Boyfriend does an Otis

Christina Websell wrote:
I am a dreadful sleeper and after spending most of the previous night awake
and then working all day I was looking forward to unconsciousness last
night.
I was woken up at 4 a.m. by Boyfriend meowing loudly outside my bedroom
door. It was just getting light and I did not appreciate it one bit. "Go
away" I said with a tone in my voice. He did. For ten minutes. I was just
dropping off to sleep again and MEOW pause MEow pause...etc.
I told him in no uncertain terms in a very irritated voice that if he didn't
want a clip round his ear he should go away until later. 20 minutes later
he was back and started up again. Meow, get up, Meow, meowmie, get up
NOW.."
I started to worry then. I thought what if the house is on fire downstairs
or there's a flood or something and he's trying to warn me (given that he's
never done this before.) ~sort of like Lassie with her Tommy's down the
well thing ;-)
So I stumbled down the stairs to put the fire out or call the fire brigade
or something. There was no fire or flood.

Do you know what he did???? He marched over to his food bowl, smirked, and
said "any chance of breakfast yet, meowmie, seeing as you're up now?"

I was livid. I picked him up and put him in the conservatory and shut the
back door. As I went back to bed I could hear him wowling to come back in.
There's a cat bed in there, he can get outside, and the weather is warm, I
knew he would be ok.

When I got up and opened the back door he rushed inside. I told him very
firmly that he must not wake me in the night, as it's meowmie who gets him
the money for toonas and she cannot do it if he wakes her by being a
greedyboy.
It's not a punishment for him to be put in the conservatory, it's just to
make him realise that he will not be fed if he wakes me 4 a.m.
If I *had* fed him at 4 a.m. it would have reinforced his idea that it's OK
to wake me up to feed him, which it isn't. Instead he had a negative
experience and I doubt he will do it again.
Let's see what happens tomorrow. Will he wake me at 4 a.m for breakfast? I
don't think he will.
Let's start a book, who thinks he will and who thinks he won't.
Would be interesting to see who would had let their cat get away with it.

Tweed


What would I do? I always see that there is a little kibble in TuTu's bowl at bedtime. There is nothing more pathetic than a cat who is simply starrvving!
(Of course I have a fat cat) Have you never been really hungry?

"Jofirey" wrote in message
...

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...
I am a dreadful sleeper and after spending most of the previous night
awake and then working all day I was looking forward to unconsciousness
last night.
I was woken up at 4 a.m. by Boyfriend meowing loudly outside my bedroom
door. It was just getting light and I did not appreciate it one bit.
"Go away" I said with a tone in my voice. He did. For ten minutes. I
was just dropping off to sleep again and MEOW pause MEow pause...etc.
I told him in no uncertain terms in a very irritated voice that if he
didn't want a clip round his ear he should go away until later. 20
minutes later he was back and started up again. Meow, get up, Meow,
meowmie, get up NOW.."
I started to worry then. I thought what if the house is on fire
downstairs or there's a flood or something and he's trying to warn me
(given that he's never done this before.) ~sort of like Lassie with her
Tommy's down the well thing ;-)
So I stumbled down the stairs to put the fire out or call the fire
brigade or something. There was no fire or flood.

Do you know what he did???? He marched over to his food bowl, smirked,
and said "any chance of breakfast yet, meowmie, seeing as you're up now?"

I was livid. I picked him up and put him in the conservatory and shut
the back door. As I went back to bed I could hear him wowling to come
back in. There's a cat bed in there, he can get outside, and the weather
is warm, I knew he would be ok.



My bet is that if you are tired enough you will put him in the
conservatory before you go to bed.

Jo

Not unless he does it again. He likes to sleep on the spare bed and is
usually quiet all night. I like him to have the run of the house and
usually he is perfect but if he gets silly about waking me at 4 he will
sleep in the conservatory.

Tweed

"Marina" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:
snippers
Let's see what happens tomorrow. Will he wake me at 4 a.m for breakfast?
I don't think he will.
Let's start a book, who thinks he will and who thinks he won't.
Would be interesting to see who would had let their cat get away with it.

