Training cats to sleep in house not garage

gracie83 · 11-12-2012, 02:31 PM

Hello,

Since my house cats were kittens they have slept in the garage. (They caused far too much damage left in the house!)The garage is their zone to scratch to their hearts content, a place of piles of pillows and duvets to keep them snug, their toys, tall things to climb, windows to watch the world, food and of course the litter trays. At 8pm on the dot both cats will appear and demand access to the garage and then monitor the litter cleaner (me) to make sure I do a good job!

However as the years have rolled on (they are 5 now) they seem to be getting more and more vocal to be let out of the garage after being in there for a while. If you go to the loo at night all you can hear is two cats meowing because they can hear me moving around the house. But being cats if you let them back in they just want to go back in the garage again!

We have on occasion left the girls in the with a litter tray, food, water. They spend hours scratching at the bedroom door. We let them in the bedroom, they get vocally upset when we shut the bedroom door (I just cannot sleep with it unlocked!) and then they kept us awake until I gave in and followed them as I was escorted to the garage to let them back in!

We have tried leaving them in just the living room overnight their cries were pitiful and the damage to the wallpaper!!!!!! They hate closed doors!

I would be more than happy to have the girls in the house at night but they make it so difficult! One on level I am sure they think of the garage as 'theirs' I remember my first cat who used to take great pleasure showing the humans around 'her' back garden. The cats do the same in the garage.

Any ideas how we could try to get the girls inside the house overnight while letting us humans sleep as well - the girls sleep during the day so they are fine!

Arianwen · 11-12-2012, 02:58 PM

Firstly, keep them as active as you possibly can during the day.

Secondly, grit your teeth for a bit and wait for things to settle down.

It may even be worth you considering getting a hatch in your bedroom door so you can have a shut door and they can get in and out without disturbing you.

hoofmaiden · 11-12-2012, 03:18 PM

Cat door between garage and the rest of the house?

11-12-2012, 02:31 PM	#1 (permalink)
gracie83 Jr. Cat Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 95	Training cats to sleep in house not garage Hello, Since my house cats were kittens they have slept in the garage. (They caused far too much damage left in the house!)The garage is their zone to scratch to their hearts content, a place of piles of pillows and duvets to keep them snug, their toys, tall things to climb, windows to watch the world, food and of course the litter trays. At 8pm on the dot both cats will appear and demand access to the garage and then monitor the litter cleaner (me) to make sure I do a good job! However as the years have rolled on (they are 5 now) they seem to be getting more and more vocal to be let out of the garage after being in there for a while. If you go to the loo at night all you can hear is two cats meowing because they can hear me moving around the house. But being cats if you let them back in they just want to go back in the garage again! We have on occasion left the girls in the with a litter tray, food, water. They spend hours scratching at the bedroom door. We let them in the bedroom, they get vocally upset when we shut the bedroom door (I just cannot sleep with it unlocked!) and then they kept us awake until I gave in and followed them as I was escorted to the garage to let them back in! We have tried leaving them in just the living room overnight their cries were pitiful and the damage to the wallpaper!!!!!! They hate closed doors! I would be more than happy to have the girls in the house at night but they make it so difficult! One on level I am sure they think of the garage as 'theirs' I remember my first cat who used to take great pleasure showing the humans around 'her' back garden. The cats do the same in the garage. Any ideas how we could try to get the girls inside the house overnight while letting us humans sleep as well - the girls sleep during the day so they are fine! Last edited by gracie83; 11-12-2012 at 02:33 PM.

11-12-2012, 03:18 PM	#3 (permalink)
hoofmaiden Premier Cat Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Tennessee Posts: 4,110	Cat door between garage and the rest of the house? __________________ Elizabeth and Calvin (brown tabby DSH); Conrad (B&W DSH); Erik (W&B DSH); and Jonah (blue tabby DSH)

11-12-2012, 02:58 PM	#2 (permalink)
Arianwen Cat Addict Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: South Wales, UK Posts: 1,601	Firstly, keep them as active as you possibly can during the day. Secondly, grit your teeth for a bit and wait for things to settle down. It may even be worth you considering getting a hatch in your bedroom door so you can have a shut door and they can get in and out without disturbing you.

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