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Bedtime Sphynx Help

Brianna

Lairian
Joined
May 2, 2014
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6
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I have a 5 month old kitten who is super exploratory and playful. When I first got her she would play all day and nap a bit but then we would sleep all night together so I didn't mind her in my bed.

I work from home so when I go into my office she keeps herself busy or i'll throw a pen on the floor and she'll go crazy for hours but lately no matter how much I play with her or keep her busy during the day she is wide awake at night. She walks all over my face and licks my eyes or will pur in my ear for hours. When I wake up in the middle of the night to her purring I will pet her and give her some love for five minutes as I'm half asleep and sometimes she'll be satisfied and leave but sometimes she won't stop for a while.

I also always make sure she has food in her bowl before I go to bed so I know she's not bugging me for food. I'm not sure what to do. The past two weeks i've been exhausted all day on account of her waking me up every hour. When I close my door she screeches and cries and I feel horrible. And she has three beds throughout the house, when she takes quick naps during the day she has no problem leaving me and sleeping in one of her beds downstairs or in the other room with her litter box so I'm not sure why she feels the need to bug me all day.

I'm not sure what to do and I can't keep spending hours each day trying to keep her awake so she sleeps at night. Is this just a case of adjusting her to my sleep schedule since she's still just a kitten or is there another solution that i'm not trying? Maybe I should keep my door closed and wait out her crying? I also thought of buying a hot water bottle to put under her bed at night?

Sorry for such a long message but any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks a bunch!

Brianna.
 

Madison

Lairian
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
14
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24
My kitten did the same thing when we first adopted her and it drove us nuts! She would bat at our feet when we rolled over or lick our arms till we woke up and pet her. Even though we've only had her for a month, she seemed to just eventually adjust to our sleeping schedule and realized that mum and dad don't really want to play at night, haha.
Every time she would get on the bed and try to play, I would pick her up and set her on the ground. Then every time she got on the bed and was being a cuddly peach, I would reward her by petting her till she fell asleep. After a week or two she learned that she can only be on the bed if she's going to sleep too, haha.
Sometimes she still gets cheeky at night and wants to play, but now she goes out to the living room to play with her toys and run about rather than doing so in our bedroom! It just took a bit of patience for her to learn that the bed is for sleepy cats, not impish cats! :smuggrin: Like Lickleone said too, it does help to play lots just before bed! Good luck!!
 

BluesMummy

V.I.P Lairian
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Yep im defo a DaBird fan, Blue used to think he was a vampire & want to bite us as we slept of a night time, now even tho he still has a mad half hour about 10ish every night, we play DaBird & were both soon ready for bed !!! Hopefully your little one will soon get into the bedtime routine, i could never imagine keeping my cats out of my room id miss them to much & worry Blue is cold, just like a human baby they need to get into a routine....dont worry you will get there in the end but a crazy chase of DaBird should help loads, good luck xxx
 

Yoda mom

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Apr 23, 2012
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@Brianna Da Bird here too! The ONE piece pole only because they play like a shark on a fishing line!
I buy extra refill da birds because they tear them up!

**** Be sure to put da bird pole away after supervised only play.. There feet or neck can get caught up on the cord..
And one here prefers to chomp on the Da bird. The other prefers to chomp the cord..

I also have a cosmic cat nip toy on the head board and a cheap $ 1.69 kicker toy from pets supplies + .. I buy them in bulk for redirecting the zoomies and freshness at bedtime. I thump the kicker toy on the bed and they kick like crazy then snort then snuggle to bed :)

I also put up a smartcat cat climber.. It is like kitty jungle gym ! It is bouncy on the door so I may go back to mounting it on the wall. They are soo funny bouncing and leaping from it..they stay on it while I open the door too! Silly cats
 

naomi

V.I.P Lairian
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My Frida does this but in the morning around 6am. Fine during the week but not fun on the weekend.
 

Brianna

Lairian
Joined
May 2, 2014
Messages
6
Points
4
@Madison Good to know there are other kittens like my Lola out there! Thanks so much for your post.
I started putting her on the floor every time she came up to my face or wanted to play in bed and she's starting to understand that the bed is for sleepy time only!

She used to wake me up about 10 times a night and now she only wakes me up 3!

I also used to pet her and play with her in the mornings when I was trying to wake up and now I reserve that for when I go downstairs for my coffee. Now she doesn't wake me up purring in the middle of the night demanding love, she waits until we're downstairs! (y)
 

Madison

Lairian
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
14
Points
24
@Madison Good to know there are other kittens like my Lola out there! Thanks so much for your post.
I started putting her on the floor every time she came up to my face or wanted to play in bed and she's starting to understand that the bed is for sleepy time only!

She used to wake me up about 10 times a night and now she only wakes me up 3!

I also used to pet her and play with her in the mornings when I was trying to wake up and now I reserve that for when I go downstairs for my coffee. Now she doesn't wake me up purring in the middle of the night demanding love, she waits until we're downstairs! (y)

Hooray!! Such good news--I'm glad that little technique worked for you! I was hoping it would and I was totally thinking about you last night because Isla is so in the routine of "bedtime" that now all I have to do when I go to bed is flip the blanket back and she knows to curl up on my chest and it's time for bed! (That's actually what she's doing in my profile picture, she's all tucked in under my blanket!)

Enjoy getting some sleep!! :D
 
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