Hi Guys,

I"m sure you all know I'm a new cat owner, I'm loving having kitties in my life, but I'm having some issues with their nocturnal activities & hoping that my GD friends may have some tips & advice for me.

Most nights they are pretty good & dont start playing & waking me up til bout 5:30am or later, then I just put them out of the room for my last hour or so sleep & that seems to work fine, but there have been a couple of nights where they've woken me up @ 1 or 1:30am & then when I put them out of the room (after half an hour or an hour trying to ignore them in the hope they'll let me get back to sleep) they spend the rest of the morning scratching & crying at my door :(

The kitten food pack said that for their age & weight they should be having 75grams a day, so at the moment I'm giving them each 25grams of dry food & 25grams of meat in the morning, then giving them 25grams of dry food for their evening feed. So I'm wondering if I gave them the bigger feed at night & less in the morning, are they likely to be less or more active at night?

Any advice or tips & hints would be much appreciated!

ETA annother question: I'm curious, where do your cats sleep? in your bedroom? In a different room? on you bed? in your bed (Taji likes to go under the covers, I try to dissuade him but sometimes still wake up to him under them)?

Message edited by its author, Okt 29, 2009, 7:38pm.

As long as there are no dogs in the house, I've alway left dry food available all the time.

Don't let them sleep in the evening sometimes helps, too.

I've been told it's easy for inside cats to get fat (my friends' cats support this), but my housemate's cat (not an inside-only cat) is skinny as anything, and she's usually fed whenever she asks for it.

I suspect that they've just gotten used to having all the other kittens about at whatever time, so they're a bit restless. Maybe they'll settle down in a couple of weeks? (IANA vet)

The question is, where don't they sleep. Have 3 and they're all distinct in their weird habits. Chuck is 17 and has been pretty much snoozing in one or two spots, but recently adopted a new one. Thomas who's about 10 is a constant rotator. He rarely goes back to the same spot after it becomes passe, but will sometimes find a similar situation (like instead of under the bed at the head, he'll pick the foot). Larry's who's about 6 always sleeps in the same place, except if I've bought a new pillow or leave the Eames chair unattended.

Food will get its own post later.

As someone who has had cats for 40 years, I can tell you there is really no way to predict some behaviors. Usually they develop noticeable habits as they go from juvenile to adult.

Both ex-wives used to let the cats sleep in the bed with us. I forbid it. My main guy (Germanicus) lays amongst my lined up shoes thinking I won't notice him as I get ready for bed. I find it annoying to be woken up by a cat washing my head or laying on my head as I'm sleeping.

They will find their own favorite places to sleep that will change every few months or so depending on the season and your habits.

Germanicus will also scratch at my door and yowl on occasion when he thinks I need to get up and feed him. Julius will do it just as I turn out the light and settle in just because the door is closed.

Yeah, they are all named after Romans. Tiberius, Germanicus, Julius and Livia.

A cat must have a proper name, no fluffy or mittens. Undignified.

Save your money on expensive crap to keep them entertained. Paper bags and cardboard boxes work just fine.

Do not be suprised when they find their way onto the highest places in the house. Kitchen cabinets, book cases, door tops, etc. It's a cat thing.

You will need to make certain things cat proof though. I've had to move a washer & dryer because one got behind them once and could not get back out. If they think they can fit someplace, they will.

Message edited by its author, Okt 29, 2009, 8:15pm.

I had two cats years ago, who never let me sleep. One chased the other all around the very small house all night long. It was a misery until they grew up. I tried putting the larger one in the bathroom. He lept from the sink to the bathrobe on the back of the door, with his claws out, and ripped it to shreds. Then after many lovely years when they slept all night gracefully draped around us, first one died and then the other. Then we got two new kittens. I am horrified to say I dont remember what happened with them sleeping wise. It is probable that my spouse refused to let them sleep with us. When one of them went to live with our sister in law, for sins that shall remain undisclosed, however, the remaining one took up house on our feet, where she sleeps to this day. We got two new kittens a year ago, and they are exiled to the basement at night. When my husband is away I let them out of durance vile. One night out of three they are fine, but the other two nights I have to put at least one of them back in the basement around 3 am. I dont think anything but age cures this. It is not how much you feed them, or how many toys you have. They are, simply, both nocturnal and playful.
one of the young ones is very helpful. He wants to help with anything at all that I am doing. When I look in a cabinet for something he's pretty sure he can find it, if I cant, and jumps right in for a tour of the small dark spaces. He is utterly adorable but rowdy, and he's the one who has to go to the basement at 3 am.

