For young kitten parents....

[moira]

When 10 week old Sophie came I was asking myself the same question - how does anyone sleep through it? She was completely bonkers. The solution presented itself in the form of 5 month old Rosie. Now the two of them have the freedom of the upstairs and spend half the day chasing each other up and down the stairs/corridor so for the most part the rest of us get to sleep. An alternative solution, of course, is Zopiclone (for us not them ) My son thinks they're wonderful, better than watching TV, he says.

[Sabrina (Auferstehen)]

Gizmo insists that I get up at 6:10am which is better than his original 3am.

Remove everything he finds to play with from the room and play a lot right before bed is about all you can do.

I used to be able to sleep through anything but now I wake up as soon as Giz does something he shouldn't so it doesn't wake my husband up who will be a lot more grumpy than I normally am.

[Kirst]

Ah yes , I forgot about poor old Mog. I guess its earplugs for you then.

[nutzy]

Rajah is also a terrible one for attacking anything and everything that moves.  We put up with most of it until he decided that it would be even greater fun to dive bomb us in the middle of the night from the top of the wardrobe.  Needless to say he was immediately removed from the bedroom, the door closed and that was the last of his nightly excursions into our room.  He doesn't seem to mind being excluded but everytime I get up for the loo (minimum twice nightly - small bladder) he comes and sits on my lap on the loo then expects to be taken back to the room.  He gets loads of cuddles then, and a give him something to eat, which normally distracts him long enough for me to get back to the bedroom and close the door.  Or else I throw a ball for him, which takes him out of the vicinity and I can make a quick getaway. 

[JackSpratt]

I can't shut them out, Kirst. Mogs dementia means she gets really stressed if she can't get to "her" cupboard so we have to make sure she can. (Mog is by nature, a stress head. When I first got Tobes, she gave herself licking lesions until she realised it made no difference and she was still loved.)

Possibly Clare - he's extremely clingy with me. We call him a Mummys boy fairly regularly; although he did make a bid for freedom earlier today and I had to lure him back over the garden wall with cat biscuits.

[Kirst]

I am afraid we are heartless and ours are not allowed in the bedroom when we go to bed.  :evillaugh:Oscar used to sctratch at the door , but if you ignored him long enough he got bored and gave up - tho one night he kept it up for two hours. Gizzy has taken over his mantle , but he gives up much easier!

With previous cats we found of you gave into them , they soon learnt a bit of scrtaching/wailing go the what they wanted! You do have to live with feeling like the worst Mummy in the world for a bit tho.

[clarenmax]

Ah yes, bed mice can be a bit annoying when you're asleep    Poot does it too, feet, knees, whatever moves he will pounce on it 

Hopefully Darwin will grow out of it hun, he's probably finding being with you guys still a novelty, and wants to make sure you've not gone anywhere!

[JackSpratt]

In all fairness, the OH encouraged "bed mice" and now gets annoyed that Darwin does it. (I did warn him...) But Darwin just likes attention a lot and doesn't seem to care if you're conscious.

[Bazsmum]

Earplugs and socks! 

I was lucky enough not to get my feet played with, OH is the one who moves in his sleep so his feet got it! 

Its a phase JS.....Most of my older ones still come on/in the bed, we cant put our feet out though still....My young un's are 15 month's old now! 

[woodlandcats]

Kittens you say? My kitten is 6 years old 
I never ever had so many problems at night with young cats than with this Prince of Darkness. Last night was hell, I got home from a concert and couldn't sleep and there was this  Coonie harassing me.

[Den]

I did the remove all possible distractions game with Memphis  Seriously, anything I thought he would try to play with, hide in etc got put away in drawers or wardrobes. Feet and arms got firmly tucked up in the duvet and then I possitively ignored him. Eventually he gave in messing about with me and everything in the room. I also went to bed slightly earlier than normal, knowing that to begin with he would be an annoying pain, then get bored .. That way I didn't lose any sleep.

[Liz]

We find ours give up eventually as one of the older crew will put a paw down - last night it was Sweetie aged 17 and 3/4 who decided she was comfy on the bed and dealt a sharp claw and hit at least 2 both have the hooked eye look

We also find throwing a ball downstairs usually clears them to - recommend the powerball variety tends to bounce further and towards the other end of the house and then they meet the others and forget to come back upstairs!

[JackSpratt]

Noni just came in and said to say "May yay yeeeeh!" to her other mommy. Not sure if that helps JS 

Anything Noni says helps, Rosella. We tried to tire him out a few times; apparently he needs less sleep than us.....

Liz, I can sporadically sleep through it, but my partner (who can sleep through a jackhammer being used directly outside our house) wakes up as soon as the mayhem starts!

[Liz]

We have 4 at that stage and eventually you are so tired you sleep through it!

[Rosella moggy]

Apart from playing with him as long as possible before bedtime in an effort to tire him out, no advice really  .  We can't shut doors and are woken constantly during the night.  Freddie tries his best to chase the girls till they drop thru exhaustion ..... around 3am ish 

Noni just came in and said to say "May yay yeeeeh!" to her other mommy. Not sure if that helps JS 

[JackSpratt]

How do you get any sleep?!

Darwin insists on bouncing on the bed, catching feet, noses......everything really. If he's shut out he cries at the door constantly (and I mean constantly, no break in the pitiful wailing for this little guy....) until we admit defeat and let him back in again.

There's no way we can shut the cats downstairs and no way we can sleep through all the noise - any advice?