My cats are driving me nutz!?

LOL - sorry to laugh but my cats do the same thing to me. it might take some sleepless nights on your part to train them that they can't be in the bedroom. unfortunately, since the pattern is already set, it will take some work to break it. it's pretty much inevitable that for a while they will continue to scratch at the door and "yell" at you - but try to keep their outside environment as cat-friendly as possible (like maybe cat furniture for them to chase each other through) and nice toys and comfy things to sleep on so they learn that that's their play space. while you're still awake, play with them in this area. maybe get one of those balls where they have to roll it around and play with it to get the treats out and give it to them in their play area just before you close the bedroom door for the night. it might take a while, but eventually they should get the idea.

I am laughing so hard right now. I am in my office in the lower level of my home and my 2 males are having the kitty 500 upstairs and I just heard my husband yell because he is trying to sleep. He forgot to set the door.

What we do is not close the door all the way. We leave it open just enough that they have to walk to get in. There is a door stop behind the door and an obstacle beside the door just inside the room. They MUST walk to get in. Well, this is just no fun for a kitty 500. So, they use the other 2 bedrooms, living room, dining room and yes even the kitchen and hallways. Our bedroom tends to be the pit row when they need to rest.

We learned to do these things with the door the hard way. Loss of sleep, kitties racing across our faces, knocking over lamps and clocks. So at first we tried to close the door and yes they yelled and clawed. Then we decided to close the door but not let it latch. They would hit the door like a ton of bricks which sent my husband and I straight up in the bed. Well then we discovered a door stop will keep the door from slamming open but the kitties would still hit the door and run in. We were at our wits end until we found out by accident (a laundry basket was put just inside the door) that an obstacle would stop the running. That was comical though. They were running down the hall, through the door and the one in front stopped in his tracks and the one bringing up the rear, well he literally brought up the rear of the one in front. I still laugh to this day and that was 5 years ago.

When I got my cat as a kitten, she used to do this also. Several times I caught her in mid air (try that in the dark) and put her in the bathroom for the night. She had food, water and litterbox in there so she wasn't neglected. She learned pretty quickly not to do that. She will still act up sometimes during the night. I have a small stuffed bear (no bigger than my hand) that I will throw at her if she starts misbehaving like that. That is a good deterrent also.

She sleeps on the bed with us, usually behind my knees. She will walk up my leg and then slide down to get as close as possible. I don't mind that at all. I know she gets up in the night, but she is very quiet when she does and we don't wake up. So, in a nutshell, it's a matter of training them not to do that.

Cat are nocturnal and they are there most active during late evening to early morning. I work till 3.30pm and when I get home my cats are usually asleep on my bed.

My female cat sometimes doesn't move from my bed all day so I put her outside and don't let her in for a couple of hours and them I play with them and they are back asleep on the bed around 11pm.

Cats sleep for about 16hrs a day so try to break the cycle up.

Also when they cry at the door at night very quietly get out of bed and open the door and either spray them with water or make a loud noise and repeat as they usually try again within a couple minutes. I hiss at my cats when they annoy me as that is what mother cats do to there kittens to show them there not pleased.

I hope this helps.

OMG that is kinda funny for about the first 10 minutes. I can see where you are loosing your mind! lol. This one is really hard since cats do what they want when they want to.

How about playing with them heavily just before you have to sleep. You know those cat teasers with feathers on a string get a few of those. Try to find big cat tree they can bounce off of too.

Hope that helps some.

i think as a cat owner myself u should maybe try separating them at night. Cats seem to like the night time better. try keeping one with u and one in your living area. I know the feeling on the cat situation

My mom had this problem with one of our cats when he was still just a baby. He slept with her, and would wake up in the middle of the night and want to play. So she finally just made him stay up until she went to bed. He would start to doze off and she would wake him up... Worked like a charm. Never had the problem of him horsin' around in the middle of the night again.

sorry but cats are nocturnal (they sleep all day and hunt at night,)by nature BUT you can train your cats too sleep the same time you do. You just have to put them on a schedule EG: play with them alot in the daytime hours and keep them from sleeping all day and they will have to sleep at night, a cat will sleep up to 14 hours a day so try to keep them awake all day.

my cats do this and I just grab one and hold it close to me--then the other one can't chase it and eventually gives up--after a few nights of this they give up all together--for a while.

I would try the Feliway Comfort Zone Plug-In, or the the healthy calming chicken fillets found on drfostersmith.com

or ebay. Is there anyway you can keep them out of the bedroom while you sleep?