I love your cats' names, OldSarge. Is the next one Bucephalus? :P

I would try giving them the larger meal at night. Its possible that the nice full feeling will make them sleepy all night.

My Kitty, sleeps ON ME! she always has. She prefers my chest or abdomen but if I turn on my side she'll climb up on my hip. Sometimes tho If she's chilly she will stretch out along my back so that I can't turn over without hearing a loud protesting YEOW!

I echo #7 - Don't bother with expensive toys. Mine love rubber bands and q-tips. The rubber band thing freaked me out the first couple times, but they've never tried to eat them so I don't mind as much, though will watch carefully when I notice that's what shes playing with and make sure it's safely removed once she's done. For regular store bought toys, its the fake mice. We have so many lost around the house it will be funny to find them all if we ever move.

Normally our cats are not allowed to sleep with us. The rare times they are allowed in the bedroom at night they will cuddle up in bed usually on me, around the hips or knees. Otherwise it seems to go in phases. For a month one will like the couch, then next month its the guest bed. My little one (she's physically 5 pounds lighter than her sister) has been glued to my lap at night lately, whether I'm watching TV or on the computer. She follows me around the house and when I sit down she jumps up.

I don't free feed my cats. One has a weight problem and we measure out her food to keep it under control. They also get fed in separate locations or my smaller cat goes hungry.

Apparently Aus Mists can be prone to be overweight, so the book I got with them advises not to free feed, thats why I'm doing the morning & evening feeds.

#2 suitable1 - ur probably right, maybe if I play with them more in the evenings after their dinner they might be more worn out at sleep time.

#3 Will - I thought it might have been as they were used to being 2 of 9 cats so there would have usually been a cat awake to play with at night.

#7 Old Sarge & #11 Narilka -I've learnt about the toys thing, Tilly's fave things to play with are rolled up pipe cleaners, there are a couple of toys she will bat arround occasionally, & there's an over the door toy on elastic that she loves, but if there's a pipe cleaner arround, she's onto it straight away & everything else gets ignored. Taji's not as interested in the pipe cleaners, he has this one toy that he LOVES & wont let Tilly near, he picks it up & walks arround with it growling, it freaked me out the 1st time & I was worried to touch him while he was growling, but he doesn't get agressive or anything, he stops growling & purrs if i pat him or pick him up, its like he's just claiming the toy from Tilly, tis very cute :)

#8 kokipy - I do hope mine grow out of it, I really like the idea of my cats sleeping on the bed with me (preferrably at my feet, but thats prob pushing the point too much) & I'd rather not have to banish them from the bedroom, but I really do like my sleep...

#10 Polly - thats what I was thinking, being full might make them less active at night, I might try that from tomorrow & see how it goes :)

Thanx people :) Please keep any advice or suggestions coming :)

Message edited by its author, Okt 29, 2009, 10:11pm.

My cat, a shelter rescue, is approximately three years old and rarely sleeps with me at night. She (mostly) quietly seems to guard the house. I know that sounds crazy, but there's a neighborhood cat that smetimes shows up at the french doors after dark, and then she spits and yowls.

Quite frequently, though, she will nap with me. If the duvet is on the bed, she will curl up against my arm, beside the pillow. When the duvet is absent, she will curl up elsewhere next to me. Either way, she likes her little body to be in contact with me. Which is lucky, because I really like it, too! There's just something really nice about that feeling of warm fur.

When I'm up and about, she likes to sleep up off the floor, usually somewhere warm. Cats like it warm. (And I've read that they do often sleep after eating, because sleeping helps them conserve the extra body heat they generate as part of their digestive process.) She will switch from place to place, from time to time, but it is often a "contained" area like a chair seat or a cardboard box.

Mine sleeps mostly in the living room on the couch or the rocking chair. I find her in the bathroom on the rug sometimes in the middle of the night. (I'm old - gotta get up.) But she always comes in to check on me around 3:00 or so. She'll walk back and forth across me and curl up for a while, and then leave. Just making sure I'm still here, I guess.

