Post # 1
Member
622 posts
Busy bee
you guys, seriously, i love my cats and all but ANNOYING!! we just had a baby three months ago and he’s sleeping in our bedroom for the time being. that being said, we’ve been keeping our bedroom door shut (and have been for three months) so the cats don’t sleep on the baby (they’re extremely friendly). for the past two nights, one of the two cats has been pawing at the door, like running on it, and making a ton of noise like he wants to be let in. since that’s not really an option, i wanted to get advice. at like 3 am, i went on amazon and bought double-sided tape meant to keep cats from scratching things, but i get the feeling this will just make his noises louder since he’ll get his paw stuck repeatedly and just pull it off.
also to note, these cats really haven’t been lacking attention. in fact, they’re getting more during the day. if we’re on the floor playing with the baby, they’re down there too. if we’re on the couch, they’re lying there as well.
any tips?? we have a baby that sleeps through the night and cats that won’t let US sleep through the night. ugh.
Post # 3
Member
9917 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
Why can’t the cats sleep on the baby?
Anyway, I have to keep my cat in one room because my fiance is allergic, and I put a draft guard under the door to prevent her from wrecking the door with her scratching. She calms down eventually, though.
Where do your cats sleep? Do they have beds?
Post # 4
Member
12 posts
Newbee
@meggyo: When do you feed your cats? Cats have a very predictable routine of play, eat, groom, sleep. So you would want to do this a little while before going to bed. A good play session means (in my opinion) 15 minutes of running, jumping, etc such that they are tired and don’t want to play anymore. You can use a laser pointer or wand toys.
I had a similar problem and the solution was to wait it out..completely ignore him, no getting up, no saying anything. If the cat heard anything from us he’d only get louder. It stopped after a few weeks.
If all else failed, or if I couldn’t handle ‘waiting it out’, I would put the cat in another room for the night. Try the routine thing though, if you aren’t already – it works wonders!
Post # 5
Member
11394 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
@jll8: +1 On the play, eat, groom, sleep routine!
15 minutes of play (sometimes a little more) will get the cat more than ready for bed. 🙂 A tired cat is a happy cat + happy fur mom.
Post # 6
Member
140 posts
Blushing bee
Mine did the same thing although I don’t have babies.. they just love to snuggle at night. i just put them in the basement (it’s finished). After a while they learned=sratching=basement…and they stopped.
Post # 7
Member
1938 posts
Buzzing bee
Kitties just have a hard time adjusting to new family members. I think if you stick it out it will get better. If not, maybe you can try a cat training book?
Post # 8
Member
691 posts
Busy bee
@peachacid: Considering it is recommended that infants not even use blankets, cats sleeping on baby can potentially be very dangerous. If a cat were laying on the baby’s face and baby can’t roll over on it’s own yet, it could be smothered. Not to mention potential contamination from litter box paws or unseen parasites, no matter how clean the cats are.
OP, I would consider a motion activated air blast can outside the baby’s bedroom door. Cats are awesome, but they need to learn to adapt to this new routine too! I learned this little trick off My Cat From Hell, and it kept our destructive cat out of our bedroom, our only off-limits space.
Post # 9
Member
248 posts
Helper bee
I agree with the above suggestions. Especially playtime – we play with Nala until she’s good and tired, then she’s asleep in no time.
Also, love the avatar. ROCK CHALK!
Post # 10
Member
2359 posts
Buzzing bee
My cat will NEVER let me close doors in the house, she’s lived years having her free run of the house, and one time due to allergies, I wanted to sleep with the bedroom door closed to see if it would help(thought I was allergic to the cats and they always slept with me), well my cats were having none of that, we went 2 nights trying to keep the door shut at night and finally I couldn’t do it anymore. The pawing and crying drove me mad.
cats are creatures of habit and they don’t like change. I can’t even close the bathroom door fully or she’s pawing at it and whining.
