"DearLadyDisdain" wrote in message
news

I got my first kitten back in March. Everyday since then he has been
waking me up by crying every morning at around 5 am. I make sure to give
him lots of food the night before, and many mornings when I do get out
of bed when he starts up I check and see that his food and water are
still quite full yet. I thought that maybe he wants more attention, so I
make sure to play and pet him for a while before going to bed. But,
alas, I am still being woken up every morning.

Since he has gotten bigger, he now puts his paw under the door and
rattles it while meowing. I wouldn't mind letting him in the room at
night or in the morning if he didn't pounce all over me continuously
(thus not letting me sleep--so I lock him out of the bedroom at night).


When he meows in the morning, I simply ignore him, knowing that if I
don't give him any attention that I won't reinforce his behavior--but
this is still going on! This morning he rattled the door so much that it
actually opened and I suddenly awoke to a kitten pouncing on my
face....

He is a sweet cat and I think myself lucky to have gotten him, so this
is really my only complaint. How do I get him to stop?

Thank you.

--
DearLadyDisdain


He wants to be with you. As the others said, try letting him sleep with
you. I found with each of my cats that I could gently set them beside me
and pet them for a couple of minutes until they calmed down. After a short
period of doing this, they learned not to jump all over me at night. Now
they curl up beside me, and we both enjoy it. It does take some extra time
with kittens because they are still babies, but they will adapt. It can be
helpful to place a very soft blanket beside you to serve as an invitation to
the kitten to knead and curl up. Also, play with him for awhile before
bedtime so he will be tired when it's time for bed.

MaryL