I'm sure my cats are up half the night, but luckily I generally don't hear it! I have 2 kittens, Athena, who's about 6 months, and Rodney, who's about 3 months. Every once in a while they'll wake me around 3 a.m., and I just have to deal with it, because if I lock them out of the bedroom, they'll just fuss and try to scratch their way back in. Athena usually sleeps on my pillow, wrapped around my head, so her paws are like earmuffs, and Rodney either tries to snuggle with her there (yes, there's barely a couple of inches of pillow left for me when they do that!), or sleeps elsewhere on my body. They both completely leave my fiance alone, lol. The other morning Rodney woke me 5 minutes before my alarm by licking my ear! Cats are weird. On workdays, I usually get up around 7 and feed them breakfast. So on my days off, they expect me to be up to feed them at the same time. Much meowing. *sigh* As for feeding them, they each have their own food dish and they share water. They get about a half cup of food total throughout the day, split up into 3 or 4 feedings. After they eat what they want for breakfast and walk away, we put the food away so they can't get at it. When they fuss around lunchtime, they get what was left in their dishes. We feed them fresh food at dinnertime, and put it away when they're done, then bring the dishes out when we go to bed. So far it seems to be working well. We don't want fat kitties. :P

Our black cat, Tuck, aside from a period in his youth when he thought hopping into the crib, walking around until the baby started to scream, then hopping out, was fun, has always been good at night. He mostly sleeps on our feet.

Our other cat, the late Peri, was terrible at night. Her idea of fun was hopping up on the dresser in the middle of the night and knocking ornaments around. I put away all the ornaments so it wasn't fun anymore and she grew out of it... eventually. After ten years or so.

im new how do u read your books in your library

We're on our second set - 1 dog, 1 cat.

I've had dogs all my life but cat #1 was my first cat - turns out I was spoiled! Cat #1 always slept in the bed, usually on my pillow, usually entwined in my hair (which is long). ...and was a cuddly angel, practically perfect in every way.

This cat is ...for lack of a better word...a Bastard. In fact if asked for the cat's name I have to think real hard - we never use it as it goes by the apt designation of "that Bastard Cat". Bastard Cat has been banned from the bedroom (was initially allowed) for #1) peeling the wallpaper off the closet wall #2) unrolling all the toilet paper in the bathroom (ur...repeatedly) #3) knocking all the jewelry boxes/knick-knacks off the dresser, then falling off itself while trying to take the dressing mirror with it #4) not sharing the bed with the dog (or people) #5) pissing in the laundry basket #6) nevermind... the list is too long.

Now the dog sleeps in it's crate in the bedroom (long story, involves bloody diarrhea... you don't want to know) and the cat is shut out of the bedroom - it can ravage the rest of the house as long as the damn thing lets me sleep!

Now, you may ask, why do I keep just a terror in my house? Well, see, umm...the dog likes it.

Actually, they amuse each other (and us) for hours a day. If you've never seen a tiny black monster ravage the hell out a big black monster - claws in the eyelids, nails hooked into lips - and then stop to wash the big monster's ears, then seen the big black monster return the favor completely drenching the little monster in big dog slobber all the while grinning like a puppy-fool gone to heaven - then you have never laughed as loud as I have. Then, after they have worn each other out, they collapse in a heap on the couch in a mass of dog and cat parts - well, that is adorable-ness incarnate.

So the Bastard Cat stays...

Every AM Bastard Cat starts mewling at the door, Dog starts agitating at the cage opening, I grumpily awake and they play "me and my shadow" all through the house as the coffee percolates. For some reason the Bastard Cat prefers to launch itself at the dog's hind legs as it is walking past (usually on the stairs - it's best traps occur on stairs), which invariable causes the Dog to sit on it, standing up when the B.C. accidentally chomps on something sensitive - if it's a nipple then Dog lets out a yelp - then there's a bit of chase and pounce in each direction Dog v. Cat then Cat v. Dog and it's off to breakfast.

Message edited by its author, Okt 30, 2009, 12:19am.

Sage - I don't know what you mean?! I just read them.

Seanie - I have two cats, both strays we adopted. The female cat Tina sleeps in the house, usually on the couch. During the day she will sleep on one of the beds or on the couch. The male cat Spooky will not sleep in the house all night. If it's really cold, we'll leave him inside, but about 3 am he's waking us up to go outside. Sometimes we try to leave him in the garage. But he hates spending the night in the house.

My cats favorite toys are strings or ribbons. And the love to crouch under the Christmas tree. I did get them a scratching post when we bought our new couch and it was totally worth it. They loved it. They did get tired of it, but they leave the couch alone.

Left Sage profile-page message. *sigh*

Out of the three, Thomas and Chuck sleep on me at night. Chuck on my pillow and Thomas however he can...back, sides, by my knees...just as long as there's contact. Larry will occasionally join and I feel like Poland in the 1930s...or an Egyptian priestess embalmed with her minions.

