AJ driving us mad, help please!

[JBalways2000]

for the last few weeks now AJ has been driving us nuts. all the kitties get locked out of our bedroom at night, but they have more then enough beds around the house so they dont need ours! :lol: now the problem is that AJ doesnt want to be locked out of our bedroom. he goes downstairs to sleep for most of the night now but the last few weeks every day he has been coming to the bedroom door earlier and earlier and crying and digging and ripping at the carpet to be let in.

we have tried putting tiles down so he cant dig but he manages to move them. we have tried putting all sorts of things in front of the door so he cant get to it but nothing works-he always managed to get past them. if we let him in the bedroom he then wont leave us alone. first i thought it was maybe because he was getting hungry(we cant leave food down for them because there are four cats and two have funny tummys) so i started bringing in a little bit of food at night for him to have when we let him in of a morning-but that didnt work because he ate it and then jumped straight on the bed for fuss!

when it first started he was coming to the door just as he heard our alarm which was sweet, then he started coming a little earlier. now its reached the point where we are getting about 5/6 hours sleep before he is coming and waking us up. if it wernt for sleep deprivation this might be funny :shock: :lol: all he wants when we let him in(which we have to do because he just stays ripping at the carpet if we dont) is the fuss which we sleepily try to give in the hope that he goes to sleep. we have also tried ignoring him which just results in a mouth full of fur and alot of head bumps from him.

so does anyone have any advice for how to deterr this sort of behaviour? his brother Raven does cry at the door sometimes but i think hes mostly doing it to see why AJ is in with us and he isnt :lol: the two younger boys are good as gold and will sleep until we wake up. we have tried letting them all stay in with us and again the younger boys are brilliant but Raven is usually the first up looking for fuss then, followed by AJ-we just cant win!

Sorry to have gone on, im just getting desperate now. please help if you can :?

[Elaine]

Do you know that a new study says that 5/6 hours sleep leeds to a longer life:lol: Sorry, I know it must be frustrating, I am so cranky if I dont have nearly enough sleep.
Have you tried sticky paws or double sided sellotape on the carpet out side your room? That might stop the digging and scratching.

[JBalways2000]

:shock: i need a good 9 hours sleep a night or im falling alseep by the afternoon :lol:

you know i read earlier about double sided tape and wondered if it might work. also read that cats dont like walking on tinfoil so might give that a try too. i tell you what i have never ever been cruel to an animal in my life but when i look at AJ lately i start to see him as a football.....:lol: (only joking i could never hurt the big fatty-just dont tell him that!! :lol: )

its a case of i have to laugh or il cry-which has very nearly happened lately:oops: :lol:

[Elaine]

I can relate to that. We used sticky paws when we bought a new sofa, same idea as the double sided sellotape, worked a treat, although they have now taken to scratching the poufe, so will need to get more:?
Poor AJ only wants to snuggle up with his mum, bless him. I cannt imagine going to bed with out Eva trying to suffocate me:lol: but thats just me;)

[JBalways2000]

Actually poor AJ just wants to cuddle up with his Dad-his a proper daddies boy and only seems to be interested in me of a morning when he gets no reaction from his daddy:lol: MY cats on the other hand are all good boys ;)

I would love to let all the kitties sleep in with us but i have trouble sleeping as it is and the two younger ones always pile themselves up on me and make me feel like im in an oven-oh the joys of cats :roll: :lol:

will definately give the double sided tape a try tonight then, im getting too desperate not to! fingers crossed it works for the sake of my sanity!

[babycakes]

Denis was the same and it took a long few months and a good few arguments before he gave up. We had to just ignore him and now he only does it when its windy and I let him in then because I know he is scared of the wind.

[dandysmom]

The sheets of tinfoil are supposed to work very well; they dislike the texture of it and the noise it makes...give it a try!

[Elaine]

The sheets of tinfoil are supposed to work very well; they dislike the texture of it and the noise it makes...give it a try!


Did any one see Brainiacs last night? They did a small experimant with cats in a square, surrounded by tin foil, the cats just walked right over it and off the set. A little gingerly but they walked over it.

[angieh]

Did any one see Brainiacs last night? They did a small experimant with cats in a square, surrounded by tin foil, the cats just walked right over it and off the set. A little gingerly but they walked over it.

Sorry I didn't see the programme, but it seems, so much for that myth!

[smudgley]

blimey. 9 hours a night :shock: We only manage to get 5/6 hours every night. That's our normal routine. :? There's not enough hours in the day for me to have any more.

Just a suggestion, although I think I know the answer. Does he want to go outside? Or are yours house cats?
I only ask because if Smudge is in at night, she will come in our room at 3/4am and scratch at the window until we let her out. :evil: Just wondered if that may solve your problem, but I have a feeling yours are house cats.

[JBalways2000]

well, we had another disturbed sleep thanks to AJ :roll: i was there at midnight last night putting strips of double sided tape on the floor and the bottom of the door-didnt work! :mad: he has got to be the most stubborn kittie ever. when that didnt work i got up and went downstairs to get the metal file box and put that against the door, then that didnt work because there was still carpet showing so i got their smaller scratching post to put next to it-no carpet showing anymore. but did that stop him?? NO! :roll:

so after 2 hours of trying to sleep and trying different things we had to give up and let him in. of course he started wanting fuss and wouldnt leave us alone for ages :roll: he gave up eventually and went back asleep letting us get another hour before getting up :roll:

and yes all our boys are indoor cats so hes not wanting to be let out, hes wanting to be let in! :lol:

il have to see how he reacts to tinfoil today and see if its worth a try, but after seeing him just walking over the double sided tape i dont have much hope for that working either :roll:

if only our downstairs wasnt open plan and we could lock him away some where.....:twisted: :lol:

[Elaine]

Thats a shame, not sure what else to suggest other than is it possible to shut him in a room down stairs for the night?

[JBalways2000]

Thats a shame, not sure what else to suggest other than is it possible to shut him in a room down stairs for the night?

unfortunately our downstairs is open plan. the only two rooms he could be locked into are the kitchen and the bathroom and both rooms get absolutely freezing so i wouldnt do that, as much as hes bugging me right now lol

[Rosie]

Locking my cats out of the bedroom has never worked. Rosie and Alfie are used to sleeping in my room one on the sheepskin rug and one at the bottom of the bed with the dog! Alfie was a bit of a pest when he was a kitten but soon adapted to my sleep routine and knows exactly when it is time for me to wake up. No chance of sleeping in at the weekend though.

Muche less hassle to just give in:D

[MrsH]

Our cats are now 2½ and we've had problems with Jason doing this ever since they arrived! We were rather unkind and used a water spray to deter them (hiding behind the door, whipping it open enought to squirt, without them seeing that it was us!)

It stopped him shredding the carpet, now he just bangs on the door instead, he doesn't scratch, he just thumps it! So we've partially won the battle, back to the water spray I think!

[JBalways2000]

Ive been meaning to update this to let you all know how we are getting on. well we tried everything to stop AJ from digging and in the end we decided to just give it a couple of nights letting the kitties sleep in with us. to our amazement it worked! after a couple of nights of excitement from them they have now all settled into a routine and we are getting a good nights sleep finally! :lol: they still wake us up sometimes if they want a cuddle or feeding but after they are ignored they tend to give up:lol: and AJ has indeed became a bit of a mommys boy now much to my partners annoyance, as he always cuddles up next to me at night-not looking forward to the summer this year :shock: just waiting for the next behavourial problem to come out........:roll: :lol: