Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

Oh wow ... we are in a similar situation but you are much luckier than me. I think everyone on here knows about me and my husband's cat. We just have this 'love/hate' relationship and I, like you, am not an animal person, so it was soooooo hard for me to adjust.

Unforunately for me, my husband will not keep her locked out of our bedroom and our 'precious' Mookie sleeps on our bed at night. I can't stand it ... but he feels so strongly about it, then I just gave in. I think it would have been him and Mookie or me alone ... so I took them both! LOL!

Anyway ... I had some discipline problems with our cat ... she use to bite and swat at me ... but now she is much better. I give her attention at times too and I also use the empty can filled with coins to shake when she does something wrong. I give her treats when she is good ... so she kind of knows.

Cats are hard to train, especially that you got her so late in life. I would give the vet a call ... I'm sure they will have some suggestions.

And just know that I feel your pain!

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

Thank you for feeling my pain and I am sorry to hear that your situation is worse. Let's stick together and be here for one another when we need to vent.... some hugs for you.

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

i doubt she is going to learn - it is very hard to teach an animal when they are older, - have you tried just letting her in the room? maybe she will just be quiet and sleep at the foot of the bed or something.

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

We have two cats and one of them used to scratch at the bedroom door. We tried to leave the door open a couple of times. The one cat would be good and sleep on the floor and the other one would be trying to jump on the dresser.
Eventually he got the hint and no longer scratches at the door.

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

It probably will take some time but once ours gets the hint then maybe she will stop too.

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

You can try letting him in the room and whenever he jumps on the bed, knock him off. See if he will behave and stay on the floor. Our one cat wouldn't behave so the door had to stay closed. Now he could care less.

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

Sorry, used to having male pets so I am in the habit of saying 'he' all the time.

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

Oh that's ok. My DH says that since she is a female cat that she is jealous now that someone has taken her spot next to him in bed. I still want to try the water gun thing.

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

We used the water gun all the time to keep them off the furniture. It worked great. Then my little nephew came over and took the water gun.

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

I'll buy you another one

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

I'm sure she is very jealous and cats aren't known for changing their behavior easily. I would actually suggest that you try to ignore her. We just got a cat a few weeks ago and we got all these books on how to best train, etc. Not that the 'experts' are always right, but one consistant thing in all seemed to be 'ignore it'. When I had a cat before, she would get you up at 5:00-6:00 AM to be fed everyday. It drove my parents nuts but they would always get up - no matter how much they yelled or pushed her off the bed, she'd still do it. But, when I had her myself, I would ingore her (I know, easier said than done) but after a while, she gave up. I know that it's hard to sleep with that noise - maybe try earplugs for a few weeks until she does stop. they say that any acknowlegement of their behavior will only perpertuate it (I'm not sure this applies to the water gun - but I REALLY don't think hitting a cat ever gets you anywhere except maybe to make it afraid of you.)
Hope you are able to get that fixed - I know it can make you nuts!!

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

bedda26:

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

My cat did the same thing. FI and I got her a year ago. She was allowed to sleep in the bed but the problem was at 2AM every morning she would start licking my face and wake me up.

So then we started locking her out. She cried and cried and we dealt with it for weeks...then finally she go the hint. She now doesnt cry all night just in the morning at like 6-6:30 when she hears our alarm...then she knows we are up.

In the last couple of weeks I started letting her sleep in the room....just cause i miss her, and again she wakes me up at 2AM. Now I let her wake me and at 2AM I take her out of the room. I dont mind I guess cause I am crazy about her.

She might stop after a while when she realizes she is not coming in. The water gun did nothing to help us.

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

I guess we try ignoring her but the sound drives me bananas! It'll take a while but hopefully she'll get the hint as well.

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

Maybe you can try falling asleep with the tv on, and the sound of the tv will drown out the sound of her crying? ( I sound so cruel sorry cat-lovers )


MEEOOWWW !!!!

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

Oh be careful about the jealousy thing. When Rob and I started dating ... and I started staying over and taking attention away from the cat ... she started spraying ... on the rug by all my stuff. She stopped since then, but I tell you ... I watch her like a hawk!!!

back to you bedda!

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

Cira your the best! LOL thanks for the hugs. I feel a little better to know that I am not alone in this situation.

She never has done anything to my stuff. Sometimes I'm the one who gets up at night and as soon as she sees me fling the door open she runs cuz she doesnt even want to deal with me cuz the last time I screamed at her for waking me up she ran and hid under the dining room table...LOL

But now my husband tells me not to wake up because he will take care of this problem. Oh by the way is your husband's name Rob too? How cool so is mine...

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

Oh by the way Anna good idea about the TV...LOL

Cira some hugs right back at ya...

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

Yes, my husband's name is Rob. What is it with Robs and cats!
Mookie (our cat's name) is so mean ...she tries to be the boss when it's me and her. I tell you ... she would never run away from me unless I have the can or I try to swat her with something or the vacuum ... that's the best - she runs away so fast when I vacuum. She's scared of it!

Our cat is an outdoor cat though ... so sometimes I just throw her out. But then I worry about what she's bringing in my house!!!

And she is an attention hog with an attitude. I swear if you ignore her ... she'll give you such a look and make you feel so guilty. It's the funniest thing.

And my Rob doesn't want to hear it when I complain about her. I can't tell you how many fights we have gotten into over the cat. She's his little precious princess!!

Oh well ... we can share cat horror stories.

Re: My Husband's Cat keeps us up at night.....

All I can say is -- you are very lucky. At least your husband puts you before the cat!! My husband's cat sleeps with us. He constantly wakes me wanting to play, or jumps on me at 3am. Sometimes I roll over and find him on my pillow, or he'll sleep at the foot of my bed and I can't stretch my legs out. My husband says I should be nice to him since he loves his mommy!!! If it were up to me I would lock him out of the room every night but my husband gets upset when I don't let him in our room. Sometimes I get so mad and throw him out of the room in the middle of the night and he cries relentlessly until we let him in the room again.

To all you animal lovers out there -- I do like this cat but I don't like getting up in the middle of the night and I prefer to share my bed with just my husband!

I feel for you Bedda26!!