Larry is in love with his scratching post. I think it's his version of a blankey. Thomas loves twist ties and milk jug rings. Chuck is too damned old for such nonsense.

Lately Chuck has become a cuddly kitty. I think it's feline dementia since over his lifetime (up to now) I could count on one hand the # of times he'd voluntarily sit with me at any time that didn't' involve food.

The other two, however, being shelter cats, are more needy and will frequently come to cuddle. There are occasional disagreements over who gets my lap. Strangely, the 9-pound Thomas will usually triumph over the 14-pound Larry.

As far as food goes, I just leave crunchies out all the time (Iams...a cup or so at a time, not overflowing bowls). None of my cats is overweight. Just lucky I guess.

When feeding my mob I give them wet (can) food first thing in the morning and dry the rest of the day. The dry food is a brand designed for indoor cats. Make sure they get a mix of wet and dry. I learned the hard way in my younger days not to be lazy and feed them only one or the other. I gave the previous "family" I had only moist (out of a pouch).

The dry helps to keep their teeth and gums healthy but an exclusive diet of that will lead to crystalization on the urine in their senior years, especially males. Only wet or moist lead to teeth and gum problems in their senior years.

Now that you are owned by cats, here's something to enjoy.
http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Hm. I was never advised that way OldSarge. My 17-yo Chuck has only now enjoyed 'smooshy food' and has no urinary issues. But it's probably a good practice. His teeth are perfect as I had them cleaned regularly by the vet. Only when he got to about 14 did they advise against it since anesthesia risk goes up considerably when they get old.

Thomas has granuloma and has lost most of his teeth. It's a condition where the lining of the GI tract (upper and lower, including the mouth) produces too many cells and bacteria breed that cause the teeth to rot early and the small intestine to become very inefficient in nutrient absorption; resulting in a very skinny cat. The shelter loved Thomas so much they did a lot of dental work on him and he's only got his canines & those tiny front teeth. Still, he eschews 'smooshy food' in favor of gumming crunchies. Weirdo.

When our cats, Tut and Neffie, were young we shut them in the basement at night so they wouldn't torment the girls. Eventually they stopped playing Spaceman Spiff at 2 a.m. and were allowed to pursue their own interests in the night. Now Neff (Tut is no longer with us) mostly sleeps at my feet at night.

We used to try to lock the cats out of our bedrooms at night but they would sit and cry so loudly it sounded like someone was killing them. So they are allowed to sleep with whoever they want provided they behave. They've learned that if they are naughty at night they get locked out of the bedrooms. I always make sure they have dry food at night. If they don't you'll never get any sleep. Also, for your sanity, take away toys that have bells in/on them at night. One of our cats delights in carrying a ball with a bell inside to the top of the stairs and repeatedly dropping in down the stairs...all night long

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pe...

And yes, Bookmarque, where do they not sleep.

I swore I would never get another animal after I had to put my dog down, yet I find myself with a new addition. Fraser (named for Jamie Fraser from Outlander) is a wee grey kitten that I found on I 95. Some asshole dropped that baby off right on the highway!!!

My old man cat Leo( short for Leonidas) is not happy. He gets no peace now.

Anywho...I too leave dry food out round the clock. Just something I have always done.

I was such a blissfully peaceful sleeper..until Fraser.
Leo would curl up at my head and we would both sleep through the night. Now I go to sleep alone and wake up all hours of the night to 2 cats running over my face or playing with the curtains above my head.
When it gets too bad I lock Fraser out so old Leo can get some peace.

Speaking of animal abuse, which abandoning one is, I'd like to get my hands on the skell who is killing and maiming cats in Arizona.

As of yesterday there is a $12,000 reward out for this person or persons unknown. They are using an edged weapon.

#27 MDLady

I like that you have a cat named Leonidas. I'm imagining you informing him that it is time to trim his claws and him grimly replying "Come take them."

My parents have almost always had cats- from before I was born and into the present. One of the cats they have now (Astrid) seems to delight in picking up my dad's glasses or watch with her teeth and dropping them on the floor 10 minutes before the alarm goes off.

She has also been known to turn the clock radio off if she is displeased with the noise. This has led to my parents getting up late on occasion.


Such a cute little demon.

In Kipling's story about the domestication of animals, the cat said,

"I am the cat who walks by himself and all places are alike to me."

I always thought that perfectly exemplified a cat's behavior.