I think you have a better chance of teaching him manners if you ignore him
completely when he meows outside your door. Don't yell back at him, not
even to tell him to shut up. He will be pleased at any kind of attention,
even if it's negative. It will encourage him to continue.

You are quite right, it's so better to ignore, but after two chances to shut
up he found himself shut outside at 4.15 am without the breakfast he woke me
up for.

Marina kirjoitti:
Christina Websell wrote:
snippers
Let's see what happens tomorrow. Will he wake me at 4 a.m for
breakfast? I don't think he will.
Let's start a book, who thinks he will and who thinks he won't.
Would be interesting to see who would had let their cat get away with it.

I think you have a better chance of teaching him manners if you ignore
him completely when he meows outside your door. Don't yell back at him,
not even to tell him to shut up. He will be pleased at any kind of
attention, even if it's negative. It will encourage him to continue.


I've had this work with Laku. He sometimes does yell at me to do
something at night, be it to feed him or to clean his litter box or
whatever, but I just turn my back towards him and (pretend to) continue
to sleep. He shuts up quickly and goes to sleep himself too.

--
Christine in Finland
christal63 (at) gmail (dot) com

"MLB" wrote in message
...

What would I do? I always see that there is a little kibble in TuTu's
bowl at bedtime. There is nothing more pathetic than a cat who is simply
starrvving!
(Of course I have a fat cat) Have you never been really hungry

1. Boyfie has 2-3 meals/day. It's perfectly adequate for his needs.
2. He is not starving but he likes to say so.
3 I do not have a fat cat.
4. Yes once I didn't know where my next meal was coming from as I had a
alcoholic partner who spent everything we both earned on booze.

Christina Websell wrote:

I was woken up at 4 a.m. by Boyfriend meowing loudly outside my
bedroom door. It was just getting light and I did not appreciate it
one bit. "Go away" I said with a tone in my voice. He did. For
ten minutes. I was just dropping off to sleep again and MEOW pause
MEow pause...etc. I told him in no uncertain terms in a very irritated
voice that if he
didn't want a clip round his ear he should go away until later. 20
minutes later he was back and started up again. Meow, get up, Meow,
meowmie, get up NOW.."
I started to worry then. I thought what if the house is on fire
downstairs or there's a flood or something and he's trying to warn me
(given that he's never done this before.)

You can probably expect some new behavior from him since he is now
the Only Cat. Maybe he's getting lonely at night? (A cat will often
attempt to satisfy loneliness by begging for food, since that's an
interaction and it also relieves boredom.)

I think putting him in the conservatory isn't such a bad idea. You
need your sleep. My sympathies!

(But, you might consider keeping an eye out for a little friend for
BF. Sounds like he needs some company!)

--
Joyce ^..^

To email me, remove the XXX from my user name.

On Jul 1, 11:56*am, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

A conservatory is a room made of glass, often attached to the back of your
house.. I don't know what it's called in American.
A pantry is something else.

Where I live, we call it a Florida Room. Our climate is on the cool
side of temperate, and from mid-Autumn to mid-Spring, the cold can be
bitter. With the glass, such rooms end up being the warmest place in
the house--hence, Florida Room.

Fritzie tried the Otis act when we first moved to the house. He spent
hours evey night paading around in every room. "Meow--meow--meow!"
Move a few feet in another direction: "Meow--meow--meow!" it was as if
he had been testing the place with sonar, to see how big his new space
was and how much he could get away with.

After over a week of this, and a week of keeping my poor insomniac
Louie wide awake, Louie got up in the small hours of the morning and
put Fritzie in the basement. After 5 or 10 minutes he let the cat out,
gave him fair warning that he was not to keep Daddy awake as Daddy has
to work to keep up payments on Fritzie's nice new home, and went back
to sleep.

The routine back then was Mama get up first, shower, dress, Daddy take
Mama to work, then Daddy come back to dress up and get his turban on.
And that was where it hit the fan. When Daddy came home, he missed by
less than two inches a monument to Fritzie's displeasure, placed
squarely upon the spot in front of the closet where Louie kept his
turbans. Fritzie never went on a late-night noise spree for the next 3
years; Louie moved the turbans to a less-accessible place.

