Chum-Lee has got into pretty GD annoying habits of late. Habits that we really need to nip in the bud right now!
I’ve just pretty much gotten T’s night sleeping back on track in preparation for bringing LSP home (really really really hope D can keep it together while I’m in hospital!) and now I have to throw all my efforts into Chum-Lee. I’ll be damned if I have to be getting up all night long for a newborn AND a cat!
Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth right? Think again!
Chum-Lee is allowed outside to chase lizards, spy on dogs in the park and dream of the birds he will never be able to catch. It is actually pretty funny watching the birds all gang up on him and chase him back inside. However we keep him in at night. We are responsible cat parents.
Usually, he hangs out with D in the lounge room until D comes to bed. Sometimes he chases cockroaches in the garage and does a few ‘cat crazy’ dashes around the house. D is Chum’s boyfriend so when D comes into bed Chum follows. He sleeps with us for most of the night – usually right in between us, possibly so I don’t get too close to his lover.
This is all fine until Chum-Lee decides to be a big fat pain in the arse naughty cat. This can occur any time between midnight and 4. It begins with Chum waking and getting agitated. He walks all over the bed for a bit trying to find a happy spot. This always wakes me, D, as I said last night, can sleep through anything.
Then, naughty cat jumps off the bed and starts scratching up the base of our bed. This is his nightly routine and I can’t for the life figure out why he keep on doing it because it ALWAYS results in me swinging an arm or a leg off the edge of the bed to try and give him a whack, but he just keeps on coming back for more – it’s like a game to him! In the end I chase him out of the room and close the door. Good bye naughty cat. Hello happy sleep.
All is well until around 4:30ish when he decides to come back and piss us off again. He sits outside our bedroom door and meows louder and louder and louder until one of us gets out of bed swearing like a sailor and either feeds him or lets him outside. Cat wins. This cannot continue. For one thing, meowing outside our bedroom will also be meowing outside LSP’s bedroom and we can’t have that. For another, it’s incredibly annoying!
How do I stop this behaviour? Any cat whisperers have any secrets they can impart on us? We have 1 week.
Today I bought a water spray bottle. I am going to try spraying him tonight when he starts with the bed scratching. It’s pretty mean I know, but I don’t know what else to do! I am happy to get up and feed him at 6 when I have to be up for the kids anyway, but I really don’t want to be loosing any more precious sleep with this tom (cat) foolery.
Captain Naughty Cat
If the water spray doesn’t work, where do I go from there? Shock treatment therapy? Please help me! I really need to sort this and it is stressing me big time! Is it time to call Dr Harry?
Four Doodles and a Taco 
Omg Sophia we’re in exactly the same boat! We don’t often let the cats sleep with us as from around 4am they get a bit restless for their food so we mostly keep them in the corridor. But because the corridor also leads to the laundry and our bedroom there is no way to keep them away from our bedroom door. Stella sits right up close from around 4 am and either meows or plays with her toys making a racket. But Stiggy also comes and joins her and being siblings (they’re not but I like to think their fights are sibling like and nothing serious) they scramble outside the door, banging in to it and making it rattle at the early hours of the morning. We’ve tried squirting them with water but they just come back and now, no what is happening when they hear movement inside so start running before we can open the door. We’ve tried tin foil outside which worked for a bit but Stella being super smart worked out it was nothing alien and just sat right on top of it. We tried changing their feeding times – that didn’t work. Once we have the baby we’ll be up early anyway, but even after feeding stella meows to come in as she loves her Daddy so much she’s obsessed with him! I don’t know if that’s safe with bub in the bassinet and us snoozing? We want a cat whisper too I’ve been saying it for months! Do they exist???
at least I know that i am not alone and my cat is not the cat devil! I imagine that having two cats would be even far worse than my one naughty cat! I had some minor success with the water spray last night but it did mean I was pretty much awake from 3am spraying him every time he came to the door, but I did not give in and didn’t let him outside or feed him until I woke up to Theo and by that time he had given up! Time will tell I guess. If I find a whisperer I will let you know!
We have contemplated setting up a sprayer that squirts when it detects movement lol! just means we’d get sprayed in the calves everytime we went to the loo haha!
I don’t know anything about cats except that they are stubborn and can be cute when they want to be. Get the sprayer out and show him who’s boss! Maybe a garden hose?
Yes, very cute but very stubborn! The sprayer has been working surprisingly well thus far. Fingers crossed Chum-Lee will be ‘cured’ of his annoyingness before LSP comes.