Two of our three cats like to knead fleece jackets or bathrobes, preferably while a person is inside them. So one way to entice them to sleep with you is to wear your bathrobe to bed, get them kneading away and then they'll fall asleep with you. They may not stay all night but you can start them out in the way you hope they'll continue. One of my cats - in fact the one that ripped my bathrobe to shreds when I shut him in the bathroom at night to keep him from killing the other one - ultimately decided the second pillow on the bed was his. When I got married we had to have three pillows - one for the spouse, me in the middle and the Dewey cat on the outside. It was very cozy. I love sleeping with them. But it isn't very restful.

My male cat got very sick on regular dry cat food. So now we buy the urinary tract health cat food. It has low magnesium and keeps him healthy! Then we give them both, especially my female, hairball treats so they stay well.

Just to throw in my 2 cents worth...

Far as feeding went, once I moved out on my own, I always gave my cat a can of wet food in the morning and she always had a bowl of dry food down. (Who knows what she got to eat when I lived with mom as we also had a dog whose food she'd nibble at and I have no idea if mom may have given her food during the day.) While she'd sometimes "beg" for food when I was eating or pick at scraps I'd give her, she seemed to get along fine.

Sleeping wise, she slept wherever she wanted to! *G* Sometimes it'd be in bed with me, sometimes it'd be off somewhere else in the house. If she slept with me on the bed, she rarely caused any "problems". However, the fact that I work nights and sleep during the day could have played a part in how she behaved. I know there were many times that when I was home on my night off she'd be bouncing all over the house, even if she did just lie calmly on the bed at some point or another.

Two things I know about cats, having lived with all kinds for all my 34 years - old, grumpy kitties; young, playful kitties; strays who just like to be fed; affectionate kitties who like to sleep on the bed etc:

One - they'll manipulate you - whatever they can get away with, they will.
Two - they're ultimately creatures of habit, who sleep 16 hours a day, and they don't like change. They will adjust, though, if things around them change.

Examples of these principles in action in my life:

Since I met my American husband, my kitties stay indoors at night. This was a foreign concept to me - in New Zealand cats are cats and for most people that means they can come and go as they please. Growing up, a bathroom window was left open for them day and night, winter or summer. I was flatting when I met L and only had my kitty Ginny. Ginny liked to sleep on my bed. In the same spot - to the left of my feet. At around 5am every morning she would wake me to go to the toilet: she'd creep under the covers, purring loudly, and shove her body in my face. I'd get up, groaning, and open the window for her. Five minutes later she'd be howling at the window to get in. I'd let her - she'd sleep at my feet for the rest of the night. This pattern deviated maybe 3 times in a year. It was okay with me - I love her and she had to go to the toilet. I became, in essence, a cat doorman.

Ginny also announced that she wanted in or out of a door by scratching old, ratty carpet. It was old and ratty - I didn't care. I opened the door. Bad, bad K. Bad. When Charley joined the family, he learned that from her. I finally got wise that this was bad and got them a scratching post. This works most of the time - but not at 2 in the morning. We have a piece of old carpet under the door of the bedroom and they can scratch that all they like - they're not getting in that door. They're out at night in the lounge and that is that. When we first moved in they'd scratch all through the night - I use ear plugs so I couldn't hear much of it, but L was a bit bothered. Still - not opening that door. They rarely scratch now - no reward. No point.

So, if you're going to open the door for them when they cry, they will *always* cry outside the door until you give in. They only way to stop them is to NOT open the door. They will go away eventually and they will survive. They have each other. They will not curl into little fuzzy heaps of misery should the door not open, even if their heart-rending wails produce images of lonely, orphaned babies. :P

Again, if you're going to let them sleep on the bed, you'll have to be prepared for interruptions. Kitties sleep in little bursts of 2-5 hours and then they're up. Bored cats will sleep for longer. Obviously the little kittens will be unpredictable and all over the place. But if you are letting them on the bed, then they won't understand the shut door if some nights you don't want them there. It kinda has to be one way or another.

Our cats have little sleeping spots all over the place, and if they're not sleeping at night, they have toys and each other with which to play.

Food - we leave dry food out all the time. About the required amount for each day. Charley gets a little more if the bowls are empty and he's been outside using up all his energy. They self regulate well, and don't overfeed. We're going to have to watch Ginny now though because she's 8 and slowing down. I read what you said about your feeding schedule though. As long as they're getting the daily requirement, it shouldn't matter if it's freely left out. They won't starve if they gobble it in one go - they would hopefully learn to manage it.

