Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Do you folks actually have a cat? You can't discourage a cat by ignoring her, shutting her out, or not petting. Cats don't respond to that kind of training. That is negative reinforcement and it does not work for cats. Do I really need to tell you that? If you have cats they must be a handful.
Just Google it. Negative reinforcement for training cats. Jeez.
Not reacting to a cat's behavior is not negative reinforcement, it's a neutral position. The way you wouldn't give a cat a treat for not doing the desired behavior. I fail to see the negative aspect to this, and would actually say it is necessary for positive reinforcement to be meaningful to an animal. Do you care to share how you would solve the OP's problem?
Don't give the cat ANY good reinforcement for disturbing you. Put her back on the floor, repeatedly if necessary, until she gets the message. If your cat will tolerate a dry-only diet and not pig out, try having a full food bowl available all the time. This will eliminate waking you up for food. If she still wakes you, it's not hunger; it's boredom and habit.
The bolded underlined is awful advice. Cats should be fed wet and/or raw food, not dry.
Dry food is awful. Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they must eat meat. Not corn. Not rice. Meat.
How about simply opening a small can of wet food for her and going back to bed?
Our cats do exactly the same. But the worst is on weekends. They don't know that 4:50am is not a good time to play on Sundays. They just want attention. They lay down next to me and start purring. If that doesn't wake us up, they will gently touch my face with the paw, or bump their head on my arm.
Usually during weekdays they go back to sleep after we go to work. I find that irritating!
Cats are active after sunset for a couple of hours. At 12:00 am they go to sleep, but if anything unusual happens they wake up immedietly. They are very effective "watchdogs".
So yes, that's how cats are. I trust them more then myself. If they signal, something goes on and I better check.
I have one who believes the sun coming up means we ALL get up and he has a "voice" a drill sergeant would be jealous of Like yours he is looking for attention and then breakfast. Not too bad in the winter but in the summer we get up pretty darn early. He chooses to mess with the blinds rather than the mattress although he did do the racing upside down on it when he was younger. I foiled that by storing stuff under the bed. I found the scratch stop stuff wasn't all that effective. Could you use plastic of some sort as a temporary cover? I think with time she would forget how she enjoyed doing that and you could remove it. Is her cat stand by a window? If not is there a window you could put it in front of that would maybe occupy her in the morning?
One more thing, you say she is new. With time she will settle in, I think a lot of this is just her getting used to you and her new home. It may also be that where she was before they had an earlier schedule and she is used to getting her folks up at that time. She will learn it just takes a bit of time.
Do those deterrents on furniture really work? I've seen them advertised but never had enough of a need to bother. Sticky Paws Scratch Control Strips
As for trimming, I've never done that either. My parents never did it so I never even thought to unless there was a problem. I'll look into it for her because the mattress is a big concern, and I'm sure it's better to do it anyway.
Thanks again for the responses!
I've never used the strips. Like I said the spray did work mostly for my cat but it wears off after only a few hours.
Regarding the trimming, I do it because my two cats are indoors only. If they were indoor outdoor I wouldn't in case they found themselves in a situation where they would need to actually use their claws for something other than damaging property :P. I see you're in Boston so I'm guessing she's an indoor only. It might even be a good idea to put a scratching board sprinkled with catnip or something similar near where she normally scratches the mattress. She may find that to be a better alternative. But then again, she's a cat so maybe not
I get the whining and the whack in the face at 4am. It would be nice if Snickers would let me sleep until 5am. He wakes me up for his breakfast at that hour because he thinks he's starving to death.
EconHusky, the worst is yet to come. My cat got up at 6:00 (a bit more considerate than yours), and he would sit on my chest and press on my nose with his paw. If this repeated gesture by Mr. Nice Cat failed to get me up and moving, his final tactic was to put a paw on my nose and then lean on it hard...and keep it there.
That maneuver never failed to produce the results he desired.
As I said, the hard core discipline is probably yet to come.
Oh my, the 4am-6am horror stories here! We are definitely not alone!
We have tried foil but she knows what she wants is behind it. Plastic has yet to be tried, but who knows with this girl- she might try to bite her way through it.
For food, we do go mainly wet food. The dry food is more for when we won't be home (or awake) for long stretches of time. Wet food eventually becomes dry (yuck) but we don't want to leave her with nothing for 8 hours (work or sleep). I'd say about 80% of her diet is full of the moisture that wild cats are accustomed to. She is used to and enjoying both right now because she had never been fed wet food before.
I wish it were as easy as feeding her- wet or dry doesn't satisfy her early morning needs. Her small bowl is usually still 1/3 full when we wake up (having tried wet and dry on different days). This morning FH got up to use the bathroom around the time she starts. Then when he went back to bed, she jumped on me and ignored him. I put her on the floor with no further attention, got up to get a small glass of water. Went back to bed, she went to sleep on the black desk chair. She likes that more because it is black like her. Unless she is near us, she will only rest/nap on black-colored surfaces!
Anyway, I might be looking into this too much because I'm tired, but it almost seems that she is concerned about our dormant state and wants to make sure we are still alive. We both had to get up, and then she would stop, even without interacting with her while up!
Quote:
Originally Posted by oregonbirder
One more thing, you say she is new. With time she will settle in, I think a lot of this is just her getting used to you and her new home. It may also be that where she was before they had an earlier schedule and she is used to getting her folks up at that time. She will learn it just takes a bit of time.
That could also definitely be the case. Who knows what her past home and the shelter (then pet store) was doing with her? She was at the shelter (and then store) for just over two months- that's certainly a different life!
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevxu
EconHusky, the worst is yet to come. My cat got up at 6:00 (a bit more considerate than yours), and he would sit on my chest and press on my nose with his paw. If this repeated gesture by Mr. Nice Cat failed to get me up and moving, his final tactic was to put a paw on my nose and then lean on it hard...and keep it there.
Funny, for the first time she gave us an extra 45-50 minutes past six this time! Maybe she's becoming more considerate I couldn't imagine her trying to plug my nose though- gosh!! Get out, cat
Just kidding, they are worth it
-
Also, she is indoor-only; doesn't react to catnip though. Silly girl. No nip-heads in the family this time!
Yet, still certifiably insane
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Like yours he is looking for attention and then breakfast. Not too bad in the winter but in the summer we get up pretty darn early. He chooses to mess with the blinds rather than the mattress although he did do the racing upside down on it when he was younger. I foiled that by storing stuff under the bed. I found the scratch stop stuff wasn't all that effective. Could you use plastic of some sort as a temporary cover? I think with time she would forget how she enjoyed doing that and you could remove it. Is her cat stand by a window? If not is there a window you could put it in front of that would maybe occupy her in the morning?
Look it up for God's sale. There has been a lot written on training cats.
