Can you train a cat to sleep in a certain spot?

[Tenaj]

I'm fed up with our housecat - who isn't really ours anyway - a neighbor's house was foreclosed on, cat abandoned injured so we take it to the vet, pay the bill and, voila, the cat is ours - but I digress . . .

 

This cat has always slept on one of our couches and been fairly quiet at night until the past month or so when she has adopted my boys' room. She insists on being in one of their beds which would be fine but four of my boys share a room, ages 8, 6, 4, and 2 and she doesn't just sleep, she prowls around, knocking things off of the dressers, spilling their water, jumping on the two year old, etc. So this week, we purchased a heated pet bed for her, hoping that would provide a nice place for her to hang out and she refuses it completely and I just discovered that she has scratched a hole in our carpet outside of the boys room because we've been keeping the door shut to encourage her to live somewhere else. (Did I mention this carpet is brand new - as in the past 12 months?). I just put her outside and I'm honestly at the end of my rope with her.

 

So, what next? We just don't have room to shut her in at night - our little house is full - to - overflowing with people. I hate to move her out to the barn but that's about where I am right now (she has her claws so it wouldn't be necessarily cruel and we do have mice out there so maybe it would be a good solution except that it's January!)

 

Thanks for listening to my rant and for any advice you can offer.

[Impish]

No idea. I've never honestly known a cat to 'train' for anything other than litter and complaining loudly when the food dish is empty :lol:

[CalicoKat]

I'm fed up with our housecat - who isn't really ours anyway - a neighbor's house was foreclosed on, cat abandoned injured so we take it to the vet, pay the bill and, voila, the cat is ours - but I digress . . .

 

This cat has always slept on one of our couches and been fairly quiet at night until the past month or so when she has adopted my boys' room. She insists on being in one of their beds which would be fine but four of my boys share a room, ages 8, 6, 4, and 2 and she doesn't just sleep, she prowls around, knocking things off of the dressers, spilling their water, jumping on the two year old, etc. So this week, we purchased a heated pet bed for her, hoping that would provide a nice place for her to hang out and she refuses it completely and I just discovered that she has scratched a hole in our carpet outside of the boys room because we've been keeping the door shut to encourage her to live somewhere else. (Did I mention this carpet is brand new - as in the past 12 months?). I just put her outside and I'm honestly at the end of my rope with her.

 

So, what next? We just don't have room to shut her in at night - our little house is full - to - overflowing with people. I hate to move her out to the barn but that's about where I am right now (she has her claws so it wouldn't be necessarily cruel and we do have mice out there so maybe it would be a good solution except that it's January!)

 

Thanks for listening to my rant and for any advice you can offer.

 

not unless you shut them in a room -- like the laundry room. :D That's where our kitty had been sleeping. Yes the door on the inside is scratched up a bit, alas....... .

[Tenaj]

You're right - at least that's several points in her favor - we've never had any litter box issues with her at all. She's really a good cat but when she starts disturbing my kidlets while they sleep, MY claws are coming out.

[Tenaj]

So, the only room in my house that has a door that would work is a storage area in our basement that is not insulated - would that be cruel? I could put her brand new heated bed in there :)

[Nan in Mass]

You can train cats. Try this link for ideas: http://www.clickertraining.com/cattraining

I don't know about training to sleep someplace, but maybe something there will help. I made our cat a bed on a high shelf and she sleeps there, now. Maybe if you put the bed higher up?

Here are some more:

http://www.ehow.com/video_5361741_train-cat-sleep-bed.html not so helpful.

http://www.thepurrcompany.com/cat-articles/index.php?id=27 a bit better.

Edited January 23, 2010 by Nan in Mass

[Dawn E]

I'm assuming she stays in all the time? We let our cat out for most of the time and he comes in to eat, play with the kids and sleep (during the day). We put him out at night because he is so frisky and loves to be in the same room with the kids. We made him a little bed in the garage, and we have him in on colder nights (we live in the South, so we don't have too many freezing nights) or when there is a storm.

 

If she is accustomed to being indoors, that probably wouldn't work since she's older. We got our cat from a rescue shelter when he was an young cat. He had been kept strictly indoors. When he got acclimated to our home, we began letting him go out for longer and longer time periods. He loves the outdoors and has become a great hunter. We don't even have to keep the litter box out (unless we have to keep him in longer than normal) as he uses the bathroom outdoors.

[Jean in Wisc]

I don't think you can make her sleep on her new bed, but you can place it somewhere inviting (and never put her there--let her find it). Make sure it is off the ground--maybe on the sofa where she use to sleep during the day. And once she is there, you might want it to be a hands-off place, meaning it is the place she goes when she has had too much attention and no one is allowed to touch her there. My cats figured this out very quickly!!!!!