Both of my cats Gracie and Frankie, are pretty old; about 15, we think. Mostly they sleep anywhere they please; Gracie is more territorial. She likes one cushion on the love seat, a basket of quilt scraps in the sewing room; and the shelf full of quilt fabric (b/c of all the cat hair, I recently had to wash all the material on that shelf, and covered it with an old sheet) Both like the back of the sofa, where they can look out the window. Frankie often just lays on the living room floor where there is a patch of sunlight. At night, when I go to bed, Frankie wants in bed with me--he's lost his mojo somewhere and is unable to jump on the bed, so I have to pick him up (all 15 lbs of him). He is usually not in bed when I get up in the morning, so no idea what he does in the middle of the night. Gracie goes to bed w/ husband and usually sleeps on his chest all night--she barely weighs 4 lbs) I hardly ever hear them after I'm asleep.

As for food, we feed them dry in the morning and they nibble all day.

Toys--since they are so old, they rarely indulge in foolishness. But occasionally Gracie will chase a moth, and once she tried to get a bird. However, the bird was outside and she only succeeded in bonking her head several times on the window. But in their kitten days, I seem to remember that they like playing with soda bottle caps, and a stuffed mouse. Sometimes Gracie, for no apparent reason, will run crazily up the hallway, across the living room, up on the windowsill, back down across the loveseat and down the hallway again. Then after a couple of minutes everything is back to normal.

My dad had two cats. Yin was black with white spots and Yang was completely black and had the most amazing personality of any cat we ever had. One of the things that he would do is approach Yin when he was cat-dozing and start to groom him about the head and neck. Yin would start purring and the whole scene would seem to be the epitome of brotherly love. However, eventually Yang would stop and chomp on Yin's neck. The purring would turn into a low yowling sound that would increase until the two of them would turn into a flying and scratching ball of fur.
Yang also had no fear of dogs. We had a yellow lab and our neighbors had a huge German Shepard and the most stupid Norwegian Elkhound I ever met. Yang teased the Elkhound mercilessly to our amusement.
We lived in St. Thomas and had a door open so they came and went as they wanted. They were always home for meals.

Yeah, I almost forgot about the "Crazies". Some cats get them, some don't.

It can be scary. I've seen it go on for hours, alternating with periods of grooming and sitting still, staring as if nothing had happened at all. The cat literally climbs the walls, similar to a skateboarder on a ramp.

Message edited by its author, Nov 3, 2009, 3:04pm.

How are things going, Seanie?

It won't be much help to tell about my kitties cos I'm a mean momma. I love the little girlies but I don't let mine sleep with me. We have a large enclosed back porch/laundry room. The cats sleep out there at night and anytime all humans are out of the house. Sometimes the dog is out there with them at night, sometimes he's inside the house. They can run and play as much as they like all night long and it doesn't disturb me one little bit :D

I feed them both wet and dry food opting for brands that don't include corn or wheat. Measured dry that usually lasts through most of the day with frequent nibbling, and a couple ounces of wet food in the evening.
Aine & Aoife are a year and a half old now and their eating habits have settled down. For awhile as kittens they wanted to eat A LOT! oftentimes more than their bellies could handle. Not sure how much of that had to do with having been removed from their mother suddenly at 5 weeks and not weaned properly.

Well for the last 3 nights I've given them the bigger meal in the evening & they seem to have let me sleep longer in the mornings :) So hopefully this is because of the feeding ammts & times & not just random, give it a few more days & I'll let you all know :)

Last night they fell asleep at my feet just where I wanted them, but I woke up this morning to them under the covers again - Taji stretched out along my back & Tilly curled up with her head on my pillow next to my head :)

Apart from sleeping & eating, things r going really well :) We all get along great & they tend to follow me arround the house from room to room which is nice, means they like my company i suppose :) Taji seems to have been studying Tilly as he's learned to play fetch too now :) He's got a particular toy that he LOVES (as in he wont let Tilly near it & he walks arround with it in his mouth growling), in the last few days he's started bringing it to me & dropping it at my feet if i'm standing up or in my hand if i'm sitting/laying down, then fetch it & bring it back to me after i throw it, he's not as agile as Tilly & wont leap into the air to try & catch it but tis very cute!

Message edited by its author, Nov 3, 2009, 7:47pm.

Well they didn't let me sleep through lat night, bout 4am they woke me up giving me kisses, would have been adorable if it wasn't 4am, lol. There was no playing or crying, just little wet noses on my nose & I open my eyes to them both just lookin at me, lol... So I got up & put them out of the bedroom & they were fine, tho very affectionate when I got up to get ready for work :)

The nose-to-nose touch is a greeting of affection between cats, in case folks didn't know. I was on vacation for two weeks this fall, and the evening I arrived home, my cat was just about frantic when I finally got up the stairs into the house. And when I went back downstairs to finish unloading the car (having stopped at the grocery on the way home) she just yowled terribly until I came back inside. And constantly rubbing against my legs as I moved around.

