cat scratching

thegreatiam

We have a young male short hair, who has started to scratch at the bed when we are sleeping.

The cat sleeps on the foot of the bed and when he wakes he will scratch at the bed until we chase him off. The bed is cloth so the noise and vibration it causes is horrendous. As soon as we chase him off he gets right back at it.

The strange thing is he does not scratch in the way a cat usually scratches.
Normally they stretch up and pull their claws down,to stretch their spine and file their claws. He has a cat tree down stairs, a scratching post in the bedroom and a scratching mat on the floor by the bed. and he uses all of these in the same way.
however when he scratches the bed he sits or lays down, and kind of picks at it with his paw. Almost like he knows he is annoying us and does it deliberately. As soon as we catch him at it he flies off and hides. So this makes me believe its a game for him.

We have wrapped the bed frame with duct tape to try and put him off and minimise his damage, but its largely ineffective. We throw him out of the room, but he scratches at the carpets and wails like a wounded pig.

Does anyone have any advice for this habit? we've put other items in the room for him to scratch, but it doesnt seem to be the usual type of cat scratching. Maybe some product we could use to put him off it, something they don't like to touch?

thegreatiam

no, ive seen that before. He doesnt really do that.
this scratching is after he is awake.

Noxin

One of mine does this too!

I lock mine out of the room at night but when he wants in he sits outside the door and picks at the bottom of it until I hurl something at the door or open it to chase him off. And even at that, he sometimes comes back.

I don't think it's about the scratching. It's about waking you up. Evil little feckers :pac:

==edit==

deleted my post before when I realised what you were talking about.

thegreatiam

great, now i look like a weirdo!
Yes its definitely about waking us up, he knows we don't like it.

Noxin

I was advised before to go down the spray bottle route but I always had difficulty with it as by the time I get up and over to the door, he has usually run off. Will be easier for you though..

thegreatiam

we tried spray bottle, he likes it
well, like is a bit strong, he tolerates it. ive had him soaking wet with that thing and he still would steal food from my plate

Nody

It's called making biscuits; it's normal for cats to do in preparation of going to sleep or when they get cuddled. Have you tried giving him a cat bed that's slightly higher then the bed with a pillow on top for him to sleep on? That way he'll still be "there" but not sleeping on you directly and hence the vibrations when he wake up should be minimal.

SillyMangoX

It's called kneading. It's what they do when they are kittens to release milk from the mothers teats, so they do it when they are relaxed and happy. I actually find it quite soothing to watch a cat kneading but I'm weird like that :P It's completely normal though, you should be glad, it means he's content and comfortable!

pawrick

Try the cat bed on a height as others said - also try a small size rather then a large one as my experience is that they prefer to be snuggled up in a ball and go for the smaller ones out of preference even though you might think the one with more room is better.

Cats just happy though by the sounds of it but the bed should help move him

Pumpkinseeds

One of my cats does this. He starts clawing the side of the divan to wake me up, always my side. If that doesn't get me up he then knocks things off the bedside locker. When that fails he digs at duvet, its a feather duvet so rustles a lot and at that point he's so intent on getting me out of bed that I give in.

Our other cat had been quite happy to sleep on the bottom of the bed and we hardly new he was there. Now he's learned to use the same tricks except he walks on my head sometimes. If we lock them out of the bedroom they work as a team digging at the base of the door and howling. The first time they managed to open the door was actually creepy:eek:. We're hoping he grows out of it. With him I think its an insecurity thing as he was a stray kitten when he found us.

thegreatiam

Nody wrote: »

It's called making biscuits; it's normal for cats to do in preparation of going to sleep or when they get cuddled.

SillyMangoX wrote: »

It's called kneading. It's what they do when they are kittens to release milk from the mothers teats,

pawrick wrote: »

Try the cat bed on a height as others said - also try a small size rather then a large one as my experience is that they prefer to be snuggled up in a ball and go for the smaller ones out of preference even though you might think the one with more room is better.

Its none of these, i know of that behaviour and its normal.
This is after he wakes up, not as he goes to bed.
This scratching is most definitely when he is awake and active. It's almost like a kid in school, poking the back of his friends head then feigning innocence.

It's certainly something he has learned annoys us to the point we get up.

Pumpkinseeds

Yep if he's like our 2 he just wants you to get up. With our chap he always comes in to the room to do this, usually when he's just got up or has come in from the garden through his cat flap. When I get up he goes ballistic galloping around the house like a lunatic. Our cats don't play together so I play with him and I think he just wants company. Its frustrating if I get up and he either goes asleep on a sofa or goes out as soon as I come down. Still I love him to bits no matter what. The whacky ways of cats.:)