I've had my kitten Vala for about 3 weeks-ish now. She's about 13 weeks old. I live in a studio apartment, so there's no separate bedroom. The very first night she wanted to play at 3 in the morning, but I had known ahead of time that that would probably be a problem and I had already done some reading on things to try. I knew that any attention, even negative attention, could reinforce the notion that she can get attention that way. So I just ignored her. And at first it seemed to work miraculously well. If she played at night she did it quietly and was sleeping in a basket of aprons on a shelf when I got up each morning. I thought I'd lucked out.
But now the last week and a half has been terrible. She's waking me up at 3 or 4 in the morning, every single morning. Sometimes she's not trying to. She'll jump up on my bed, but it'll be to cuddle and sleep. Which wouldn't be so bad if she didn't role around and jerk and kick me in the face a lot in her sleep. But a lot of times she wants to play.
Last night was awful. Usually when she jumps up, she might try to get under the covers down by my feet, but if I tuck it under my feet she gives up and I can go back to sleep. Last night she was very determined. Any little nook or cranny she tried to burrow into. Now, you might be asking, what's so bad about the cat getting under the covers? Isn't it cute and cuddly? Well, if she just wanted to sleep, sure. But she doesn't. She wants to stab me with her claws. So I basically spent the whole night either getting scratched or constantly guarding every inch of my bedspread against invasion. And when she did finally give up, she came up by my head and stuck her nose directly in my ear, while she was purring, which is very loud in that situation.
I love her dearly, I have no regrets about getting her, but I gotta figure out something. I was using a spray bottle when I first got her, and it worked for awhile, but now she doesn't even notice. She actually seems to like it. She doesn't seem to have a problem with citrus. I've tried playing with her exhaustively to try to wear her out. I've tried feeding her right before bed (hey, I get sleepy after a big meal, maybe cats do too).
I don't want to stick her in a carrier all night, that's not fair to her. And my bathroom is so tiny there's no room for a litter box, and I actually make an effort to shut her out of it because there's some mildewy caulking that my landlord still needs to replace, and she's really into licking things.
I could really use some advice on other things to try.
But now the last week and a half has been terrible. She's waking me up at 3 or 4 in the morning, every single morning. Sometimes she's not trying to. She'll jump up on my bed, but it'll be to cuddle and sleep. Which wouldn't be so bad if she didn't role around and jerk and kick me in the face a lot in her sleep. But a lot of times she wants to play.
Last night was awful. Usually when she jumps up, she might try to get under the covers down by my feet, but if I tuck it under my feet she gives up and I can go back to sleep. Last night she was very determined. Any little nook or cranny she tried to burrow into. Now, you might be asking, what's so bad about the cat getting under the covers? Isn't it cute and cuddly? Well, if she just wanted to sleep, sure. But she doesn't. She wants to stab me with her claws. So I basically spent the whole night either getting scratched or constantly guarding every inch of my bedspread against invasion. And when she did finally give up, she came up by my head and stuck her nose directly in my ear, while she was purring, which is very loud in that situation.
I love her dearly, I have no regrets about getting her, but I gotta figure out something. I was using a spray bottle when I first got her, and it worked for awhile, but now she doesn't even notice. She actually seems to like it. She doesn't seem to have a problem with citrus. I've tried playing with her exhaustively to try to wear her out. I've tried feeding her right before bed (hey, I get sleepy after a big meal, maybe cats do too).
I don't want to stick her in a carrier all night, that's not fair to her. And my bathroom is so tiny there's no room for a litter box, and I actually make an effort to shut her out of it because there's some mildewy caulking that my landlord still needs to replace, and she's really into licking things.
I could really use some advice on other things to try.
