Cat waking us up

Twitch is a 3 year old foundling. She was an outside cat who adopted us
over more than a year long procedure. She started out showing up
occasionally, then every day. We fed her because she looked starved.
She wouldn't let us near her, but for a while she hung out. She lived
out outside and allowed us to feed her and build her a cat house to live
in. After several months she allowed us to pet her and sit with her.
She didn't exhibit any signs of wanting to come in, until winter. Even
then she prefered her heated bed. We worked on getting her to come in
until finally during the coldest part of the winter she starting come
in.

Finally, last winter we coaxed her into coming inside at night and
staying outside during the day. Now mostly she stays inside even when
we go to work and just goes out for periodic quick trips of an hour or
so. During the night she tends to sleep quietly on one of her trusty
perches and doesn't bother us until we get up. She waits to be fed and
then goes out for a while. Normally she comes back in after a few
minutes to an hour. When we leave for work she used to go out and stay
but as I said now she mostly just curls up and sleeps till we get home,
though there are days when she goes out and disappears. When we come
home she is waiting in one of the deck chairs and comes in. Sometimes
she might go back out for a while or she may stay in. But she has
gotten where she always stays in for the night.

Over the weekend, things changed. About 3AM to 5AM she gets very
insistent to go out. VERY INSISTENT. The problem is as soon as you let
her out she wants right back in. If you let her in she wants right back
out. When she does go out she stands on the doorstep and cry out like
she wants back in, but if you open the door she runs down to the bottom
of the steps and waits till you close the door then runs back up to the
top and cries. If you go out she runs up like she is happen to see you.
If you pick her up shes wants back down. Then she runs away alternating
between running away and rubbibg your legs. She acts sometimes like she
wants you yo follow her.

Finally, she comes back in for a while and up until we go to work she
runs through this routine several times. When we leave for work she is
INSISTENT about staying outside instead of inside. Then when we come
home she goes back to being her old self until the next morning.

She just had her physical and was in excellent heath. She is fixed (we
think). The vet says she has the scar and of course the fact she hasn't
shown up pregnant in almost two years as evidence. Anyway, it's not
like she's in heat.

We are at our wits end which is NOT being helped b the lack of a good
nights sleep. Anyone have any suggestions.


--
Constitution; Bill of Rights; -- Void where prohibited by law

Talker wrote:

Twitch is a 3 year old foundling. She was an outside cat who
adopted us
over more than a year long procedure. She started out showing up
occasionally, then every day. We fed her because she looked
starved.
She wouldn't let us near her, but for a while she hung out. She
lived out outside and allowed us to feed her and build her a cat
house to live
in. After several months she allowed us to pet her and sit with
her.
She didn't exhibit any signs of wanting to come in, until winter.
Even
then she prefered her heated bed. We worked on getting her to come
in until finally during the coldest part of the winter she starting
come in.

Finally, last winter we coaxed her into coming inside at night and
staying outside during the day. Now mostly she stays inside even
when we go to work and just goes out for periodic quick trips of an
hour or
so. During the night she tends to sleep quietly on one of her
trusty
perches and doesn't bother us until we get up. She waits to be fed
and
then goes out for a while. Normally she comes back in after a few
minutes to an hour. When we leave for work she used to go out and
stay but as I said now she mostly just curls up and sleeps till we
get home,
though there are days when she goes out and disappears. When we
come
home she is waiting in one of the deck chairs and comes in.
Sometimes
she might go back out for a while or she may stay in. But she has
gotten where she always stays in for the night.

Over the weekend, things changed. About 3AM to 5AM she gets very
insistent to go out. VERY INSISTENT. The problem is as soon as you
let
her out she wants right back in. If you let her in she wants right
back
out. When she does go out she stands on the doorstep and cry out
like she wants back in, but if you open the door she runs down to
the bottom of the steps and waits till you close the door then runs
back up to the
top and cries. If you go out she runs up like she is happen to see
you.
If you pick her up shes wants back down. Then she runs away
alternating
between running away and rubbibg your legs. She acts sometimes like
she wants you yo follow her.

Finally, she comes back in for a while and up until we go to work
she
runs through this routine several times. When we leave for work she
is
INSISTENT about staying outside instead of inside. Then when we
come home she goes back to being her old self until the next
morning.

She just had her physical and was in excellent heath. She is fixed
(we
think). The vet says she has the scar and of course the fact she
hasn't
shown up pregnant in almost two years as evidence. Anyway, it's not
like she's in heat.

We are at our wits end which is NOT being helped b the lack of a
good
nights sleep. Anyone have any suggestions.


Guessing that she may have kittens out there somewhere. Follow her
and find out.

--
Peace,
Fred
(Remove FFFf from my email address to reply by email).

In article ,
says...
snip...
Guessing that she may have kittens out there somewhere. Follow her
and find out.

I agree with Fred, kinda... *I* don't think she's got kittens out there,
but I DO think she's "found" something outside that she wants you to see
(I just think it's another adult animal of some sort... not kittens...
that she just hung out with in the OUT)... so follow her.

Personally, I'd be VERY surprised if there were kittens, but that's just
me and my limited knowledge of how mama cats behave when there are
kittens involved...

--- Cory

Fred wrote in
:

Guessing that she may have kittens out there somewhere.
Follow her
and find out.


I've been around cats most of my life including several pregnancies, so I'm
pretty sure she doesn't have kittens out there. She never put on weight,
except the normal fat pads, and never had any development in the nipples,
and I haven't noticed any increase in the nesting instinct. Someone
suggested she may have found a kitten which I suppose is possible.