 

As far as stopping the night time noise, it sounds as though the cat is allowed to sleep too much during the day. It is time to give your little pet a lot of attention during day light hours. Cats need about 12 hours of sleep each day. Don't keep her away every minute of the day, but be sure she is played with and entertained often. Send all those boys on a mission to keep her happy with string and toys and running around the house. My boy likes to carry our Snowflake around on his shoulders. They are allowed to wake him and play with him at any time as long as it is not over done. This will make kitty tired enough to sleep better at night. She's just bored and is trying to get you to wake up and play! Also be sure she has some crunchies in her bowl so that if she gets hungry, she does not come to the humans for food at night.

 

My cat much prefers to be in a room with people. If there is a place (under a bed?) for the kitty bed, she might find it and curl up and sleep.

 

Worth a try--

 

Jean--who now only has 8 kitties (1 inside and 7 outside) and is mourning the lost of her 16yo IndiaInk. :(

[swellmomma]

Cats like to be higher up than everyone else, so if you have bunk beds in there that could be why she is prefering the boys room. My cat prefers to sleep in my boys room on the top bunk, right next to the ladder. She also likes to take a playful swat at my head if I walk close by to put laundry away in teh closet. You may find that creating a high place for her to sleep she leaves their room alone. The other place my kitty sleeps(mainly during the day) is in my basement storage area. There is a little hidy hole created from a suitcase tipped against an unassembled air hockey table with a sleeping bag underneath. (It was not set up this way, it is just the way things landed when tossed in this space), she loves to lay there where the kids can't get her and meow and me when I switch the laundry(which is right next to her sleeping place). She does go room to room and night and give everyone a snuggle and a lick occasionally but does not jump all over anyone waking them up.

 

Until you figure it out, maybe switch the boys water into non-spill water bottles or don't keep in the bedrooms. Also if the kids spend more time actively playing with her during the day she may not try to play with them at night. we keep little cat toys everywhere in the house and just randomly kick them around to get her running and pouncing. Today my little dd and I played a funny game with my cat, the cat won, which surprised dd and her scream made the cat bolt(but did prove just how smart the cat is). Right now my dd is napping and kitty is curled up next to her napping as well. You just have to give enough mental stimulation during the day and toys out for her at night(I often hear mine racing up and down the hall chasing a toy or two at night) so she is not waking the kids.

 

That said if making her a barn cat is what is best make sure she has a cozy place to sleep in the barn, like a good pile of fresh hay, and free from the elements and she should be fine.

[2cents]

One of our kitties is a naughty boy at night so he has a nice roost (cat tree) in the laundry room at night. There is a litterbox in there so he is fine. But he does wake us up early by scratching on occasion. He wasn't happy at first but we didn't give him a choice and now he has adjusted. The other kitties are good sleepers so two sleep in ds's room and one with dh and I.

[kalanamak]

Get a police whistle and blast hardin her face every time she sets a paw in the room. I've never had to do it more than three times.:)

[hornblower]

, it sounds as though the cat is allowed to sleep too much during the day. It is time to give your little pet a lot of attention during day light hours.

 

:iagree: More playtime with the cat during the day. Dangle a string, a feather, get her one of those big climbing scratching post with platforms & hang things off it etc. Buy a packet of catnip & see if she reacts & gets the zoomies. On hard floors many cats like to play kibble hockey where you flick kibbles at them with your nail & they try to play goalie. Great game for kids to play with a cat....

 

Even being on a lap & being gently petted keeps them awake & they'll sleep better at night. My ancient chronically ill cat sleeps a lot but I wake her up during the day for a bit, otherwise she wakes ME up at night. :)

 

Also - Is she spayed? If she's not - she might be in heat.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

My friend crates their three cats every night. They each have their own wire crate in the laundry room, and they go there every night at bedtime.

 

I don't know if you could do this with a grown up cat, though. These cats have been crated their whole lives.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Put her in the unheated laundry room. Put the heated cat bed in there. You can buy a spray that has an odor the cats don't like - spray that on the door so the cat won't scratch there (hopefully.)

[Tenaj]

Thanks for all the advice and ideas. The cat bed is high up - not as high as the bunk bed (by the way, that is her favorite spot) but it's in an alcove that's beside the fireplace and basically the highest place she can be in our living room. You're probably all right about her sleeping too much during the day. I'll have to give my boys the assignment to play more with the cat - I think they all get so disgusted with her during the night that they ignore her during the day.

 

During the summer she is outside a lot, but when it's cooler outside she'll want out and then come right back in. When I put her out this afternoon in digust she was going from door to door to window to window trying to convince me to let her back in - so pitiful . . . I finally caved.

 

Anyway, thanks for all the ideas.