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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / September 2005Otis is killing me
I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and I just can't stand it anymore. He gets up most mornings between 4 and 5 AM and yowls, claws the window screens, and also my face. He seems to want to go outside to go to the bathroom and to have a snack. He can't just seem to go down to the litterbox by himself and come quietly back to bed. I just fall back asleep when the alarm goes off. I think I've mentioned that my husband is now home and I am working - and I just can't afford to be this tired all day. My performance is suffering. Also, I've started to get migraines and broken sleep is a contributing factor to them. I'm tired of dragging around all the time. I'm going to have to stick him in the basement at night. I hate to do it since Otis is such a strange creature. On one hand, he's a velcro loving kitty passionate about being with his people. OTOH, if he doesn't get lots of slave-contact, he gets kind of wild pretty quickly. I'm gone all day at the office and my husband isn't so attentive all day to the cats as I am. I've felt that he needs his nighttime cuddle time. Winter should calm him down a bit since he's less inclined to go want to go out when its -20 and tends to hide under the covers until noon. I'm the only one in the city who can't wait for cold winter. Susan M Otis and Chester Whimpering > I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and I just > can't stand it anymore. He gets up most mornings between 4 and 5 AM and [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > out when its -20 and tends to hide under the covers until noon. I'm the > only one in the city who can't wait for cold winter. Have you tried putting a litterbox in your bedroom for Otis? Or closing him out of your bedroom, rather than in the basement? As a last resort, you might wear those foam earplugs that are made for shooters (very cheap in WalMart) and cover your face with a pillow. > Have you tried putting a litterbox in your bedroom for Otis? Or closing > him > out of your bedroom, rather than in the basement? > > As a last resort, you might wear those foam earplugs that are made for > shooters (very cheap in WalMart) and cover your face with a pillow. Thanks Pat. We don't want a litterbox in the bedroom for the noise (he's a big scratcher), the smell, and the mess. I think that he just likes to get up and prowl at this time of the morning too and its more than just needing to get up for a pee. If you lock him out of the bedroom, he will throw himself at the door all night and dig at the door, likely to the point that he will injure his feet. He's also a yowler. We can hear him complaining all the way from the basement to the second floor. He's part siamese. He also digs around the pillow (tried that) and scratches my face. He's one determined hombre. Unfortunately, after years of nine years of trying to deal with his nighttime habits, we've discovered that you have to be two storeys away from him to get any sleep at night. Susan M Otis and Chester > can't stand it anymore. He gets up most mornings between 4 and 5 AM and > yowls, claws the window screens, and also my face. He seems to want to go > outside to go to the bathroom and to have a snack. He can't just seem to go > down to the litterbox by himself and come quietly back to bed. I just fall Have you guys thought of building a small enclosure accessible with a cat flap? That way Otis can come in and out at night (or early morning) without you having to get up to let him out. It might be worthwhile looking into that.  SignatureVictor M. Martinez Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM) Send your spam here: uce@ftc.gov Email me here: pistorLITTER@BOXaustin.rr.com > Have you guys thought of building a small enclosure accessible with a cat > flap? That way Otis can come in and out at night (or early morning) > without you having to get up to let him out. It might be worthwhile > looking into that. Victor - that's exactly what I have planned as part of our renovation that we're doing this spring. The contractor and architect were a little surprised but I think that its a must for Otis. I hope that we can rig it so that we can retain heat in the house in the winter though. Hopefully we can fully seal it up when it is brutally cold. My concern though is that he'll get out there, go crazy because he can't get out of the enclosure, and yowl outside and wake the neighbours. I'm serious. I worry that he'll spend whole nights trying to dig himself out. He's just an extremely lucky cat that he got me instead of some lukewarm cat person. Susan M Otis and Chester > He's just an extremely lucky cat that he got me instead of some lukewarm cat > person. That he is. :) SignatureVictor M. Martinez Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM) Send your spam here: uce@ftc.gov Email me here: pistorLITTER@BOXaustin.rr.com > I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and > I just can't stand it anymore. He gets up most mornings between 4 > and 5 AM and yowls, claws the window screens, and also my face. He > seems to want to go outside to go to the bathroom and to have a > snack. He can't just seem to go down to the litterbox by himself and > come quietly back to bed. I just fall back asleep when the alarm > goes off. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > do it since Otis is such a strange creature. On one hand, he's a > velcro loving kitty passionate about being with his people. OTOH, if > he doesn't get lots of slave-contact, he gets kind of wild pretty > quickly. I'm gone all day at the office and my husband isn't so [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Winter should calm him down a bit since he's less inclined to go want > to go out when its -20 and tends to hide under the covers until noon. > I'm the only one in the city who can't wait for cold winter. > > Susan M > Otis and Chester > Whimpering I'm sorry to hear that. What a cat! I haven't got any bright ideas except a litterbox upstairs near the bedroom for him. Many purrs for it all to work out. -- Britta "There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album > I'm sorry to hear that. What a cat! I haven't got any bright ideas > except a litterbox upstairs near the bedroom for him. Many purrs for > it all to work out. Thanks Britta - and he looked so calm and normal when you met him! He spent the night in the basement last night. Only yowled for about an hour until he settled down. Poor little guy. I slept right through last night though! Susan M Otis and Chester he looked so calm and normal when you met him! He spent > the night in the basement last night. Only yowled for about an hour until > he settled down. Poor little guy. I slept right through last night > though! I have always thought you were a saint for tolerating his behaviour. He's like a kitty with ADHD, and I'm afraid he'd have been in the basement long ago if he'd disturbed my sleep like this. Well done. I don't allow my cats in the bedroom at night, I sleep badly enough as it is. They are perfectly happy downstairs. They can open the door to the stairs if they are determined enough. BF will occasionally do so to come upstairs at around 7 a.m. and enquire loudly outside my bedroom door whether I realise I am late for work. Otherwise they seem to know that it's out of bounds. Tweed > I have always thought you were a saint for tolerating his behaviour. > He's like a kitty with ADHD, and I'm afraid he'd have been in the [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Tweed I think the trick is to lock the cat(s) out before you go to bed. People who say, "It's easy to train a cat not to scratch the door/make noise/be obnoxious -- just grab them the instant they start and throw them out!" must not share my sleep modes. First I have to wake up enough to realize that the reason I'm not sleeping well is because Oscar is making noise. Then I have to get up, attempt to grab a non-cooperative, fully alert cat with superior night vision, keep said cat in my arms, and carry her squirming body all the way down the stairs, somehow getting her into the basement without causing her bodily harm or allowing her to squirm back out the basement door. And of course the whole time she's wailing like I'm taking her to the gallows. Then as soon as I finally do get to sleep, DH starts to snore. To add insult to injury, in the morning he typically reveals that he wasn't aware of any of the above because he slept soundly through it all. Arrrgh! Signaturemonique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca "Christina Websell" <spamfree@tinawebsell.wanadoo.co.uk> wrote in message > I have always thought you were a saint for tolerating his behaviour. He's > like a kitty with ADHD, and I'm afraid he'd have been in the basement long [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > whether I realise I am late for work. Otherwise they seem to know that > it's out of bounds. Thanks Tweed - I know it seems weird to have tolerated it so long but its entirely true what I said about him getting kind of feral without *lots* of human interaction. Those few times he's been lost, he went feral almost immediately and its been a miracle that I've been able to find him. To think that I've been 6 feet away from him, calling him, and he wouldn't come out because he reverted to survival mode! If those boys hadn't actually seen him one of those times, I would have assumed he wasn't in the yard - it wasn't until they swore he was behind the bushes and I climbed in that I saw him. Also, since I've been working, Fred hasn't been diligent enough about feeding them regularly. Otis decided to start hunting instead. One night, he came home with red legs, red cheeks, and a red chest. I thought he was hurt but he must have just eaten something kind of big. Ugh. So, that's why I've slept with him. He needs human companionship to tame him - and then he's the biggest suck I've ever seen. He's a cat of extremes ... but then I'm a human of extremes too. I kind of understand him ... Susan M Otis and Chester > "Christina Websell" <spamfree@tinawebsell.wanadoo.co.uk> wrote in > message [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >> occasionally do so to come upstairs at around 7 a.m. and enquire >> loudly outside my bedroom door whether I realise I am late for work. >> Otherwise they seem to know that it's out of bounds. > > Thanks Tweed - I know it seems weird to have tolerated it so long but > its entirely true what I said about him getting kind of feral without > *lots* of human interaction. Those few times he's been lost, he went > feral almost immediately and its been a miracle that I've been able > to find him. To think that I've been 