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Nighttime antics!

oliveandalex

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Hello everyone, happy Friday!!

Olive has been really good with her first week in our home and we've bonded with her so much already, but she gets a bit crazy at night. I understand cats are nocturnal and she's still a kitten but she won't leave us alone! She'll sleep for a few hours and around 4am will start licking, kneading, and suckling on me or my boyfriend. We play with her basically when we get home from work until bed time and she still is super hyperactive.

I've never had a cat before and could use some advice on tricks to make her stop! I don't mind if she's up at night and running around, its just the "hey mom hey hey wake up let me lick on you" that kind of ruins my sleep! Those tongues can be vicious!

oli2.JPG oli.JPG
 

SubiMoM

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Subi had the same problem for a while and we eventually found out that she usually did it when she ran out of food in the middle of the night. She is a grazer so she will always get up at least 2 or 3 times a night for a snack and if there wasn't something for her to snack on she would aggressively knead and lick me until I woke up.
Sometimes when she falls asleep earlier than I go to bed she is super active right as I want to fall asleep and brings me every toy she can find to get me to play. Luckily since she was little I got her into the habit of the "super cuddle" which I just wrap her up like a burrito in her favorite blanket and lay with her in my arm and she soon relaxes and falls asleep. Now anytime she sees her blanket and me go to the bedroom she knows its bedtime. So if you start a nighttime routine now soon it will just be normal for her.
 

oliveandalex

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Subi had the same problem for a while and we eventually found out that she usually did it when she ran out of food in the middle of the night. She is a grazer so she will always get up at least 2 or 3 times a night for a snack and if there wasn't something for her to snack on she would aggressively knead and lick me until I woke up.
Sometimes when she falls asleep earlier than I go to bed she is super active right as I want to fall asleep and brings me every toy she can find to get me to play. Luckily since she was little I got her into the habit of the "super cuddle" which I just wrap her up like a burrito in her favorite blanket and lay with her in my arm and she soon relaxes and falls asleep. Now anytime she sees her blanket and me go to the bedroom she knows its bedtime. So if you start a nighttime routine now soon it will just be normal for her.

That's a great idea! I'll have to make sure she's got some midnight snacks and "super cuddle" sounds like the cutest thing ever! I'll try that out tonight :)
 

GoldHazel

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Hello everyone, happy Friday!!

Olive has been really good with her first week in our home and we've bonded with her so much already, but she gets a bit crazy at night. I understand cats are nocturnal and she's still a kitten but she won't leave us alone! She'll sleep for a few hours and around 4am will start licking, kneading, and suckling on me or my boyfriend. We play with her basically when we get home from work until bed time and she still is super hyperactive.

I've never had a cat before and could use some advice on tricks to make her stop! I don't mind if she's up at night and running around, its just the "hey mom hey hey wake up let me lick on you" that kind of ruins my sleep! Those tongues can be vicious!

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@oliveandalex I thought you were referring to the kitten energy when it's your bedtime. Because if that was the case, I could tell you how to get her energy out so that you can get into bed and go to sleep.

But you are referring to her waking up in the middle of the night licking, kneading and suckling. That's not kitten energy. That's needing comfort for her to get back to sleep. My first guy did this but outgrew it at six months old. My second and third boys did this too and have never outgrew it. As a matter of fact, right now while I'm sitting at the computer typing this to you, Simon is on my lap suckling my arm. :)

The licking does hurt certain sensitive body parts. Try offering the palm of your hand. Grayson loves to suckle and lick the heel of my hand as I can't tolerate him licking me repeatedly on my face or anywhere else. Sometimes he's into licking only and other times it's suckling.

None of my nakeds ever slobbered all over me while suckling, so I never ever mind it except when there is too much tongue. That's when I offer my palm which never hurts from the over licking.

Chances are Olive may outgrow this. She's still young. They also sell pet pacifiers and PetStages makes a soft worm toy for chewing, etc. You can try giving her comfort toys in bed.
 

oliveandalex

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@oliveandalex I thought you were referring to the kitten energy when it's your bedtime. Because if that was the case, I could tell you how to get her energy out so that you can get into bed and go to sleep.

