Otis is killing me

I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and I just
can't stand it anymore. He gets up most mornings between 4 and 5 AM and
yowls, claws the window screens, and also my face. He seems to want to go
outside to go to the bathroom and to have a snack. He can't just seem to go
down to the litterbox by himself and come quietly back to bed. I just fall
back asleep when the alarm goes off.

I think I've mentioned that my husband is now home and I am working - and I
just can't afford to be this tired all day. My performance is suffering.
Also, I've started to get migraines and broken sleep is a contributing
factor to them. I'm tired of dragging around all the time.

I'm going to have to stick him in the basement at night. I hate to do it
since Otis is such a strange creature. On one hand, he's a velcro loving
kitty passionate about being with his people. OTOH, if he doesn't get lots
of slave-contact, he gets kind of wild pretty quickly. I'm gone all day at
the office and my husband isn't so attentive all day to the cats as I am.
I've felt that he needs his nighttime cuddle time.

Winter should calm him down a bit since he's less inclined to go want to go
out when its -20 and tends to hide under the covers until noon. I'm the
only one in the city who can't wait for cold winter.

Susan M
Otis and Chester
Whimpering

"Susan M" wrote in message
news:yntTe.124210$Hk.71261@pd7tw1no...
I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and I
just
can't stand it anymore. He gets up most mornings between 4 and 5 AM and
yowls, claws the window screens, and also my face. He seems to want to go
outside to go to the bathroom and to have a snack. He can't just seem to
go
down to the litterbox by himself and come quietly back to bed. I just
fall
back asleep when the alarm goes off.

I think I've mentioned that my husband is now home and I am working - and
I
just can't afford to be this tired all day. My performance is suffering.
Also, I've started to get migraines and broken sleep is a contributing
factor to them. I'm tired of dragging around all the time.

I'm going to have to stick him in the basement at night. I hate to do it
since Otis is such a strange creature. On one hand, he's a velcro loving
kitty passionate about being with his people. OTOH, if he doesn't get
lots
of slave-contact, he gets kind of wild pretty quickly. I'm gone all day
at
the office and my husband isn't so attentive all day to the cats as I am.
I've felt that he needs his nighttime cuddle time.

Winter should calm him down a bit since he's less inclined to go want to
go
out when its -20 and tends to hide under the covers until noon. I'm the
only one in the city who can't wait for cold winter.

Have you tried putting a litterbox in your bedroom for Otis? Or closing him
out of your bedroom, rather than in the basement?

As a last resort, you might wear those foam earplugs that are made for
shooters (very cheap in WalMart) and cover your face with a pillow.

Susan M wrote:
can't stand it anymore. He gets up most mornings between 4 and 5 AM and
yowls, claws the window screens, and also my face. He seems to want to go
outside to go to the bathroom and to have a snack. He can't just seem to go
down to the litterbox by himself and come quietly back to bed. I just fall

Have you guys thought of building a small enclosure accessible with a
cat flap? That way Otis can come in and out at night (or early morning)
without you having to get up to let him out. It might be worthwhile
looking into that.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

Susan M wrote:
I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and
I just can't stand it anymore. He gets up most mornings between 4
and 5 AM and yowls, claws the window screens, and also my face. He
seems to want to go outside to go to the bathroom and to have a
snack. He can't just seem to go down to the litterbox by himself
and
come quietly back to bed. I just fall back asleep when the alarm
goes off.

I think I've mentioned that my husband is now home and I am
working -
and I just can't afford to be this tired all day. My performance is
suffering. Also, I've started to get migraines and broken sleep is a
contributing factor to them. I'm tired of dragging around all the
time.

I'm going to have to stick him in the basement at night. I hate to
do it since Otis is such a strange creature. On one hand, he's a
velcro loving kitty passionate about being with his people. OTOH,
if
he doesn't get lots of slave-contact, he gets kind of wild pretty
quickly. I'm gone all day at the office and my husband isn't so
attentive all day to the cats as I am. I've felt that he needs his
nighttime cuddle time.

Winter should calm him down a bit since he's less inclined to go
want
to go out when its -20 and tends to hide under the covers until
noon.
I'm the only one in the city who can't wait for cold winter.

