At my wits end with this cat.

gazzer

I live out in the countryside and a lot of the time my 3 cats will go out at night when I am going to bed and will stay out for the night hunting and doing other cat things. During the winter they tend to appear back at the back door when I open it in the morning, however, with these bright mornings they are sitting on the window sill from around 4.30am meowing to beat the band so that they can be let in.

Initially I used to get up and let them into the utility room and then I would go back to bed but now I just ignore them and let them in when I get up at 7am

diegroblers

It's not about the food at all. Our cat has enough dry food in his bowl not to be concerned about waking us for food at all, but he still does it. You just have to learn to go back to sleep in spite of it. Eventually you won't wake up fully when he does it.

Bubs99

Our cat is the exact same!!!
One the sun has risen, or around 5am every single morning, our cat who also sleeps on his bed in our room, climbs on top of us and nudges us in the face, licks us, miaows and paws us. EVERY single morning!
He wants us to get up and let him out and feed him. It's getting very stressful for my boyfriend because he works full time fro mrning to evening and needs his sleep. Once he's woken, that's it, he cant get back to sleep. it's getting too much at this stage and if we leave him out of the room, we know he'll just whine at the door otherwise which will wake our dog who will begin barking then wake the estate. We feel your pain and dont know what to do either. It's like having kids at this stage!!! LOL!

wolfpawnat

Bubs99 wrote: »

It's like having kids at this stage!!! LOL!

Nope, if my 4 year old wakes he gets some water and goes back to sleep. The cat is not as good!

judgefudge

I think it's a combination of attention and food he wants. It would be great if I could just let him outside in the morning but he is very nervous about the outside world and won't stray far from the door.

username123

judgefudge wrote: »

I think it's a combination of attention and food he wants. It would be great if I could just let him outside in the morning but he is very nervous about the outside world and won't stray far from the door.

Dont worry, he will get braver. When they first moved in my neighbour dumped his cat on the doorstep and she screamed (not joking) at his door for hours. This is actually how I befriended her, I felt so sorry for her, she was traumatised by the outside world. Now she likes to lie out in the sun, stalk about inspecting her territory, chase off other cats that try to wander through and generally make the place her own.

Pumpkinseeds

We met a couple of neighbours cats in different parts of the UK that way. A couple of times Santa wrapped and delivered cat flaps on the doorstep on Christmas eve. Amazingly enough the message got through and everyone was happy, especially the cats.

username123

Awww!!! Santa is so nice!!

judgefudge

I only have the front door and a glass patio door in my house and therefore can't get a cat flap, which is a real shame.

Pumpkinseeds

judgefudge wrote: »

I only have the front door and a glass patio door in my house and therefore can't get a cat flap, which is a real shame.

Oops, I hope you didn't think I was having a go at you. I know it isn't always easy. My parents had that problem when they moved with their cats a few months ago. Thankfully they were able to get someone to fit one in a glass panel. Their cats were used to a cat flap so it would have been a nightmare for them without one. It isn't cheap to have them fitted in glass though.

judgefudge

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Oops, I hope you didn't think I was having a go at you. I know it isn't always easy. My parents had that problem when they moved with their cats a few months ago. Thankfully they were able to get someone to fit one in a glass panel. Their cats were used to a cat flap so it would have been a nightmare for them without one. It isn't cheap to have them fitted in glass though.

Oh no don't worry bout it! I'm just saying its a shame because he's so nervous and he likes being outside but he'll just sit outside the open door and dart back in if anyone moves or make a noise. So it would be handy not to have to leave the door wide open for him to be outside. Can't see the landlord going for a cat flap somehow!

Pumpkinseeds

judgefudge wrote: »

Oh no don't worry bout it! I'm just saying its a shame because he's so nervous and he likes being outside but he'll just sit outside the open door and dart back in if anyone moves or make a noise. So it would be handy not to have to leave the door wide open for him to be outside. Can't see the landlord going for a cat flap somehow!

No, it's a pain when you're renting. At least he's getting some fresh air and his confidence will grow with time. I think a bit of wariness in a cat is a good thing. Not every hand is a friendly hand.

SillyMangoX

We have a glass door so we couldn't fit a flap so my dad drilled a hole into the wall for it instead! Good thing we're not renting though :P Though the cats never use it anymore as we've had to sellotape it shut, Peach managed to use her fat head to break the thing off the wall!!

wolfpawnat

SillyMangoX wrote: »

We have a glass door so we couldn't fit a flap so my dad drilled a hole into the wall for it instead! Good thing we're not renting though :P Though the cats never use it anymore as we've had to sellotape it shut, Peach managed to use her fat head to break the thing off the wall!!

You have no idea how much I would LOVE to see a pic of that!!!!

SillyMangoX

wolfpawnat wrote: »

You have no idea how much I would LOVE to see a pic of that!!!!

