Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, for some time, I've been shutting my two cats out of my bedroom at night. I usually start the night allowing them in the room, but if they start getting into things or, in the case of one night, get into a wrestling match on top of me, I'll shoo them out of the room and close the door. They've been really good about being alone together all night. However, both of them, Casey in particular, have decided over the past few nights that they are still going to get me up early in the morning well before when I plan on getting up. They'll paw away at the door, making loud thumping sounds. They'll even reach up and start playing with and rattling the doorknob. I'll try to ignore them, but they'll only keep at it. I keep a can of air by the bed, and I've tried shooting that under the door as well as opening the door a couple inches and shooting it out that way as well. Usually when I try opening the door a crack, they're trying to push their way into the room. And usually, when they get the air, they'll take off running only to come back a few minutes later for more. This will repeat a couple times, but then they'll eventually stop. The thing is, since shutting them out of the bedroom at night, they didn't do this until this past week, at least that I can recall as I don't remember much from 4AM in the morning. Anybody have any suggestions on how to handle this and hopefully curb their behavior?
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Chessie and Casey Jones relaxing together.

Ok, I must admit to chuckling. How can two such innocent looking felines get in THAT much trouble?? I wish I had advise for you, but I don't. I keep my door open and have anywhere from 1 to 6 or 7 cats on my bed with me at any one time. If they get to playing or acting fools, I yell "cut it out cats" and they do usually. If they don't, I shove them off my bed and they usually learn real young that when they hop back up there, chances are someone else has taken their space and they are out of luck. So mine do not play, argue, or quarrel in my bed and I sleep just fine under a pile of sleeping cats. You have to give yours points for trying the door knob, smart kitties.
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Tessa Onyx, Foudini, Charlee, Spottie, ShyRaven, Buddy, Tuxie, Widdle Attila Sipowitz, Lizzie, Minnie, ET, Mylo,(We be house cats at last), and Salem, Wicca and Marmalade (We iz also house cats, we guess)and the 5 porch kits also Riley da goggie and Buddha da baby hamster too
Tabitha and Samantha..always in our hearts//Fly free Penny 12/12/07
A house without cats is like a garden without flowers

Yes, they are very smart. When I got upstairs, they'll often run past me on the stairs and wait for me by either the bedroom or office door. Chessie will come running every time he hears the microwave, thinking that I'm warming up his food that he loves that I put his aspirin in. Casey hears running water and comes out to the kitchen meowing away for me to add water to their water bowl, even when they have plenty. Thankfully, the water problem in the kitchen has stopped, and he's not doing too bad in the kennel when I'm gone.
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Chessie and Casey Jones relaxing together.

Hi,

I have an open-door policy in my home also and sleep with up to 11 cats at night. Sometimes the younger ones are active at first, but they all settle down within a few minutes. If one really acts up, I also make the cat get off the bed and they learn fast to behave and go to sleep. I have a few cat beds on mine and they are well used, often 2 cats to a bed.

I guess you can try playing with your cats right before bedtime with some kind of interactive toy to try and tire them out. Perhaps give them a bedtime snack as well.

Regards,
PHKitkat

I'll try the snack idea. They already chase each other around, wrestle, and get into a lot in the evenings. I wish I had the energy they have.
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Chessie and Casey Jones relaxing together.

The night before last, I tried giving them some treats before bed. Well, after I turned out the lights, they started getting into things with Casey attacking a lamp cord and trying to pull the lamp attached to it off the dresser. I got them out of the bedroom and shut the door. A few minutes later, they started in on the door, only stopping for a minute when I would spray them with a can of air under the door. It went on for several minutes before they finally settled down. Around 5AM, they started in again.

Last night, I gave them some treats again, and things started out okay in the bedroom. Then they again started to get into things. I shut them out of the room, and after a few minutes, they again started in on the door, repeating what happened the previous night. Around 5AM this morning, they again started in on the door, waking me up. This time, I took my hand and slapped it hard on the door to spook them away. That worked about as good as the can of air. They finally calmed down but started in again about 45 minutes later. Last night, the pounding was actually getting harder/louder.

I'm really needing to get this under control as I can't take much more of it. I'm losing sleep at night since I have a difficult time falling asleep after getting woken up by the sound of pounding and the doorknob rattling. My place was broken into about three years ago, and I'm still dealing with the memories of that. Not only that, but their behavior seems to be getting worse lately. Three times (as of this morning) Chessie has ripped the TV cable out of the wall in the living room, knocking out my cable TV box. Casey has five times in the past two mornings pulled the tank of the feeder in the kitchen off, spilling food all over. Anything that isn't nailed down is something that gets knocked out of their way when they get to chasing each other. They've even nearly knocked over kitchen chairs by jumping up on them in their chases. Anymore I'm starting to feel like a slave/prisoner in my home since they seem to be going from one mess or incident to another. With my stress from work and my drive to and from work, I'm not sure how much more I can take.
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Chessie and Casey Jones relaxing together.