Yet another cat question

[slinky]

So, little Jonesy is bored at night and last night in particular he decided he wanted a playmate and chose Mr. S Unfortunately, that resulted in Mr. S being woken up all too frequently during the night and losing a fair amount of sleep (me too, actually, since Mr. S threw a bit of a hissy fit at 4 am getting the cat off the bed ) Anyway, what's the best course of action -- the water gun approach that was mentioned previously or just lock him out of the room during the night (he'd have the run of the house, just no access to bedrooms where people are sleeping)?

[baloo]

Get him a play mate. I told ypou 2 cats would be a lot easier to manage than 1.

[slinky]

Wrong answer, baloo.

Anyone else?

[Lichtgestalt]

Play with him in the evening so he is tired... (applies to the cat and Mr. S)

[Kooky]

A playmate, seriously.

You can try locking him out but now you've let him in, I think that will be difficult. You might end up having to fill and repaint all the doors before you move.

edit: Cats really, really do not like closed doors. I often end up with 3 in the loo with me. Often one on my knee, too.

[Lili Von Shtupp]

Hate to say it, but the two-is-better-than-one thing is actually pretty true. Your next best thing is to buy him a pile of cat toys and lock him out. He may yowl outside the door for a few nights, but then he'll learn that it's off limits. As he gets older he'll mellow out and may be able to sleep with you at night again.

[slinky]

He's fine with the small slinkies' doors being closed at night. I've already warned Mr. S that he's likely to howl. He's not really bothering me much at night anymore -- I took the advice of ignoring him if he wakes me up and now he generally just curls up and sleeps next to me here and there during the night. Problem last night was Mr. S was his launching pad for getting on & off the bed, I think

[Pinklepurr]

I find my two keep me awake more when they are elsewhere in the house than when they are in the room with us. Mind you, we have two, so they do keep each other amused, albeit still very noisily at 2am! Two cats screaming around the house can be a lot louder than just one. It will however be a harder and longer route to take locking him out if he is alone that is for sure, he sounds like a cat that likes company.

Lichty's idea is a good one, make sure that he stays awake during the evening, does he play fetch games? chasing balls or whatever? My old cat used to spend about 2 hours a night playing with rolled up silver paper balls (all our family cats have played with balls made from chocolate bar wrapping and the like rather than kitchen foil as it is softer and they don't mind it when they pick it up in their mouths) and then slept the night through. Unfortunately this did become a lifelong thing...we had to play with the cat every evening! Oh, OK, I loved it.

[Lili Von Shtupp]

Oh, Slinky, I just thought of another tip you can pass on to Mr S. When Jonesy comes around looking for something, reach out and grab him and give him a big bear huggy cuddle and don't let him go no matter how much he squirms. Kiss him loudly and give him noogies (sp?) on the head and tell him you're in the mood to clean his ears while you poke your fingers around in there, then when he's at the point of going berserk from too much attention, let him go and watch him run!

Nothing gets rid of a cat faster than a good manhandling.

[Pinklepurr]

Lili....wonderful idea!

[Kooky]

Hmm. We're having to do daily ear cleaning of Ah Fu at the moment, and he's really not too keen.

Easily bribed, however. Neo brought home half a steak the other night (what's the feline equiv of a doggy bag? Pussy bag sounds somewhat wrong) and he's been wolfing down his antibiotics with that so soon forgets his trauma.

[slinky]

Pussy bag sounds somewhat wrong

You think??

[Zephyr]

Oh God, that just sounds so wrong on so many levels!!!

[FurBaby]

slinky - the 2nd cat idea is not (just) a sales pitch, it really does work

in the meantime, when you start keeping Jonesy out of the bedroom and he scratches at the door, tape a strip of aluminum foil to the bottom of the door. alternatively, you can hang a couple of strips of masking tape, stick side out, at the bits where he scratches.

[Morrolan]

our two cats make it a point of very noisily chasing each other along the entire length of the house alternately starting and ending in our bedroom... two cats make 4 times the noise.

[slinky]

two cats make 4 times the noise.

FINALLY! An honest man who speaks my language

[BoD]

I am an even more honest man. No cats make no noise at all.

[baloo]

two cats make 4 times the noise.

FINALLY! An honest man who speaks my language

hehe, I do like the selective belief. Claim all responses who said A are being dishonest and then latch onto the only person who said B and claim him to be the only honest person.

In all seriousness slinks, when I agreed to a cat (just one, and even then it was under great protest), I spent a fair bit of time researching cats because I had never owned one and those that I came into contact with never came near me again. All the research pointed to the simple fact that two cats will result in happier cats who can entertain themselves and not require unrelenting attention from their human owners. Further evidence tended to suggest having two cats meant less scratched furniture and speakers.

We went for two, I am happy I did.

[Morrolan]

All the research pointed to the simple fact that two cats will result in happier cats who can entertain themselves and not require unrelenting attention from their human owners. Further evidence tended to suggest having two cats meant less scratched furniture and speakers.

which is true, they refrain from doing it while making more noise, though...

[baloo]

All the research pointed to the simple fact that two cats will result in happier cats who can entertain themselves and not require unrelenting attention from their human owners. Further evidence tended to suggest having two cats meant less scratched furniture and speakers.

which is true, they refrain from doing it while making more noise, though...

We found a solution for that. Feed them too much so they get fat and lazy.

[Morrolan]

which is true, they refrain from doing it while making more noise, though...

We found a solution for that. Feed them too much so they get fat and lazy.

tried that, they found the solution to that in feline bulimia: they'll still gorge themselves, but then chuck it out all over our priceless Persian rugs...

[edit typo]

[Scrummy Mummy]

Another cat? I can help!

[slinky]

hehe, I do like the selective belief. Claim all responses who said A are being dishonest and then latch onto the only person who said B and claim him to be the only honest person.

Works for me!

We didn't lock him out last night & he was a lot better. Didn't bug me at all & Mr. S says he was only a launch pad once (I think that was only shortly after we went to bed anyway, so didn't wake him up)

I'll have to encourage the small slinkies to run around with long pieces of string & cat toys to get Jonesy to chase them from the time they get home from school until dinner time -- win-win

Edit: spelling

[Tas]

You can train cats into a routine. I watched my mother do it.

She basically trained the cat to go to bed. The cat has free reign until the late evening, she gets a brush and cuddle and then gets put to bed, then the parents shut up shop and go to bed too. No bother.

A small difference might be is that they had a spare cubby house in the yard. She converted it to a safe cat haven with mesh on the window and door and shuts her in every night. She's got food, scratch post, bed, everything!

Now cat comes in 9:30-10:00 every night to be put to bed, if she's ignored she crys at you.

Short answer was she was persistent and consistent and the routine prevailed. No night time problems!

[Morrolan]

You can train cats into a routine. I watched my mother do it.

She basically trained the cat to go to bed. The cat has free reign until the late evening, she gets a brush and cuddle and then gets put to bed, then the parents shut up shop and go to bed too. No bother.

A small difference might be is that they had a spare cubby house in the yard. She converted it to a safe cat haven with mesh on the window and door and shuts her in every night. She's got food, scratch post, bed, everything!

Now cat comes in 9:30-10:00 every night to be put to bed, if she's ignored she crys at you.

Short answer was she was persistent and consistent and the routine prevailed. No night time problems!

sounds like the same approach one is suggested to use with kids too...