Then, about two a.m. I woke up with her on the bed beside me, purring very loudly into my face. I could feel a little of her residual excitement. Then, she touched my nose with her nose, and instantly she calmed down. She had greeted her long-lost Big Cat properly, and finally could rest.

So cute! My cats like to greet me like that, particularly when I get home from work, and right when I get out of the shower, lol. My fiance and I like to think that they're re-marking us with their scents. :)

Hehe...Charley does to us what he does to our other cat: He'll give her a nose-greet and then lick her on her forehead. We get the same treatment...a nose-greet and a little forehead lick. We're not sure if it's a domination thing, or just a quirk, but it's very cute so we don't care.

I had forgotten what it was like to have a kitten.
I get woken up now with Fraser clawing at some part of my body that suddenly moved. 4 o'clock this morning the assault was being made on my right middle finger. Fraser defended honorably. I have a 3/4 inch scratch. That'll teach my hand to move while I sleep.

Message edited by its author, Nov 6, 2009, 9:07am.

Gracie is a nose-greeter; Frankie is a head-bumper.

KittyMonster is a head-bumper. And a cardboard chewer.

None of my cats are head-bumpers or nose greeters, but Chuck is a newspaper eater.

Aww I love hearing other peoples kitten/cat quirks :) Please keep em coming :) I'm soooooooo happy to have my babies living with me & every day brings at least one "OMG I love you guys & am so lucky that you seem to love me too" moment :) Its amazing discovering their different personalities & habits :)

Last night I had a real bonding moment with Taji :) He jumped up onto the bed just as I was bout to lay down & read, so instead of curling up with a book straight away, I lay on my back, put him on my chest & started giving him a massage. I did a diploma of "health science - massage" straight after high school & one of the units was alternative massage, I did an assignment on animal massage & most of it was bout cats so twas good to put into practice something that I'd written about all those years ago. He sat there for prob just over half an hour lapping up the massage, leaning into my hands & purring at different pitches & volumes letting me know what he liked :) Twas gorgeous :)

My cats are the only ones I can connect with these days.

My previous cat, Nanshe was a head licker, 3am being her favourite time and why I no longer allow cats to sleep with me at night. *grin* She loved being picked up and would actually lift herself and stretch her front paws upward as we bent to lift her. She'd then wrap her front legs over our shoulders, half twisting her body to see forward. It was much like you'd pick up a toddler - they reach upward then hold on with arms draped gently around your neck. Just precious.

Aine & Aoife had a rough start to life and are a little more skittish. They usually hide rather than greet new people, though Aoife's more adventurous in that respect.
Aoife loooooves sniffing breath rather than nose touching, and she looks like a drunk because she'll lean and stagger as she's moving towards anything she thinks will offer her a head or body rub. The wall, a hand holding a book, edge of the laptop, curtains... anything and everything is there for her to rub against.
Aine is very afraid of people, especially men. She'll come to me and my daughter for a cuddle but it has to be on her terms, ie: we don't pick her up for one, she chooses when. She purrs the entire time and gazes at us with the dreamy half closed eyes that signal relaxation.
SQUEEEEE!

Kitty would groom me if I let her. She licks and nips and smooths the hair behind my ears, does the nose kiss and rubbs herself aginst me. She doesn't like it under the covers but she sleeps on me or very close to me all night. Sometimes I turn unexpectedly and she falls off and get indignant. She will jump down, stalk to the bedroom door, claw it open and walk out. Of course she's back within five minutes.I guess she figures I've been punished enough.

Ginny is extremely jumpy. Loud noises and sudden movements have her skittering away. If an innocuous object is laying on the ground it may represent a threat too - and one cautious paw will pat at it several times before it's considered safe. One of my favourite memories is of her at around 6 months old when she used to sleep in my room at night. She would sleep curled up on my chest for awhile, and then creep into the bed. One evening I'd just turned off the lamp and Ginny had settled in for her snuggle. I must have moved a hand suddenly because I heard an enormous thump - and there was an empty Ginny-shaped gap on my chest. I switched on my lamp, and found Ginny blinking, half dazed, on the floor: she'd thrown herself sideways and slammed straight into my chest of drawers. She was fine though, and soon came back to the bed to sleep. My poor baby. Sometimes, we can pick her up - she makes little anxious noises, but will happily lie in my arms for 30 seconds or so, kneading her paws in the air. I have to place her down very gently on the ground or she panics.

