him during the evenings, mostly when
    	he was younger (e.g. last winter).  He wakes me up every night,
    	regardless of the amount of his activity the day/evening before
    	(e.g. even if he was outside all day).  Maybe I'll try playing with
    	him some more, right before bedtime.
    
    
    From your replies, it looks like there isn't much hope of getting him
    to stop waking me up.  Does anyone have any suggestions on other things
    I can try doing once he starts meowing to get him to quiet down or put
    him somewhere that I can't hear him?  Or to get him to stop trashing
    the bathroom?
    
    Thanks again,
    
    Valerie

    
    Also, I forgot to add in my previous reply --
    
    Is there any possibility that he'll stop when he gets older and
    (hopefully) gets less rambunctious?
    

    I think all Rascal wants Valerie is your attention in the mornings. 
    Kelsey wakes me up too, and when I go downstairs to feed him he usually
    isn't hungry.  All he really wants is for me to wake up because HE is
    ready to begin the day.
    
    We don't lock the cats out of the bedroom so are able to keep a spray
    bottle of water handy when he starts his meowing antics.  I do get up
    and put food out, change water and scoop litter and if he starts
    meowing again we let him have it with the spray bottle.  That usually
    is enough to quiet him down.
    
    
    --Roberta
    

    
    Hi Valerie,
    
    I have my cat on a schedule.  During the warmer days, I keep him out
    during the day and in for the evenings.  He always comes when he hears
    the garage door opening.  He gets fed and then he beds down for the
    evening.  He pretty much sleeps until 6 a.m. during the weekdays and
    during the weekend I lock him in the basement so I can sleep in.  Now
    that is getting cooler, I let him out for a few hours a night and keep
    him in during the day.
    
    Being in an apartment might be a little harder because there isn't many
    places you can put Rascal without listening to him cry.  An alternative
    is getting another kitten so Rascal has a playmate.  They can amuse
    each other or drive you nuts. 
    
    Good Luck,
    
    Val 

    Something that I noticed that made THE FIRM sleep a bit later was to
    close all of the shades and the curtains as well, and I mean ALL OVER
    THE HOUSE! I came upon this idea when I noticed that the little
    darlings were getting me up a dawn! Believe it or not, I can now sleep
    without interuption on the  weekend until 10:00 .
    
    Deb

    I second the idea of a playmate.  For a couple of reasons.
    1. I have 12 cats, 11 of whom have run of the house and they don't
    really bother me at all, even on weekends.
    
    2. Flyer McDougall's mom was complaining of the same thing - Flyer
    would get her up at 5 am, which happens to be when I usually get up,
    but when McKensie (his brother) comes to visit they spend so much
    time playing that they don't bother Ava at all.  Seems not only do
    they wear each other out, but if they do want to get up in the middle
    of the night, they have each other for company.
     Good luck
      Nancy

	One of my cats was doing this, wherever I'd shut him out, he'd meeow and
	claw. The cats claws are stronger than carpets and doors!!!!

	I'd let him in, and he'd jump on the alarm clock (re-setting it, so I'd
	be up late), or play with my jewelry and hide it in rhe corner, or
	walk across my pillow and my head. He didn't want to rest!

	I tried water spraying, but that only worked for a few months.

	We now have a compromise, I moved his scratching post into the bedroom,
	he plays with that for about half an hour, and then falls asleep at the 
	base.

	Because I know that he's not going to be distructive with anything
	else, I actually fall back to sleep when he's still scratching the post.

	Good luck,
	Heather
	

    Excuse me while I indulge in a bit of smugness:  I can't believe this, have
    you all forgotten what your cats are?  They are hunters--cats in the
    wild start hunting about an hour or so before dawn.  Your cat is
    following its instinct to be up and out at that time of the morning.
    Being "domestic" cats, some of them have forgotten why they feel this
    way, or wouldn't admit remembering even under pain of death.
    
    A cat's instinct is very hard to change: fighting for the warmest part 
    of the bed, hunting down wild crab meat, conquering the on/off switch of 
    the TV (that's another story).  I strongly suggest a Nobel prize for 
    anyone who can.
    
    Three and a very sleepy Me
    
    
      
    
    
    

    
    Well, it looks like my best bet would be to get Rascal a playmate.  In
    the meantime, I'll see if sqirting him with water does any good.
    
    Thanks, everyone, for the ideas.
    
    Valerie

    I know it sounds mean, but if spraying doesn't work, do you have room
    for a cage in the bathroom? That would prevent trashing the place, and
    if you gave him his favorite treat every time you put him to "bed" he
    would adjust.
    Sandy
    

    Funny how these little furry things that can't talk - can get more
    attention by NOT saying a word!  I had to laugh reading the base
    note (no harm intended) because of my Otis.
    
    He is 1 1/2 now and has mellowed out 'some'....but when he wants
    something - he wants it right then and there!  
    
    He first walks all over me - when that doesn't work he starts
    eating (yes eating) my hair...which hurts like hell I might add!
    Then he walks over to the nightstand and stands on the clock radio
    and somehow manages to turn it on.  The push buttons are on the top and
    the fact that he weighs 22 lbs and is HUGE works for him - cause
    the radio is only 6" x 9" - so some part of him always manages to
    put enough pressure on the radio.  I learned long ago to turn the
    volume down before I went to sleep as it used to scare the bejeezus 
    out of me at 4:30 in the a.m..  When that doesn't work - he goes to 
    the dresser and starts knocking things off - one by one.  Sometimes
    I'll lay there with my eyes barely open and he stares at me the entire
    time he knocks things to the floor.  Ha!  
    