I got a pic just after it happened :P

wolfpawnat

SillyMangoX wrote: »

I got a pic just after it happened :P

Kitty got back!!! :pac: Sorry, I am in a funny mood tonight.

I love it. My fuzzball wouldn't fit through most cat doors, even if we could put one up.

Pumpkinseeds

Before I head off to bed I'll just suggest getting some large plant pots if you have room on the patio for them. Our garden was concreted long before we lived here so I grow a lot of things in containers. My cats love it as they can hide behind things and they feel invisible. I've just been watching Jazzy weave in and out amongst some of them on his way from the garden wall to the front door.

Your cat might feel more secure if he's got somethings to peep out from behind. The plants attract bees and insects for them to hunt too.

Nody

judgefudge wrote: »

I only have the front door and a glass patio door in my house and therefore can't get a cat flap, which is a real shame.

Well it's possible to put one in either door; we have one in a double glass door at the moment (they cut the glass first back at the shop, then vacuum cleaned it out and sealed it; took two weeks from order to installation). If you keep the original glass you can get it fully restored for when you leave as well.

judgefudge

Nody wrote: »

Well it's possible to put one in either door; we have one in a double glass door at the moment (they cut the glass first back at the shop, then vacuum cleaned it out and sealed it; took two weeks from order to installation). If you keep the original glass you can get it fully restored for when you leave as well.

Hmm... How much we talkin?

Nody

judgefudge wrote: »

Hmm... How much we talkin?

I'd guess it depends on the exact design of your door; in our case we have two glass frames (top/bottom) with wood in the middle. Because they got delayed we got a discount (they cracked the first attempt at vacuum out the glasses which caused a delay to order in more glass) and ended up at about 80 EUR but this was a while ago (and in combination with some other work) so I'd check around the local companies and see what they say. The door can only go in the corners as well (or so we were told) so make sure you think on how the door opens before picking the corner and pick a big enough door (with future growth in mind!) as well. I'd say bigger is better (and safer) if you're debating which size to go for.

I've attached two pictures from our door (it goes out on the balcony which is glassed in).

Pumpkinseeds

One thing I'd advise with the cat flap is to get a microchip one if you've got other cats in the neighbourhood who can access your garden. It's still the same size as a normal flap. Once it's installed you just scan your cat under it and no cat that hasn't been scanned can access they flap.

We used to have a magnetic 1 that had a little ball on the cats collar to open the flap but with Jasper having been feral there was no way we'd ever get a collar on him, so microchipping was the best option. We had tried leaving the magnetic one unlocked but so many neighbourhood cats just let themselves in. I find them a bit stronger too and you've also got the added benefit of having your cat microchipped if they got lost.

judgefudge

Well, I got an automatic feeder, filled it. Went off to bed. Heard some suspicious noises so went to investigate, he'd only broken into it and eaten all his food for the morning! Nightmare. I don't know what to do with him. He spent half an hour trying to wake me up at 4.30 this morning. I just can't sleep at all properly.

keelanj69

I keep mine in a dog crate with his litter box down stairs. Its a fair size and my three dogs are there so that works nicely.

MaryK666

Do you feed wet or dry food, judge fudge? Most tinned wet food is like heroin to cats and they can't get enough of the stuff. And cats do get used to a routine so if your cat gets used to being fed at a certain time, then he's going to expect it to happen every day.

I currently have 8 indoor cats and we used to have that problem until I decided (courtesy of one of them having food allergies and another getting Megacolon) to put them all on a dry-food-only diet. Nowadays, I free-feed so there's always food down for them (3 bowls in three different rooms) and they can eat whenever they're feeling peckish. Contrary to some theories, they do not eat themselves into a ball of lard state but they can snack at any time so they don't have set feeding times.

You have a couple of options available to you. You can, A - change over to free feeding, B - set your clock to stupid O'Clock and get up and feed him before going back to bed, or C - change his morning feed time to an hour more suitable to your sleep pattern. Option C will take a while to kick in and will mean that, when he wakes you, you'll need to get up but not feed him until the new set time.

As summer arrives though, they do tend to be active earlier as it starts to get light but we're so used to the running around that we don't even here them anymore and can sleep through all the chasing games at 5am.

judgefudge

I feed him dry food. And of the light variety too, so I can't imagine it's too delicious!

I may just have to suck it up and get up to feed him at 4.30 each day. Maybe I'll get into a routine. Thanks for the advice guys!

Pumpkinseeds

I know it sucks but I just give in and feed mine around the same time. It's kind of like autopilot at this point. At least I fall back asleep when I get back into bed. Once I started giving in they eventually settled down and sometimes they don't bother waking us up until around 7am. They like to eat while their human is in the room with them too, so maybe he wants some company. 1 of mine sometimes likes to sleep in the wardrobe and the other on the bed. Both are happiest when I open the downstairs curtains for them once it starts to get light. I also leave the window on the latch so it's only open slightly. They get to hear more and will settle on the window ledge and sleep for a few hours.