Message edited by its author, Nov 8, 2009, 5:11am.

I wasn't well this morning, after throwing up for a couple of hours last night (bad food, oops, but I'm better now) I was too tired to go to work when I woke up @ 6am, so I got up & fed the kittens then went back to bed. Usually at night & when I'm not home the kittens are shut in the bedroom half of the house but coz I was so out of it this morning, I forgot to close the sliding door that separates the living areas from the bedrooms. So when I got up later in the morning, the kittens had been playing in the kitchen & living area & now I'm missing 2 pieces of chalk that were on the bench next to the fridge (I have a small blackboard stuck on my fridge). I guess they could have pushed them somewhere I cant see them, but I did have a good look for the pieces of chalk this morning & couldn't find them, so I'm a lil concerned that they might have eaten them...

I don't think chalk will hurt them :)

Under the fridge? They roll, y'know.

Of all the things kittens will eat (or at least try to), chalk would not be a worry for me.
Hope you're feeling better soon Seanie.

I did check under the fridge, couldn't see them but that doesn't mean they're not there at the back. I bought a whole box of coloured chalk from the supermarket last night & it was only 35cents! & it does say "non toxic" on the box so if the babies get a hold of this at least I know I wont need to worry too much...

This morning's antics were Tilly climbing the security door, lol, its cute but I kinda wish she wouldn't. She cant climb up & get stuck when I'm not home coz they're not in that area of the house so I guess there's no real harm & I'm not gonna be able to stop her so I'm just gonna try & accept it.

That's the thing about cats. You may as well accept that they will rule the roost.

If you are loving, firm, and consistent, you will soon have a routine that will be exactly what they want you to do.

We used foil to cover areas we didn't want the cats to go, like behind the entertainment center & desks where there are lots of wires they could chew or get tangled in. It doesn't look pretty, but it works! We also keep a small water gun to discipline the cats if they do something naughty. Athena is so trained that just the noise of us getting ready to squirt her is enough for her to behave. Rodney, though...well, we're working on him. :P

Yeah I have the waterbottle thing going & they've learnt that pretty quickly :) All i hav to do is pick it up & they'll stop whatever they're doing (I've only used it to stop them getting on the kitchen bench & to stop investigating my food as I'm trying to eat it while sitting on the couch). I have been a bit concerned about them playing behind the TV with all the cables, might have to try some foil there :)

The squirt bottle thing never worked for me. She liked to drink from it lol

I've never tried using foil before. Do they not like the feel? We always used double sided tape to stop them from clawing certain parts of carpet or furniture. It worked well since neither of my cats like sticky stuff on their feet, though it had to be replaced often since it attracts cat fur like a magnet :) Of course now they've learned to avoid those couple areas and its not even necessary.

Larry & Thomas are afraid of tin foil in sheet form. It's the sound really. They hate it. Scrunched up into little balls is acceptable though.

#62, for a particularly stubborn cat, I used a squirt bottle with vinegar. Bad behavior (mostly) stopped, although Gracie needs the occasional refresher squirt.

#62 - Crunched up foil is a great toy according to my sisters cats, but flat foil is something to be avoided. When Marty decided to pull books off the bookshelf & tear the covers off (EEEK!) the only thing that stopped him was covering the shelf in foil. Not a particularly good look, but luckily my sister's not as much of a book lover as me, so she doesn't mind her books having to hide behind foil...

I had to be a mean mama this morning & I got scratched for it :( Taj & Tilly were playing in the shower & I needed to get in & get ready for work, but I couldn't convince them to get out, so I turned the water on & boy did they get out quick, but I've got scratches on my feet from the scramble, lol...

Next time, shoes.
A couple of mine like to hang out in there, too. Never understood the attraction.

Shoes in the shower??

Some days my kitty is fascinated by the drip of water from the faucet, as the shower headworks drain down. My tub sometimes empties slowly, and it's always a chuckle when I'm out of the room but, having left her angling toward the faucet, I hear a ker-sploosh. Silly cat.

Seanie -
There's a whole series of books about cats solving mysteries by pulling books off the shelf (The Cat Who... by Lillian Jackson Braun). Maybe Marty is trying to tell you something.

Oooh, I'll have to tell my sister bout those books (Marty's her cat)! Might even have to get her one for christmas, thanx mamzel :)