How can I teach my cat the bed is for sleeping and not playing?
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at
6:17 am
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Filed under: Cat Bed
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She will grow out of it…mine did that when he was a kitten.
Try playing with her before you go to sleep, maybe that will get her tired.
I wouldn’t put her in a closet…she is just a kitten and being closed up like that will scare her. She won’t understand and she doesn’t understand she is doing wrong.
You need to be careful on how you teach her to stop…because you can give her the wrong message and make her think playing is wrong all together and then she won’t play when she is older.
I agree with others, they just outgrow it. You can get her to outgrow it as early as possible by never responding to her when she is playing on the bed. Don’t even move or speak in response to her playing, and if she starts attacking your face or something you really can’t stand, just put her on the floor calmly while saying nothing – lather, rinse, repeat. Act like she’s invisible. If you have to shut her out of the room, then you have to – but I hope you don’t have to. The meowing would probably keep you up, too!
Play with her before you go to bed, if she’s tired she will sleep better! And maybe longer!
They grow out of it. Mine would wake me up between 3:30 and 4:30 am the first few weeks and then after awhile they learned. They would either play elsewhere or sleep with me when I was sleeping.
Cats/kittens tend to be more active at night than during the day, especially kittens. I like your idea about the closet, just make sure there is some food, water and litterbox access. Keep in mind she may scratch at the door and cry to be let out, waking you up. Just wear earplugs. This may sound cruel, but she will be fine and get used to being in there. I wouldn’t keep her in there all day, though.
If you enjoy having her sleep in the bed, you can let her run free, and when she starts playing on the bed, put her in the closet. After a while she may associate playing on the bed=closet, sleeping on the bed=freedom. Also, try playing with her for awhile before going to bed so she gets tired, too. It’s worth a try. Good luck.
Unfortunately the only thing that will cure the nighttime playful kitten is age.
We have all of our pets crate-trained, including the cats.
Your kitten should grow out of this habit, but until then, you will need to contain your kitten so you can get some sleep!
I suggest placing the kitten in her crate with a toy she can’t choke on, a nice blanket, and a little bit of food (but no water, that gets messy!), and maybe if it’s big enough a rubbermaid shoebox full of kitty litter. leave her in there if she is being naughty or you’re trying to sleep, and leave it open during the day for her to go in and out of as she pleases.
set aside some time before bedtime specially for playtime, help her get her energy out before bedtime. also, if the first few nights she meows in the crate, just put her in a room where you can’t hear her and go back to sleep. she’ll soon learn that when you want her to be quiet, she should be quiet. i also suggest keeping her away from you, at least so she can’t see you, because that seems to make it worse for my cats.
Best of luck!
Here is a really nice crate you can buy:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3391780
Here are some good sites with info about crate training:
http://www.mmilani.com/feline-crate-training.html
http://www.dotcomtucson.com/pets/crate_cat_training.html
http://www.petshub.com/cat/how-to-train-a-cat.php
this site is for a dog but it works for cats too!
http://www.midwesthomes4pets.com/How2Train/HowToCrateTrain.asp