Susan M
Otis and Chester
Whimpering

I'm sorry to hear that. What a cat! I haven't got any bright ideas
except a litterbox upstairs near the bedroom for him. Many purrs for
it all to work out.
--
Britta
"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album

"Susan M" wrote in message
news:yntTe.124210$Hk.71261@pd7tw1no...
I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and I
just
can't stand it anymore. He gets up most mornings between 4 and 5 AM and
yowls, claws the window screens, and also my face. He seems to want to go
outside to go to the bathroom and to have a snack. He can't just seem to
go
down to the litterbox by himself and come quietly back to bed. I just
fall
back asleep when the alarm goes off.

I think I've mentioned that my husband is now home and I am working - and
I
just can't afford to be this tired all day. My performance is suffering.
Also, I've started to get migraines and broken sleep is a contributing
factor to them. I'm tired of dragging around all the time.

I'm going to have to stick him in the basement at night. I hate to do it
since Otis is such a strange creature. On one hand, he's a velcro loving
kitty passionate about being with his people. OTOH, if he doesn't get
lots
of slave-contact, he gets kind of wild pretty quickly. I'm gone all day
at
the office and my husband isn't so attentive all day to the cats as I am.
I've felt that he needs his nighttime cuddle time.

Winter should calm him down a bit since he's less inclined to go want to
go
out when its -20 and tends to hide under the covers until noon. I'm the
only one in the city who can't wait for cold winter.

Susan M
Otis and Chester
Whimpering



I've got a "monster" cat, too. Zooming around at 1 in the morning, bouncing
off me. I can relate. Wish I had a suggestion other than closing the
bedroom door, but if yours is like mine, that won't work. They claw at the
door which wakes you up as well. Sigh. I'm just learning to live with it.

kili

"Pat" wrote in message
...

Have you tried putting a litterbox in your bedroom for Otis? Or closing
him
out of your bedroom, rather than in the basement?

As a last resort, you might wear those foam earplugs that are made for
shooters (very cheap in WalMart) and cover your face with a pillow.

Thanks Pat. We don't want a litterbox in the bedroom for the noise (he's a
big scratcher), the smell, and the mess. I think that he just likes to get
up and prowl at this time of the morning too and its more than just needing
to get up for a pee. If you lock him out of the bedroom, he will throw
himself at the door all night and dig at the door, likely to the point that
he will injure his feet. He's also a yowler. We can hear him complaining
all the way from the basement to the second floor. He's part siamese. He
also digs around the pillow (tried that) and scratches my face. He's one
determined hombre. Unfortunately, after years of nine years of trying to
deal with his nighttime habits, we've discovered that you have to be two
storeys away from him to get any sleep at night.

Susan M
Otis and Chester

"Victor Martinez" wrote in message
.. .
Have you guys thought of building a small enclosure accessible with a cat
flap? That way Otis can come in and out at night (or early morning)
without you having to get up to let him out. It might be worthwhile
looking into that.

Victor - that's exactly what I have planned as part of our renovation that
we're doing this spring. The contractor and architect were a little
surprised but I think that its a must for Otis. I hope that we can rig it
so that we can retain heat in the house in the winter though. Hopefully we
can fully seal it up when it is brutally cold.

My concern though is that he'll get out there, go crazy because he can't get
out of the enclosure, and yowl outside and wake the neighbours. I'm
serious. I worry that he'll spend whole nights trying to dig himself out.
He's just an extremely lucky cat that he got me instead of some lukewarm cat
person.

Susan M
Otis and Chester

"badwilson" wrote in message
...

I'm sorry to hear that. What a cat! I haven't got any bright ideas
except a litterbox upstairs near the bedroom for him. Many purrs for
it all to work out.

Thanks Britta - and he looked so calm and normal when you met him! He spent
the night in the basement last night. Only yowled for about an hour until
he settled down. Poor little guy. I slept right through last night though!

Susan M
Otis and Chester

Susan M wrote:
I've written ad nauseum about how Otis is keeping us up at night and I just
can't stand it anymore.

Wow. That Otis is one crazy kitty...

Ours seem to be okay as long as someone is home half of the time...and
they dont' care if we're awake or asleep...they'll be leaning heavily
on me while DP is working shifts in the hospital. But DP got them in
the summers when I was on military service.

Best of luck with Otis.

--Fil

Susan M wrote:
He's just an extremely lucky cat that he got me instead of some lukewarm cat
person.

That he is.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he