6 feet away from him, calling [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > So, that's why I've slept with him. He needs human companionship to > tame him - and then he's the biggest suck I've ever seen. He's a cat > of extremes ... but then I'm a human of extremes too. I kind of > understand him ... > > Susan M > Otis and Chester Hopefully Fred can do the regular feeding and also spend more time interacting with him during the day, now that he's sleeping in the basement. I'm thinking that in order to make the new night time arrangements work, something's gotta give during the day. -- Britta "There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album > Hopefully Fred can do the regular feeding and also spend more time > interacting with him during the day, now that he's sleeping in the > basement. I'm thinking that in order to make the new night time > arrangements work, something's gotta give during the day. Well said Britta. We're also working on cooking ... Susan M Otis and Chester >> Hopefully Fred can do the regular feeding and also spend more time >> interacting with him during the day, now that he's sleeping in the [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Susan M > Otis and Chester LOL! Good luck :-) -- Britta "There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album >Otis decided to start hunting instead. One night, >he came home with red legs, red cheeks, and a red chest. I thought he was >hurt but he must have just eaten something kind of big. Ugh. Wow! I wonder what it was that he caught. This reminds me so much of the "Dogs in Elk" story. > I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and I just > can't stand it anymore. He gets up most mornings between 4 and 5 AM and [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > Otis and Chester > Whimpering I've got a "monster" cat, too. Zooming around at 1 in the morning, bouncing off me. I can relate. Wish I had a suggestion other than closing the bedroom door, but if yours is like mine, that won't work. They claw at the door which wakes you up as well. Sigh. I'm just learning to live with it. kili > > I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and I > just [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > kili In my old place, I was asleep with b/f one night, with Otis crashed on the bed. B/f started the snoring (loud enough to wake the dead), then the cat started too. I put in ear plugs, ha ha, no bloody use. So I went in the other bedroom, put ear plugs in and shut the door. Next time I awoke to find the cat snoring on my new bed and now with the doors both open I could again hear the b/f's nasal opera. It's the only time I've ever picked up the cat and literally thrown him out of the room, I was so angry! So what does he do? Starts to dig up the (new) carpets outside the room, at which point I have up and went for a ciggie in the kitchen! > I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and I just > can't stand it anymore. Wow. That Otis is one crazy kitty... Ours seem to be okay as long as someone is home half of the time...and they dont' care if we're awake or asleep...they'll be leaning heavily on me while DP is working shifts in the hospital. But DP got them in the summers when I was on military service. Best of luck with Otis. --Fil {{{He spent the night in the basement last night. Only yowled for about an hour until he settled down. Poor little guy. I slept right through last night though!}}} That's one determined kitty!! I'm happy your night went as well as it did. No bright ideas...just sympathetic rumbles...:) PatM You really need your sleep or you'll just exhaust yourself completely, Susan. Lots and lots of sleeping purrs and best wishes, SignaturePolonca & Soncek > I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and I just > can't stand it anymore. He gets up most mornings between 4 and 5 AM and > yowls, claws the window screens, and also my face. He seems to want to go > outside to go to the bathroom and to have a snack. He can't just seem to go > down to the litterbox by himself and come quietly back to bed. I just fall > back asleep when the alarm goes off. <snip> > I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and I just > can't stand it anymore. He gets up most mornings between 4 and 5 AM and [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > Otis and Chester > Whimpering My Otis is exactly the same, he's had to be banned to downstairs when I go to bed as he has this habit of trying (successfully) to wake me up at about 6.30am (I work lates and don't get up til 10am) by licking the plastic bin bag in my rubbish bin. Occasionally I don't realise he's upstairs (hides in the loft), then he saunters in to wake me up, so usually I hunt him out and lock him downstairs before I go to bed, he has everything he needs there (apart from me of course) and has had to learn to grin and bear it. He's got used to it and doesn't seem to mind now, apart from when I have the audacity to pick him up off the loft sofa to carry him downstairs, he hates being carried anywhere, destroys his sense of "I'm in charge here". I have a downstairs bathroom and usually when I go to the loo in the night he doesn't even bother me for food now until it's actually daylight. I was getting too tired as I'm a very light sleeper anyway and it had to be done! Marcia |
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