[Syrena]

Hello kitty lovers!

It has been over 2 months since my boyfriend and I adopted our Ginfis from the shelter. She is very lively, cute and intelligent.
Her specialty is to jump on the door handle and open the door.
We love to spend time with her and play with her but however she is not allowed to sleep with us in the bedroom, she sleeps in the living room.
She is living her own night life outside of our bedroom, but when she gets bored or lonely, she comes and tries to jump and open the door handle in our bedroom. She usually comes around 3-4am. Of course, she makes a lot of noise when she meows and jumps in the front of the door.
She listens to us, and when we screem Ginfis, no! She stops, but returns in 1-2 hours later and tries to open the door again.

Do you have any idea how to discourage her to stop to pay us her night visits?
I think she does that because she gets lonely and wants to play and pet. When she comes during the night I get out from the bedroom sometimes, pet her for 5 minutes and after she calms down and gets back to living room and is quiet. But in 2 hours she is back and tries to wake us up again...

Any ideas?

 

[MowMow]

When I lock Book up to feed him (so MowMow doesn't eat all of everyone's food) he eats for a second and then starts to claw the carpet and meow to come out. If I yell "NO" he stops for a second but starts again and I realize he's getting attention when he's being bad so.... it's just not working.

THEN I remembered someone on here mentioning a vacuum cleaner (and if I remember who that was and I ever win the lottery, you're set for life). I leave the vacuum on (make sure it isn't plugged in) on HIS side of the door and when I shut the door I tuck the cord under the door and pull the vacuum (by the cord) against the inside of the door. I take the cord with me to my desk and the second he starts clawing or yowling (I allow small mewling noises of unhappiness) or making LOUD noises I plug the vacuum in. ONce it fires up for a second and I unplug it he's quiet and stays WELL away from the door.

This didn't work with him initially, he wasn't afraid of the vacuum but in the past few weeks for some reason he's been showing signs of fear so I took advantage of it.

I think if you do this instead of yelling (Just plug it in for a second and yank the plug back out) Ginfis will learn to leave the door alone.

 

[marie73]

I think the vacuum cleaner idea was Heidi's. It sounds great. I know it would scare the crap out of my girls. My twins are now allowed to start off in my bedroom at night, but if they act up or they're in a playful mood, out they go. Fortunately, if Charlee starts jumping on the handle or meowing, I just yell "No, Charlee!" a couple times and she stops. But they have each other to cuddle with.

 

[Sinatra-Butters]

I'd just let the cat in or go out and play with her. I am a house slave to my cats though so I'm no help.

 

[asrowley]

I'm also a slave to my animals. My cat sleeps with me and my fiance

 

[Syrena]

Thank you all for your ideas!

MowMow; marie73: I heard about the vacuum too. in most cases it is efficent, but we have a little problem. We don't have a vacuum. We have wooden floor and our appartment is not so big so I am able to clean it only with the broom and wash it after. I don't need to have a vacuum and to buy a vacuum only because of Ginfis...hmmm...
moreover; ginfis stayed by my friend for 1 week for Christmas..she was cleaning and hoovering and Ginfis wasn't scared of vacuum at all. ginfis is not scared of anything in general...vacuums, hair dryes, wash machine...she is very brave

Sinatra-Butters; asrowley: i am aslo slave to her, but my boyfriend is not excited about the idea that she would be allowed to sleep with us.She is allowed to stay in bed with us until we'll get to sleep, she enjoys it very much. but for the night she has to get out.:? also my boyfriend moves a lot when he sleeps..I would be scared that he would harm her unwillingly while he sleeps..roll over her or something...

I also thought to buy a water pistol and every time she would jump on the door handle water her with it...but she is not scared of water neither...she would be back in few minutes..

 

[librarychick]

To be honest the best thing to do is ignore her. If you never give her a response she'll get bored and go do something else. Getting up to play with or pet her is about the worst thing you can do if you ever want to sleep through the night.

When I was in high school and still living at home I had a dog. She's a super smart dog, and we spent tons of time together. She slept with me, on the bed, at night. In a year and a half she woke me up twice to go potty, and she really needed to go.
After I moved out I found out that my mom had been getting up with her every night around 2-3am. Why did this dog, who I KNEW could hold it all night, suddenly need to get up? Because my mom would.

The moral of the story? If they think they can get a middle-of-the-night playtime out of you they'll try. I sleep pretty heavily, so none of our pets even try to get me to wake up, it doesn't work. Torri will occasionally be such a pain that my SO will wake up briefly, but I have him trained so he'll just roll over and go back to sleep after tucking his feet in safe from the midnight monster, lol. Because of this Torri very rarely wakes us up, and the one or two times she has it's been because she's sick.

(Strangely, even though I'm a super heavy sleeper, a kitty in trouble wakes me up every time...)

 

[BotanyBlack]

(Strangely, even though I'm a super heavy sleeper, a kitty in trouble wakes me up every time...)

Nothing like a "urking" noise to bring you out of bed in half a second flat.

My cats generally sleep through the night, unfortunately i am a cronic insomniac. So Gypsy waits til i stir and lays on my chest purring and i just pet her an doze for a few hours. Last night she pinned me in place for 6 hours.. I dozed some, she slept well purring all night as I pet her.. but my shoulders ached this morning .

 

[Syrena]

Librarychick: I stopped to do that last week. I don’t come out when she starts to make noise in the front of the door. But unless I scream “Ginfis, no!” she is able to meow and jump on the door handle forever. I don’t know why she thinks she can do that during the night….probably she is bored, or just wants to play….last week she was really calm during 3 nights in a row. We were really surprised that she did not come and required attention. But we let her alone for the new year weekend and she was so happy when we came back…so tonight she decided to pay us 2 nightly visits again…but all it needs is just scream and she stops immediately…

Bottanyblac: Maybe she is still too young. She is only 8 months old…maybe it will get better when she will be older and she will sleep through the whole night like your cats.

I am a cronic insomniac too…maybe that is why I can hear her all the time. I am also very sensitive towards her. I can hear her eating and going to the toilette during the night even if our bedroom is downstairs. That is just because I cannot sleep. My bf sleeps really well and sometimes he doesn’t even hear her jumping on the door handle (lol! That really makes noise and he can sleep through it!).