My cats keeping me from sleep?

Question

OK only serious answers please.....
I have not gotten a full nights sleep since I was away from my fat cat (I love her to death realy) for a week 3 months ago. She wakes me up a few times each night by sticking her paw in my face until I get up to feed her. I don't feed her too much, I give her IAMS weight control. 1/4 C. at 6 am, 1/8 C. at lunch, 1/4C. at 6pm, 1/8 C. at 12am, 1/8 C. at 4am. She weighs 12ish lbs. But I dont think I feed her too much because as I said its WEIGHT CONTROL, but i'd just like to get some sleep.

Answer 1

From experience... refuse to feed her at night. Stick to your guns because she has you trained well. I should know...lol, I have an orange tabby that is 22 lbs and he does something similar. Now I feed him before bed and at that point he just has to wait until morning and he knows it.. now. It will take a while, but just feed kitty right before bed and then refuse to get the food in the middle of the night. Drop kitty off the bed a few times and they will stop to. It is too much work to keep jumping up to ask. Give is a week or so because cats are stubborn, but it will work.
Good Luck, hope this helped.

Answer 2

Ok first of all, cats will not over indulge themselves when eating. That's why when you go away you can leave a big pan of cat food for them and when you return there will even be some left. The cat is overweight for another reason. Cats will gain weight if they are fixed or because of some other health problem. Has the vet said she is overweight?

Being a cat owner myself, I know my male cat got pretty large after being fixed and declawed. He is not overweight but heaven forbid if his dish is anywhere close to being empty! He will bug and bug until he sees his dish full. He will not sit and eat it at the time but wants to make sure food IS in there. Maybe he's just spoiled. Just fed her before going to bed. If this doesn't work, maybe it's time to lose the bed partner and make her fend for herself on the couch so you can get some rest!

Answer 3

No you don't feed her too much, but why are you feeding her at 12am and 4am?

This is what I'd do and it will take some getting used to for your cat especially because he is a little spoiled getting food at the hours you give it to her.

Close your door to your bedroom and keep her out.

Or, train her when she puts her paw in your face, put the sheet over your head, meaning go away. It works, I know.

Cats will try anything they can get away with and you need your sleep more than she needs food at those hours you are giving it to her. She can eat dry food.

Answer 4

Honestly, you should try closing the door when you go to sleep. She doesn't need to eat at 4am. You could also try giving her the full amount of food in the morning or night and let her eat it at her leisure. Also, the weight control food might just be less filling than regular.

Are you sure she's overweight though?

Answer 5

When I first got my kitten she'd keep me up all night not to feed her just because she was lonely. After a couple weeks she stopped. For you I'd adjust the amount that I'd feed her. I have a self feed and all my cats (besides one are of appropriate weight). If you want her to lose weight get her some toys that make her moves around. It seems to be working for my chubby kitty! Good luck.

Answer 6

I think you are giving her too many feeding times. It is good to have multiple meals, but 4 am??? That is crazy! I think you need to just Not do the ones in the middle of the night, and give her a few more meals in the day time. Try keeping her in a separate room at night until she knows that she is not going to get food at night. My kitty knows she gets food the moment i wake up, she doesn't wake me up, she just waits. So hopefully your kitty will learn that too. Good Luck!

Answer 7

Chances are she's not waking you for the sole purpose of feeding her, she missed you and is wanting your attention. When you go away for any long length of time like that, your animals can start to feel as if you abandoned them. She could be afraid you're going to leave her again. I wouldn't feed her every time she wakes you, just pet her a bit and talk calmly to her to reassure her that you're still there. You may have to shut her out of your room to get more sleep until she gets over this. And 12 lb.s isn't overweight unless the cat is tiny. One of my cats weighs 21 lbs. and is very healthy according to our vet, he's just a bigger cat. (in every sense of the word, very large breed!)

Answer 8

Fat cats usually want more love than a normal cat because they think you like the cat that's not overweight more.I know because I have a fat cat too.Try making a room just for her(a closet works fine).Make a bed and staples for a cat's life.Put her in it at night and shut the door.She'll get used to the routine and then you won't have to shut the door any more.

Answer 9

We got our cat about 3 years ago, and let her sleep on our bed when she was a kitten. When she got a bit older though, 4am was WAKE UP TIME, the cats awake, everyones awake! She wouls scratch the side of the bed till we got up & fed her.

So we put her bed in the laundry , up high, thats important, and although she yowled at the door when we put her to bed, she got used to it pretty quick. We just let her out when we get up - easy! You must be harsh though, your cat will meow a lot but you have to ignore her.

Good luck!

Answer 10

You'll never get a good night's sleep if you keep feeding her whenever she wakes you up,. She will just keep waking you up more. Never reinforce the behavior you don't want. Don't do anything for her after you've gone to bed. You could even keep a squirt bottle by the bed so you can squirt her if she wakes you up, but not if she is cuddling nicely.