how can i stop my 10 month old kitten from crying outside my bedroom door all night?!?!?

Question

She wakes me up every 2 hours! I can't take it anymore!
She has food,water,toys, and the rest of the apartment to run around in!
There is no way i'm letting her in the room when i go to sleep because she'll pounce all over the bed!
WHAT can i do?!

Answer 1

She's just lonely.. :( . Sometimes you have to put up with the pounces.. I did and still do occasionally. If you play hard with her for like a half hour before you go to bed, she will more likely sleep with you. You can train your kitten to sleep at night. Limit her naps during the day and keep her active. I always wear my kitties out then they sleep most of the night with me.

Answer 2

Hi there...I'm partially reiterating some of the other suggestions here, but elaborating on them. It sounds like your ktty has found a schedule of her own. There are many possibilities as to why she may be waking you up. For example many cats who are fed at a scheduled time will learn when to expect their meals, the family members come home and leave for day, etc. It's more of a conditioned response from a pattern which is being continually reinforced...and is why I'm making this assumption.

If you would like to change/adjust her schedule to yours consider by playing with her using more physical active activities (e.g. laser light) using interactive play for 10-15 minutes prior to bedtime to exhaust her so she'll sleep longer. If she isn't free fed (food available at all times) some people who feed their cats on schedule (once in the morning and once at night) have found that by feeding right just before bedtime also note that this has a sedating effect because their tummy's are full.

This particular method isn't known to many as most people are not willing to consider it, however one the things we as animal trainers/behaviourists do to break bad behaviours with animals is to ignore the undesired behaviour. What follows is called an extinction burst where the behaviour becomes progressively worst for awhile hoping for the same positive reinforcement as received in past. Eventually the animal learns this behaviour does not gains them any positive reinforcement and eventually fades away.

Here's another example of how an extinction burst works: This happens when a proven method of doing something that brings a desired response (i.e. stealing socks always elicits a chase from a human), all of a sudden stops working. The extinction burst is the part where the dog tries the proven method again and again, and hundred times stronger before they figure out that it just doesn't work anymore. Human equivalent: you're at the elevator. You pressed the button 10 seconds ago. This has always made the elevator come and pick you up. For some reason, there's no sign that the elevator's coming. You press it again. And again, and again and again, harder and harder, with more force (extinction burst!), until finally you just give up and use the stairs. If the original method doesn't work anymore, why use it?!

More on Extinction Burst:
http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/archives/bursts.txt

Answer 3

Hi

Oh my gosh!

The same thing happens with my Tinkerbell, she's 7-8 months old and I only recently started closing my door for a few hours, because she jumps on me at 2am, 4 am etc then jumps onto the window sill to look outside, which is adjacent to my bed, then jumps back down, from the windowsill onto me.......then she runs around the room attacking papers on the floor, or jumpin on my desk and dressing table kncking over things, you lose sleep each night and I started getting moody, felt like I had a newborn baby, so when she gets really noisy and I cant take it anymore, I put her outside my room, [ I live in a 6 bedroomed shared house], most days I leave the door slightly open, so she can run about...........somedays she's really good and sleeps all night with me, soooc ute, but sometimes, I feel like Im going mad! I say, leave the bedroom door a little bit open, so she can get her food and toilet [thats if they're in your room] Im sure she will grow out of it, good luck..........P.S thanks for making me laugh.........[ because I'm in the same boat]

Answer 4

Kittens are most active at night and that's when she wants to play with you. Of course that's when you need your sleep, after all someone needs to be awake during the day to go to a job and earn the kibble!

Would it be possible to adopt another kitten? They could play together and give you some rest.

You are right about her not letting you sleep if you let her in. An adult cat will let you sleep, but kittens like to play and race across your bed during the night.

Answer 5

Just let her in. She is probably just having separation anxiety. My cat does that when we leave the house. Cats sleep most of their lives away, and out of pure experience I don't think she would wake you up by pouncing around anymore than meowing at all times of the night. Mine sleeps on my pillow all night. And I never hear anything from him. I hope this helps you out.

Answer 6

Get your kitten a bed ,can be a soft pillow or a small bed you buy at a pet shop and put inside a soft blanket, under the pillow or blanket put a clock (big ben or baby ben) .
So your problem will be probably solve ,your kitten will go to sleep in is bed thinking is his with his mom ,war and listening to the tick-tack of the clock thinking that is mother's hart.
Good luck

Answer 7

I think if you let the kitten into your bedroom it would settle down after a while. Outside of that, the kitten might actually be experiencing seperation anxiety (something that's quite common in dogs) when you lock it out of the room. You can:
Get another kitten to keep it company.
Leave a piece of clothing with your scent on it laying around when you lock her out so that she can still smell you and maybe she'll cuddle up to the aritcle of clothing.

Answer 8

I think you should just let her in your room at night. Hopefully after some time she will calm down to cuddle with you and sleep. she just wants to be with you.

Maybe play with your kitten where she has to run around like crazy about a half hour before you go to bed just to let some of her energy out.

Answer 9

make her a bed near your door and put a piece of clothing in it that has your scent. It will take a few nights but after a while she should calm down and sleep in the bed. cats are usually up at night so you may hear some crying no matter what

Answer 10

Cats like to be warm. And sleeping next to their people is the warmest place they can find. Let her in and cuddle with her. Some pets have separation anxiety. She might not like being away from you. I say to keep your door open so she can come and go. She'll stop crying.