But you are referring to her waking up in the middle of the night licking, kneading and suckling. That's not kitten energy. That's needing comfort for her to get back to sleep. My first guy did this but outgrew it at six months old. My second and third boys did this too and have never outgrew it. As a matter of fact, right now while I'm sitting at the computer typing this to you, Simon is on my lap suckling my arm. :)

The licking does hurt certain sensitive body parts. Try offering the palm of your hand. Grayson loves to suckle and lick the heel of my hand as I can't tolerate him licking me repeatedly on my face or anywhere else. Sometimes he's into licking only and other times it's suckling.

None of my nakeds ever slobbered all over me while suckling, so I never ever mind it except when there is too much tongue. That's when I offer my palm which never hurts from the over licking.

Chances are Olive may outgrow this. She's still young. They also sell pet pacifiers and PetStages makes a soft worm toy for chewing, etc. You can try giving her comfort toys in bed.

Yeah I tried giving her some love to settle her down in the middle of the night, maybe the swaddling idea from @SubiMoM will work. Palm of the hand is a good idea too as an alternate. She was getting into weird places like the back of my thigh, my belly button, the inside of my upper arm - which is definitely a strange thing to wake up to! I don't mind the suckling usually, I think it's cute and like you I haven't ever experienced slobbery suckling so it's not a bother to me. Maybe I just have to adapt and get used to it - this kitten truly owns me now!
 

GoldHazel

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Yeah I tried giving her some love to settle her down in the middle of the night, maybe the swaddling idea from @SubiMoM will work. Palm of the hand is a good idea too as an alternate. She was getting into weird places like the back of my thigh, my belly button, the inside of my upper arm - which is definitely a strange thing to wake up to! I don't mind the suckling usually, I think it's cute and like you I haven't ever experienced slobbery suckling so it's not a bother to me. Maybe I just have to adapt and get used to it - this kitten truly owns me now!

@oliveandalex the reason why Grayson suckles or licks the palm/heel of my hand is because when he'd choose another spot that hurt, I'd put my hand between his mouth and the body part that was raw! He then began liking my hand. So my hand became a shield. LOL
 

GoldHazel

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@oliveandalex I'd like to give you a little heads-up on the future. When I had furry cats (my entire life), I can't remember ever being woken up by one except for early in the a.m. when they wanted breakfast at the crack of dawn (my nakeds are NOT like that at all. As a matter of fact, I literally have to pull them out of bed when I get up and want to feed them). My furry cats attacked my feet in the middle of the night, but mostly when they were kittens.

But what I find with the nakeds is that they paw at the blanket around you to get under the covers. Some of my nakeds will come back to bed after a snack, drink of water or use the litter box and wake me up by loudly saying, "MAAA?" They are more needy than the furry cats. This is my experience.

So if you experience the same, you will never get a full night of sleeping undisturbed. I sort of just lift the blanket to let them in when they are pawing at me in the middle of the night. I sort of just acknowledge that they just had a drink of water and want to let me know in the middle of the night and so on...

Yes, I'm woken up during the night, but once they cuddle in my arms, I fall right back to sleep after rubbing them and kissing them for a moment. I can't think of my life any other way. When I go on vacations, I am miserable. That's when I cannot sleep because I'm so used to them being a tremendous part of my life.
 

Nicolemorgan

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@oliveandalex I'd like to give you a little heads-up on the future. When I had furry cats (my entire life), I can't remember ever being woken up by one except for early in the a.m. when they wanted breakfast at the crack of dawn (my nakeds are NOT like that at all. As a matter of fact, I literally have to pull them out of bed when I get up and want to feed them). My furry cats attacked my feet in the middle of the night, but mostly when they were kittens.

But what I find with the nakeds is that they paw at the blanket around you to get under the covers. Some of my nakeds will come back to bed after a snack, drink of water or use the litter box and wake me up by loudly saying, "MAAA?" They are more needy than the furry cats. This is my experience.

So if you experience the same, you will never get a full night of sleeping undisturbed. I sort of just lift the blanket to let them in when they are pawing at me in the middle of the night. I sort of just acknowledge that they just had a drink of water and want to let me know in the middle of the night and so on...

