Dear Most Esteemed and Knowledgeable Kitties:
I recently adopted Gizmo -– she is 4 years old. Her owners surrendered her, not sure why. The one thing she does that I don’t understand is: she touches my eyes at night with her paw when I’m sleeping until I open them and then she just stares at me. If I don’t acknowledge her, she will claw on the bedding until I get after her. She runs away and back in she comes … and the process starts all over again. If I didn’t need sleep; this wouldn’t be a bother. Any advice?
~ Confused in Michigan
Siouxsie: I can certainly see why you’re confused by Gizmo’s behavior!
Thomas: Judging from a quick internet search, it’s not all that unusual for cats to tap their people to wake them up.
Bella: In fact, Siouxsie does that to Mama in the morning, just before the alarm clock starts beeping. She also walks across her head and pokes at the tapestry on the wall above the bed.
Siouxie: Don’t even get me started on the tricks you use to annoy Mama, you sassy little kitten!
Bella: I’m not a kitten anymore. I’m almost 2!
Siouxsie: You are too a kitten!
Bella: Am not!
Siouxsie: Are too!
Thomas: Ladies, please. Our reader needs our help. You can argue and swat later.
Bella: Siouxsie’s mean.
Siouxsie: Grrrrrr.
Thomas: Well, Confused, I’m sorry to say that the only way we can think of to stop this behavior is to keep Gizmo out of your room while you’re sleeping.
Bella: That would be awful! I can’t imagine not being able to sleep next to Mama at night!
Siouxsie: Sometimes humans need to sleep, though, little one.
Thomas: Another thing you could do is see if Gizmo would like to get under the blankets with you.
Siouxsie: That’s true. Sometimes I poke Mama when I want to sleep under the covers. It takes me a little while to settle in, but Mama tolerates it and then I have a nice, long snooze.
Bella: I’ve heard stories about cats that woke their people up for health reasons, too, like, maybe they have sleep apnea and they stop breathing from time to time while they’re asleep.
Thomas: Of course, we’ve got no idea whether such a thing would apply to you, but if you’ve had some concerns about your own health, you might want to get them checked out.
Siouxsie: But if you’re healthy and Gizmo is waking you up for attention, the only way to stop her from doing that is to stop reinforcing the behavior by waking up and paying attention to her.
Bella: Maybe you should have a big, long play session just before you go to bed. If you get Gizmo tired out with a feather toy or a thing on a string, she may let you sleep all night.
Thomas: So, start with the long play session — and as long as Gizmo is healthy, it’s okay to play her until she’s panting — just before bed. Then close the bedroom door and let her stay in the other part of the house.
Siouxsie: If she cries at the door, try using some sort of deterrent like a motion-activated air spray canister, so that when she gets near the door she gets the air spray treatment and learns to stay away.
Bella: Eventually you can try opening the door again and see if she behaves herself.
Thomas: Good luck, Confused in Michigan. Please let us know how things turn out.
JaneA Kelley is a punk rock cat mom and award-winning blogger. She is a regular columnist for Catster Magazine, and she and the Paws and Effect Gang share a home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
My cat also tapped me on the eyes when he wanted me to wake up. Cute.
I had a cat that did that. I was guessing that my eyes were moving when I was dreaming, and my kitty was amusing herself.
Dad gives us our evening treat when he goes to bed and then we are ready to relax.
Some kind of behavior modification will work
We cats are so interesting
Timmy
In addition to the play session, she might also save a few bites of Gizmo’s dinner for after the play session, or offer her some treats. We kitties like to be rewarded for our hunt (what you humans think of as playing), and we also like to nap after we’ve eaten. So it makes it even more likely that Gizmo will go to sleep afterwards.
Mistletoe here. I poke my HuMom on the arm with one claw in the night to get her to lower the covers so I can curl up on her chest and go to sleep. I like to sleep under the covers with my head on her shoulder or under her chin. Since you say Gizmo just watches you after she wakes you up, we think she’s trying to ask for something. Since you’re asleep under the covers, we think she’s asking you to open your eyes and make a place for her. It’s worth a shot anyway. Our HuMom says sleeping with kitties is awesome….as long as you’re allowed to sleep.
Good Luck!
I do not wake up the human, but I like to hope on the bed right by his head before that box that makes noises starts to make sounds. When the sounds start, that is when I decide I am allowed to do whatever I want to get the human out of bed. After all, that noise making box is there to wake him up, so why should I do it, too?
Cute response :)
Well my sweet Andrew has taken to doing worse…. and since I get up at around 330am to go to work…and feed him then… even on the weekends. He’ll just swat my head, my arms… he’ll even nibble on my hair. OK it’s cute and all but c’mon on a Saturday and Sunday? That said, he’s just to adorable to sleep with to lock him out of the room. I’ll live with it.
Bella, I think you have just answered something that had been happening to me. Muffin suddenly started climbing on me in the middle of the night and pawing me and if I didnt respond, he would then start using his paw on my face and not in a nice way, I would have to add – Claws would be out! I had been putting it down to having had to have my little Sassy put down and it was like Muffin took over her behaviour.
I was in the last two months recently diagnosed with Sleep Aponea and now have a sleep machine. When I did the sleep study test, I was stopping breathing over 40 times in a two hour period up to two minutes a time. I now have the machine and muffin no longer claws me to death, but still likes to lie on top of me… am now guessing it is his way of protecting me. Had been about to write and ask how I could stop him lying on top me, but dont think so now… Thanks you fantastic cats, but most of all Bella, you are a godsend.
Momma sleeps with her arms crossed under the covers, and sometimes before she falls asleep, I tap her hands until she lifts the covers and lets me snuggle up under them. Especially in the winter, sleeping with your human is wonderful in the winter. In the summer, I just lay on top of the sheet. It’s like a contest to see which one of us falls asleep first!
While Jimmi Hendrix gently touches my eyes to wake me up whenever he feels it is time to, Janis Joplin pees on me while I am sleeping to warn me she thinks her sand box is dirty.
Jimmi is cuter, Janis is mean… it wasnt even that dirty, but I’ve learnt the hard way.
My cat paws at the sheets next to my head because she wants me to lift the covers for her. She wants to lay next to my body, under the sheets because it’s warm and safe. She gets the warmth. I get the snuggles. It’s a win win.