    I figured I'd outsmart him and bring a package of tender vittles and a
    clean bowl with me before I went to bed at night - then when he woke me
    up all I had to do was lean over - tear it open - put in bowl - he'd
    eat and I could go back to sleep.  Wrong!  He wanted me to GET up -
    and I swear he wanted to hear the can opener work.  Then I figured out
    he wanted 'wet' food so - I would bring a small (pull-top only) can
    upstairs - clean bowl - same ritual and see if that worked.  It did,
    once I think.
    
    He has his own blanket (God, I almost hate to admit that...) and he
    does sleep soundly during the night but we found a solution without
    even realizing it.  My daughter and I started feeding the birds (on our
    deck right outside the living room and below the bedroom window) about 
    6 months ago and Otis and Tiffany sit and watch them ALL DAY LONG.
    The birds - we noticed - are awake and looking for food just before
    dawn...around 5 - 5:30!  So, before we went to bed we put out the bird
    food - the birds come early - and instead of Otis waking me up
    (MOST times) he is at the bedroom window watching them fly in for food.
    Law of nature?
    
    Anyway - he does wake me if he didn't eat before bedtime - but if his
    stomach was full before he settles in for the night (I sound pathetic
    here don't I   ;*)   it's the birds he likes watching first thing in 
    the morning.
    
    As for Tiffany - she doesn't MOVE til Tracey does...not even to use the
    litter box.  
    
    Marilyn
    

    .....and Otis attempted to eat plants in the bathroom - toilet paper -
    play in the toilet bowl - pull at the mini blinds - scratch the liner
    on the shower curtain - and knock things off the bathroom counter.
    That didn't last long - just part of being a kitten!
    
    M
    

    Re: .9
    
    Never made that connection,(between darkness and lounging longer)
    however it makes sense.
    
    Nippa in her kitten days would wake me at dawn's first light, when the 
    birds started singing....time to hunt mum!
    
    however as she mellowed (and going thru yet another purrsonality
    change) with age, she prefers to lounge around on my down comforter,
    untill I get up and even then she waits till I've showered and dressed
    before moving (maybe this is why the vet wants her on a diet).
    
    I think I'll experiment with the shades.....it may have something to 
    do with her activity level.
    
    
    On the other hand, she has her own room and will retire to it - not to 
    be disturbed for any reason - many nights on her own (God forbid anyone
    who moves, touches, or disturbs her).  so if I need to sleep in for any
    reason, I just put her in her room ......and she doesnt' seem to mind.
    (my aunt who's retired, took this advice after years of getting up 
    early with her maniac cats......it took awhile to get used to it, but
    now they retire every evening to thier room w/ out fussing).

    I havn't had time to read all the replies to this note but here is what
    I did in a similar situation with my 2 cats, knowing the noters in this
    conference I would think this has already been suggested and it worked
    for me.
    
    Our 2 cats sleep in a basket outside the bedroom door, a few months ago
    Calvin started scratching at the door when he heard we were awake so we
    would let him in, this was O.K. for us. Then he started scratching
    earlier and earlier, untill it was about 04:00 am some days so I got a
    water pistol and kept it by the bed, each time I heard him scratching I
    would open the door and squirt him, chasing him down the stairs so he
    got a good soaking, within 3 days he stopped. A couple of weeks later I
    was woken by scratching in the morning and thought he had started again
    so I got the water pistol and opened the door but Calvin was sitting
    quietly in the basket and it was Hobbes who was doing the scratching,
    he got the same treatment and stopped within a couple of days. We have
    had no trouble with them since and they are both sitting quietly in
    their basket when I open the door in the morning.
    
    I have used the water pistol idea to stop them doing lots of things and
    it really does work well, try it and see.
    
    M:

    
      I use a pillow.  The small ones like you have for a decoration on
    your bed.  When my little darling wakes we up at anytime from 3:00 on,
    I throw the pillow at him.  Really this won't hurt him, but it does
    work.  He usually runs away, then comes up on the bed and sleeps with
    me until I get up.  The other kitty doesn't get up until we do.  I wish
    Dandy would take note.
    
     
    

    I think it was just a phase that my cat went through.  She doesn't 
    get me up early any more.  The only time she does is when she is 
    hungary, so I open the hallway door so she can go out and eat.  After 
    she eats she is fine.  She then curls up at the end of my bed and sleeps
    until I get up!!
    
    When she was a kitten I had very little sleep because she would wake me 
    up at the crack of dawn!  I tried squirting her with water but she saw
    it as a game so that never worked!!! ARRRRG!
    
    Valerie, what you might do is play with her really ruff.  I used to get
    a wrapping paper roll and play with her with that.  She loved it.  I 
    would do this for a couple of hours just so I could tire her out.  By
    the time I was finished she would be ready for bed and sleep like a
    baby all night long!
    
    I hope you find something that will work!  If not it is probably just a
    phase your kitten is going through and as she gets older she will
    eventually stop! (Hopefully!)
    
    Michele & Jasmine :)