Blessed be,
Baha

wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:

I was woken up at 4 a.m. by Boyfriend meowing loudly outside my
bedroom door. It was just getting light and I did not
appreciate it
one bit. "Go away" I said with a tone in my voice. He did.
For
ten minutes. I was just dropping off to sleep again and MEOW
pause
MEow pause...etc. I told him in no uncertain terms in a very
irritated
voice that if he
didn't want a clip round his ear he should go away until later.
20
minutes later he was back and started up again. Meow, get up,
Meow,
meowmie, get up NOW.."
I started to worry then. I thought what if the house is on fire
downstairs or there's a flood or something and he's trying to
warn me
(given that he's never done this before.)

You can probably expect some new behavior from him since he is now
the Only Cat. Maybe he's getting lonely at night? (A cat will
often
attempt to satisfy loneliness by begging for food, since that's an
interaction and it also relieves boredom.)

I think putting him in the conservatory isn't such a bad idea. You
need your sleep. My sympathies!

(But, you might consider keeping an eye out for a little friend
for
BF. Sounds like he needs some company!)

--

Like that will help her get more sleep! LOL

Jo

"Judith Latham" wrote in message
...
In article , Christina Websell
wrote:
I am a dreadful sleeper and after spending most of the previous
night
awake and then working all day I was looking forward to
unconsciousness
last night. I was woken up at 4 a.m. by Boyfriend meowing loudly
outside my bedroom door. It was just getting light and I did not
appreciate it one bit. "Go away" I said with a tone in my
voice. He
did. For ten minutes. I was just dropping off to sleep again
and MEOW
pause MEow pause...etc. I told him in no uncertain terms in a
very
irritated voice that if he didn't want a clip round his ear he
should
go away until later. 20 minutes later he was back and started up
again. Meow, get up, Meow, meowmie, get up NOW.." I started to
worry
then. I thought what if the house is on fire downstairs or
there's a
flood or something and he's trying to warn me (given that he's
never
done this before.) ~sort of like Lassie with her Tommy's down
the well
thing ;-) So I stumbled down the stairs to put the fire out or
call the
fire brigade or something. There was no fire or flood.

Do you know what he did???? He marched over to his food bowl,
smirked,
and said "any chance of breakfast yet, meowmie, seeing as you're
up
now?"

I was livid. I picked him up and put him in the conservatory and
shut
the back door. As I went back to bed I could hear him wowling to
come
back in. There's a cat bed in there, he can get outside, and the
weather is warm, I knew he would be ok.

When I got up and opened the back door he rushed inside. I told
him
very firmly that he must not wake me in the night, as it's
meowmie who
gets him the money for toonas and she cannot do it if he wakes
her by
being a greedyboy. It's not a punishment for him to be put in the
conservatory, it's just to make him realise that he will not be
fed if
he wakes me 4 a.m. If I *had* fed him at 4 a.m. it would have
reinforced
his idea that it's OK to wake me up to feed him, which it isn't.
Instead he had a negative experience and I doubt he will do it
again.
Let's see what happens tomorrow. Will he wake me at 4 a.m for
breakfast? I don't think he will. Let's start a book, who thinks
he
will and who thinks he won't. Would be interesting to see who
would had
let their cat get away with it.

Tweed


I would have done the same thing. I found that if you do something
they
want once they will try again, if you do it twice it's a habit and
to be
expected as far as cats are concerned. My bet is that he will not
do it
again.

Sweep used to wake me up occasionally during the night but that
was
because she wanted to use her litter tray and she didn't like to
use it in
the dark and needed me to put on the light. As a result we set up
a lamp
with a low energy bulb which we were able to leave on all night.
No more
disturbed sleep.

Judith

So we aren't the only ones with a night light over the litter box!

Jo

On 2009-07-01, Christina Websell wrote:

A conservatory is a room made of glass, often attached to the back of your
house.. I don't know what it's called in American.

It's a conservatory unless you call it a greenhouse. The builder who put
the structure on the back of my mother's house called it a greenhouse. I
think he would have charged more if he had called it a conservatory.

A pantry is something else.

Bud