Cat won't sleep!

Heroditas

Strange one this but our cats have decided in the last few weeks that they don't like sleeping all the way through the night. There never used to be any issue with the three of them sleeping all the way through until we decided to get up.
However, in the last few weeks, they have decided that 5.50am on the button is the time to get up and then they create a racket in the bedroom. That's not too bad because my wife gets up shortly after 6 so they act like an alarm clock (the most annoying thing was that they adapted to the clock going back an hour immediately).

The problem now is that the male seems to think that 2.30am or 4am is also a good time to get up and then he starts rummaging through stuff in the room and scratching anything made of cardboard to make as much noise as possible.
Locking him out on the landing just makes him howl continually (for over an hour in some cases) and we've had to resort to bringing him down to the kitchen and locking him there (where we can still sort of hear him howling). The thing with that is the other cats also think it's time to get up and charge down after him to the kitchen. When we lock them in there together, he then proceeds to tear lumps out of the other two.

It's quite depressing because his behaviour seems to have deteriorated a lot recently and he seems quite cranky - he's even snapped at us a few times.
I reckon it's because the three are indoor cats but he was never this bad until recently.
I've found it extremely warm at night for the last few weeks and I'm wondering if that might be causing some of the crankiness and restlessness.

We've also ordered one of those Feliway diffusers. Has anyone else used them? Do they help?
I just want to get an uninterrupted night's sleep.

planetX

that's normal for cats though, to be awake at night - that's hunting time! Don't know what you can do about it... give them lots of toys and shut them away from you.

I tried a feliway diffuser when I moved house and had to keep mine in - I don't believe it made any difference.

Heroditas

He used always sleep right the way through the night for the last three years. This is a very new thing with him.
I have a funny feeling it' because of the mild weather and it's making him cranky, the little fecker.

JKM

Is he off his food or acting strange in any other way? It would seem to me that him taking to waking up at an unusual hour on it's own is nothing to worry about. But you say he seems crankier than normal as well. He even lashed out at you a few times. I would be slightly worried about this.

Cat's don't tend to just change personality for no reason. If you have had a big change in your lives, like moving house or something, this might trigger a change in behaviour. But if nothing has changed and his behaviour has I would keep a good eye on him. Often changes in behaviour in cat's can signal illness. If you're worried just pop in to your vets.

MaryK666

We have one cat, Sully, who's 4 and who sleeps on our bed and it takes either food or an explosion to wake him and get him to move. We normally just sleep around him - lol.
We have Genie who's 4, and only sleeps on the bed when I'm away and OH is there on his own. Otherwise she's in her bed or on the sofa.
We have Dio, whos 14 months, and he enjoys coming up in the middle of the night and jumping on Sully trying to get a chase out of him. He also sings and will do a passable version of Handels Messiah at 4am - just for fun.
Then we have Suzi, also 14 months, who knows that any time she want's cuddles, all she has to do is jump on the bed, miaow loudly, lick any available piece of exposed skin (usually my eyelids) and then crawl under the covers for cuddles. Suzi's bouts of miaowing and licking usually happen anytime from 3.30am onwards but she leaves it till at least 4am at weekends. And we often get several in one night if she's feeling particularly neglected. We've gotten so used to it at this stage that we barely wake up and just drag her under the covers for snuggles and then both she and us both go off to sleep. We don't even wake when she leaves.

They have all been a bit more lively at night lately and I do attribute it to the unseasonably warm weather. Suzi is a long-haired cat and you can tell that she's getting too warm when she disappears off only to be found pretending to be a draught excluder inside the front door on the vinyl floor.

I have, and continue to use Feliway in the house. I got the plug-in when the kittens arrived and it seemed to work but I find the spray is very good. Occasionally, the kittens decide to gang up on Genie as she's quite shy and she gets really stressed out. I just go round the house and spray it about the place and within about 5 minutes we have a calm house so I swear by the stuff. I usually buy mine from zooplus as its half the price that any local vet is charging.

As other posters have said, if your cats change in behaviour is recent and there's nothing obvious like a new addition to the family or a change of location, I'd look at taking him to a good vet. It could be something going on with him that's causing pain or stress that has escaped your notice and it's better to have it checked out to be sure.

lucycat

Any update Heroditas?

I think it must be that time of year for kitty-serenading! My two babies sleep in the kitchen at night and they woke me up this morning just before 4.30am with the weirdest yoooOOOOOOOOwwwwl-y noise ever - I honestly almost had a heart attack. Stampeded down the stairs and burst through the door only to see the little feckers blinking innocently at me as if to say ' yes? you have a problem?' :rolleyes:

Anyway, I went back up to bed and could hear them scuffling around wrestling (or having a Celebrity Death Match as I call it) for around the next 40 mins until I went to sleep....it has to be the weather or something!

mymo

Must be the weather or something, my two have started this too recently.
4am this morning Jake jumped on the bed and purred like a freight train:rolleyes:, seriously my cars diesel engine is quieter than that cat. He's so loud that if he's upstairs in my bed and all is quiet I can hear him.
Toby also has been getting up and annoying the dog in the wee small hours, he does it for a chase and to get the dog in trouble (I hear woof, growl and dog running about, so shout at him to get back to bed), he has also attacked the carpet at my daughters bedroom door in the last week.
Cats of the world (well Ireland) are uniting in a campaign to wake us in the middle of the night, I wonder are they trying to tell us something?:eek::P

Rochester

My cat decided at 4.30 am to visit me for a chat. I put him out and got back to sleep at about 6.00 to be woken up by our adopted cat standing on my eye!!!! Cats eh - who'd have 'em.

Heroditas

Not a peep out of them last night. In fact, I'm currently wedged in the bed with the three of them sprawled around me. Apart from waking up at 5.50am, they were fine.
Even then, they only got restless when Susie decided she wanted some attention from Rocky and proceeded to sit on him! Looks like a lot of it is her fault and the rest is attributable to the weather.

misslt

Yep, mine has started this craic too...its normally fine until she decides to play with the balls with bells in or the flying screaming monkey (I don't know if you've ever heard one of these scream but it'll certainly waken you at 3am )

She meanders around herself at night between her own bed and ours. 6am is purring time - she'll alternate between our chests purring and rubbing her head on our faces, then fall back asleep until 6.30 when I get up.

I'm not sure what it is thats waking her - her new favourite pastime is trying to peel the plaster off the wall (I kid you not, there was a crack in it, she loves it). We've put masking tape over it so now she's enjoying trying to scratch her way through that!

I don't care though, I love her so much she could tear the apartment down around me and I'd still be happy with her!