If she had a litter or adopted one why would she act this way only in the
morning. At night when I get home she's exactly the way she has always
been right up to going to bed. The change in attitude in only EARLY in the
morning.

I did try following her to see if she really wanted to show me something
but she doesn't actually go anywhere in particular. She just sort or
wanders around.


--
Constitution; Bill of Rights; -- Void where prohibited by law

Talker wrote:

Fred wrote in
:

Guessing that she may have kittens out there somewhere.
Follow her
and find out.


I've been around cats most of my life including several pregnancies,
so I'm
pretty sure she doesn't have kittens out there. She never put on
weight, except the normal fat pads, and never had any development in
the nipples,
and I haven't noticed any increase in the nesting instinct. Someone
suggested she may have found a kitten which I suppose is possible.

If she had a litter or adopted one why would she act this way only
in the
morning. At night when I get home she's exactly the way she has
always
been right up to going to bed. The change in attitude in only EARLY
in the morning.

I did try following her to see if she really wanted to show me
something
but she doesn't actually go anywhere in particular. She just sort
or wanders around.

AH HA! She thinks you don't get enough exercise! (;-))


OK, So no kittens. You have a mystery on your hands. Best of luck
with it.

--
Peace,
Fred
(Remove FFFf from my email address to reply by email).

On 23 Oct 2008 08:39:56 GMT, Talker wrote:



Over the weekend, things changed. About 3AM to 5AM she gets very
insistent to go out. VERY INSISTENT. The problem is as soon as you let
her out she wants right back in. If you let her in she wants right back
out. When she does go out she stands on the doorstep and cry out like
she wants back in, but if you open the door she runs down to the bottom
of the steps and waits till you close the door then runs back up to the
top and cries. If you go out she runs up like she is happen to see you.
If you pick her up shes wants back down. Then she runs away alternating
between running away and rubbibg your legs. She acts sometimes like she
wants you yo follow her.

Tess is 3 1/2 years old, strictly indoor, and has always slept through
the night with me. A couple of months ago she started waking up
between 3 and 5 AM and scratching the bedroom wall, leaping off the
walls, jumping on me and generally being a pain. I would wake up and
try to calm her down, staying awake for 30 or 45 minutes and usually
ending up shutting her out of the bedroom. One night I was so tired I
just lay there and didn't react. She carried on for about 5 min and
then settled down. The next night I did the same thing and again she
calmed down in a few minutes. Then it dawned on me that she wanted to
play and by trying to calm her down and putting her out I was playing
with her. So I kept ignoring her and after a few days she was back to
sleeping through the night.

Just a suggestion.

Margaret

I did try following her to see if she really wanted to show me something
but she doesn't actually go anywhere in particular. She just sort or
wanders around.

Would putting a cat flap in your back door be a reasonable option, or
would that be inadvisable in your area? I know that in areas with large
populations of raccoons and skunks cat flaps can be ill-advised.

In article ,
says...
snip...
Tess is 3 1/2 years old, strictly indoor, and has always slept through
the night with me. A couple of months ago she started waking up
between 3 and 5 AM and scratching the bedroom wall, leaping off the
walls, jumping on me and generally being a pain. I would wake up and
try to calm her down, staying awake for 30 or 45 minutes and usually
ending up shutting her out of the bedroom. One night I was so tired I
just lay there and didn't react. She carried on for about 5 min and
then settled down. The next night I did the same thing and again she
calmed down in a few minutes. Then it dawned on me that she wanted to
play and by trying to calm her down and putting her out I was playing
with her. So I kept ignoring her and after a few days she was back to
sleeping through the night.

Just a suggestion.

Margaret

*Onyx taps his Anti on the shoulder*

Anti Margaret?? Jist whut, eggsackly, izza matfur wif ussez katz
wantin' tu pway inna middul uf da nite?!

--- Onyx, oblivious...

On Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:23:57 -0500, Cory
wrote:

In article ,
says...
snip...
Tess is 3 1/2 years old, strictly indoor, and has always slept through
the night with me. A couple of months ago she started waking up
between 3 and 5 AM and scratching the bedroom wall, leaping off the
walls, jumping on me and generally being a pain. I would wake up and
try to calm her down, staying awake for 30 or 45 minutes and usually
ending up shutting her out of the bedroom. One night I was so tired I
just lay there and didn't react. She carried on for about 5 min and
then settled down. The next night I did the same thing and again she
calmed down in a few minutes. Then it dawned on me that she wanted to
play and by trying to calm her down and putting her out I was playing
with her. So I kept ignoring her and after a few days she was back to
sleeping through the night.

Just a suggestion.

Margaret

*Onyx taps his Anti on the shoulder*

Anti Margaret?? Jist whut, eggsackly, izza matfur wif ussez katz
wantin' tu pway inna middul uf da nite?!

--- Onyx, oblivious...

Dear Onyx, there is nothing the matter with you and all katz other
than Tess wanting to play in the middle of the night. You and all the
other kittiez go right ahead. But Tess is special because she lives
in a special place where sleeping through the night is a time-honored
tradition.

skritches,
Anti Margaret

Cory wrote:

*Onyx taps his Anti on the shoulder*

Anti Margaret?? Jist whut, eggsackly, izza matfur wif ussez katz
wantin' tu pway inna middul uf da nite?!

--- Onyx, oblivious...

Onyx,

Da rool in ar house is dat yu kin play, but only wif udder katz, no
playin wif hoominz durin da darktyme.

An no makin too too much noize playin wit da ofer katz eifur.

Hoominz make silly roolz. But we haznt figured out how ta opin da fud
kanz yet.

Booker