I have two 10-month-old cats who go nuts in the middle of the night – running all over my apartment, jumping on my bed, scratching at the walls, meowing, biting my feet, etc. I love the little guys, but they wake me up 6-7 times a night!
Shutting my bedroom door doesn’t help much, since they just sit outside crying and scratching at the door.
Any tips on how to get them to calm down and (if possible) sleep through the night?
Any Tips On Getting Cats To Sleep Through The Night?
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#1 by old cat lady - November 18th, 2009 at 06:10
Oh my, how we get trained by our cats!
You have opened the door to them, right? Intermittent reinforcement is the MOST powerful kind.
Do not open that door. It may take a while (a month, god forbid) and don’t give in.
You can extinguish this behavior and it’s not easy to outsmart a cat. It takes persistence.
As they have each other for company they will settle down to accept your lifestyle.
I hope you have had them neutered and they are still kittens. If I get up in the night and go to the kitchen-den area my cats look at me as if to say, “What are you doing, disturbing my rest with those bright lights????”
#2 by Wicked Mickey - November 18th, 2009 at 10:04
Uh, didn’t anyone ever mention to you that cats are nocturnal? They don’t sleep through the night, they sleep in the DAYTIME!
This is why you put the cat OUT at night!
You could always medicate your little *******. 1/4 sominex in a little piece of tuna should do the trick.
#3 by The Key Master - November 18th, 2009 at 16:23
cats like to be up at night and sleep all day( nocturnal) they’ll mellow out after a year or so
#4 by Me - November 18th, 2009 at 16:41
Cats are nocturnal. I have never had one that slept at night. They do calm down a bit when they get older. If they are not fixed get them fixed that will help too
#5 by bcringle - November 18th, 2009 at 19:58
Have them play really hard before bedtime. And then put them at the other end of the house. Cats are nocturnal animals. They like to be awake at night. Good luck.
#6 by floppsie - November 19th, 2009 at 02:21
When we got my puppy, she wouldn’t sleep at night. So we put a clock that ticked loudly underneath a blanket that she was laying on. To the animal, it sounds like the mothers heartbeat and they feel at home, and safe. Try this. The same may not apply to cats, but thats my best advice. Good Luck!!!
#7 by frankiqu - November 19th, 2009 at 04:24
Cats are nocturnal, meaning they sleep most during the day, and are the most active at night. Give your 10-month-old sweeties a few more months, and they will be less spastic at night. Get them to cuddle up with you when you go to bed, and that will train them (as much as it is possible) to sleep with you at night instead of running across your forehead.
#8 by Alan Turing - November 19th, 2009 at 05:43
Have them neutered.
#9 by Iconocla - November 19th, 2009 at 12:02
Cats are nocturnal animals, it would be going against their nature to sleep through the night. They are hard wired to be active at dusk and dawn there is nothing you can do about it.
#10 by Stacy Mae - November 19th, 2009 at 13:16
Cats don’t sleep at night.
#11 by Diamond - November 19th, 2009 at 16:38
My cat is 12 years old. She sleeps all day and wants to play at night. They are nocturnal. Most of the time she will go to bed when I do, but sometimes I wake up in the morning and find her toys all over the place. I just make sure she has food in her bowl so she doesn’t wake me up to feed her.
#12 by theorigi - November 19th, 2009 at 22:31
Close the bedroom door and get one of those sound machines to cover their crying. You aren’t going to change them. They are still pretty young so hopefully they will at least grow out of their night attacks.
#13 by julia the cat lover - November 20th, 2009 at 01:05
hi, well what i do is about an hour before i go to bed i pull out my furry babies catnip toy , it makes them hyper for about 20 mins while they are playing with it then i put it back in the drawer, and they all seem to get sleepy after about 35 min. it works about 8 times out of 10, so give it a try.
#14 by xcupcait - November 20th, 2009 at 01:19
they’re nocturnal so try to have them be more active during the day.
#15 by bee - November 20th, 2009 at 07:25
I make sure mine does not sleep at all while I’m at home at night and I make sure to have what I call “planned playtime” (at least 15 minutes where we play together every night). Then he tends to sleep quite well through the night. I’ve had some slip ups (cats are just so darn cute when they sleep on your chest) and I’ve paid for them every time.
#16 by Antoine - November 20th, 2009 at 13:23
Cats are nocturnal so its going to be hard to get them to be calm throughout the night. Try squirting them with water. lol Just kidding. Try separating them at night. They will probably be very active during the night until the get older. Sorry I dont see much that you can do.