Yes, I'm woken up during the night, but once they cuddle in my arms, I fall right back to sleep after rubbing them and kissing them for a moment. I can't think of my life any other way. When I go on vacations, I am miserable. That's when I cannot sleep because I'm so used to them being a tremendous part of my life.

I feel like I wrote this post @GoldHazel LOL
You took the words out of my mouth! The pawing at the blankets, and then just wanting to cuddle in the middle of the night.
Gatsby wakes me up every morning, around 5am just to come back to bed and sleep with me.
When it's time to feed them in the mornings, they wait in the bed and look all sleepy-eyed while I try and get them to come down for food. Haha.

With furry kitties...it is all about the food. HAHA. With the sphynxes, it's all about the cuddles.

One suggestion @oliveandalex is you could acknowledge that she comes to wake you up, and cuddle her up in the bed with blankets. Either at your feet or in the middle or side of the bed. We have their favorite blankie on our bed. And at the beginning of the night we put them at the end of the bed, and wrap them up in their blankie. We have made a habit out of it, so now they will even go to "their" spot on the bed at nighttime, and wait for their treat, and this is where they will fall asleep.
 

GoldHazel

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I feel like I wrote this post @GoldHazel LOL
You took the words out of my mouth! The pawing at the blankets, and then just wanting to cuddle in the middle of the night.
Gatsby wakes me up every morning, around 5am just to come back to bed and sleep with me.
When it's time to feed them in the mornings, they wait in the bed and look all sleepy-eyed while I try and get them to come down for food. Haha.

With furry kitties...it is all about the food. HAHA. With the sphynxes, it's all about the cuddles.

One suggestion @oliveandalex is you could acknowledge that she comes to wake you up, and cuddle her up in the bed with blankets. Either at your feet or in the middle or side of the bed. We have their favorite blankie on our bed. And at the beginning of the night we put them at the end of the bed, and wrap them up in their blankie. We have made a habit out of it, so now they will even go to "their" spot on the bed at nighttime, and wait for their treat, and this is where they will fall asleep.

@Nicolemorgan, OMG, too funny how it's the same exact way with us and our nakeds. :)
Aww, they get a treat in bed at night?
 

GoldHazel

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Haha, yeah, they get their little treat before bed. :) @GoldHazel
They sleep in their comfy little spot for half the night, but we always wake up with them in our arms before morning :)

@Nicolemorgan, from Day #1, I had sacks for Liam and as my naked family grew, I continued to buy sacks. Liam, Grayson and Simon LOVE their sacks and get right in them right away (by themselves). Miss Violet usually wraps herself up like a burrito with a blanket throw which I always have two on my bed for them. Alastair can be found under a blanket throw. But the two of them will lay on the sacks, just not like the other three.

They make me laugh because even though I have five sacks out on the bed at all times, if someone is on me getting petted and they see one of the others leave a sack to go and eat, etc., they'll jump off me and run to that nice, hot sack and take it over. LOL

For the most part, they all have different spots on me or around me under the blanket where they love to cuddle and be nice and toasty.
 

oliveandalex

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@GoldHazel @Nicolemorgan Before I had Olive, I had a very cuddly dog who would do the same sort of pawing at the covers to get under and cuddle. I don't mind that at all! :) Actually when she's been crazy she's already under the covers with us.
It's just that she won't cuddle even when I give her some love, hugs and affection. I acknowledge her presence but she just won't settle down.
 

GoldHazel

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@GoldHazel @Nicolemorgan Before I had Olive, I had a very cuddly dog who would do the same sort of pawing at the covers to get under and cuddle. I don't mind that at all! :) Actually when she's been crazy she's already under the covers with us.
It's just that she won't cuddle even when I give her some love, hugs and affection. I acknowledge her presence but she just won't settle down.

@oliveandalex, she will. Give it time. Then you might almost be complaining about her settling down next to you or on you all the time. :)
 

Arili O

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Yeah I tried giving her some love to settle her down in the middle of the night, maybe the swaddling idea from @SubiMoM will work. Palm of the hand is a good idea too as an alternate. She was getting into weird places like the back of my thigh, my belly button, the inside of my upper arm - which is definitely a strange thing to wake up to! I don't mind the suckling usually, I think it's cute and like you I haven't ever experienced slobbery suckling so it's not a bother to me. Maybe I just have to adapt and get used to it - this kitten truly owns me now!

I've had Jamie about a month and he does this too. He wakes me up licking and suckling my stomach or the backs of my knees ... it's a little painful. I've started moving him to the small of my back because it doesn't hurt when he licks me there. Sometimes he even moves there on his own now. I'm used to the burrowing in the bed because my husband's ancient cranky Burmese always sleeps under the covers. You'll get used to it too and hardly ever wake up. I really hope Jamie outgrows the suckling though, I don't like it myself.
 

zmoore

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So I'm a little late to the party on this thread but I just got my kitten this week (he's 16 weeks old). And the first couple of nights he was active with playing or snuggles. But last night, every time he started to settle down and cuddle he would REALLY aggressively try to suckle on me (arm, leg, stomach, face, any skin that was visible). Not in a painful way but it was like he HAD to have something to suckle on. I tried giving him toys or petting him or just moving him off the bed but nothing seemed to deter him. Eventually I just hid under my quilt so he couldn't reach me because I couldn't sleep with him doing it and I was afraid of getting a kitten hickey on my neck. :nailbiting:

I've watched my sister's sphynxes quite a bit and they suckle on their stomachs while they groom but never on a human. Until I read these threads I was really afraid something was wrong with my little Iberico. He has plenty of food in his food bowl and has been on solid food for a little while I think (but also around his mother, so she probably still nursed him somewhat). I don't think he was hungry, but I know my boyfriend is not going to stand for the suckling, and also it made it really hard to sleep.

It sounds like most sphynx owners just kind of give in, but since I don't plan on letting him sleep in the bed long-term, I was wondering if anyone had any luck switching their kitten over to a pacifier or cloth toy? I got a washcloth last night and tried to give it to him but he had absolutely no interest.
 

GoldHazel

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@zmoore my oldest sphynx only suckled on his baby blanket. He stopped when he was six months old because that's when I got him a baby brother and he immediately began suckling him. The six month old wasn't a huge fan of this, so he realized that if he didn't suckle his blanket and make noise, he wouldn't be inviting his baby brother to suckle him.

But that baby brother is all grown up now and he suckles me all the time. So did the next baby brother and he too is all grown up and suckles me as well. So I have two of them that suckle me (one on my arm only and the other one on the heel of my hand, my arm and my face. I don't mind at all and always let them.

They are not doing it because they are hungry...it's a comforting thing for them. A time to relax and chill out and be comforted and doze off.

My daughter has a furry cat that will suckle her shirt. She soaks her shirts and my daughter has tried putting a towel between the cat and her shirt and the cat won't have anything to do with the towel. It's only her shirts, no matter what kind of material.
 

zmoore

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@zmoore my oldest sphynx only suckled on his baby blanket. He stopped when he was six months old because that's when I got him a baby brother and he immediately began suckling him. The six month old wasn't a huge fan of this, so he realized that if he didn't suckle his blanket and make noise, he wouldn't be inviting his baby brother to suckle him.

But that baby brother is all grown up now and he suckles me all the time. So did the next baby brother and he too is all grown up and suckles me as well. So I have two of them that suckle me (one on my arm only and the other one on the heel of my hand, my arm and my face. I don't mind at all and always let them.

They are not doing it because they are hungry...it's a comforting thing for them. A time to relax and chill out and be comforted and doze off.

My daughter has a furry cat that will suckle her shirt. She soaks her shirts and my daughter has tried putting a towel between the cat and her shirt and the cat won't have anything to do with the towel. It's only her shirts, no matter what kind of material.
See NOW if my boyfriend gets annoyed with the suckling, I can just tell him we clearly need to get a second one. :)
 

GoldHazel

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@zmoore the babies never suckled my husband. Maybe give your boyfriend a heads up and just ask him if he thinks this will annoy him. If the answer is yes, tell him you have the solution (to get a second sphynx)! LOL
 

gwee

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Koko was 3 when we rescued her and she loves to cuddle under the quilt. If she is buggin me I I curl up on my side and she spoons my back. i prefer her licking and kneading there than on my face.
 
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