UKH

Our cat is driving us nuts!

We have a rescue cat, around 12 years old. Got her about 2 and a half years ago, and she's been great for the last couple of years. However, the last few months she has decided she wants feeding around 3 or 4 in the morning and will scratch on the bedroom door incessantly. Unfortunately due to the layout of the flat there's nowhere we can shut her in, and she won't step a paw outside.

We've got point of barricading our bedroom door, but still she manages to somehow get through and scratch away. She's causing us less sleep than our 6 month old human!

The only solution I can think of is get an automatic cat feeder set for 3am, but with our current one she can clearly smell there's food in there and attacks it from the moment we put it down, usually destroying it within half an hour.

Can anyone recommend an automatic cat feeder that prevents the smell and is suitablly indestructible? I've tried googling, but not found anything.

You're being played!

It's a battle of wills. Stand firm, don't give in, she will give in.

Cats owner of many decades.

Ha! My old mogg Charlie noticed when I started getting up early for shifts and would expect an early breakfast even when I didn't have to get up. He would jump on the bed and just nip any exposed flesh.  Resistance was futile so I'd just get up, feed the ginger monster then go back to bed. So would he.

Our cat used to do this. We didn't have a room we could lock her in with access to the cat flap. When we heard her outside the bedroom door we would open the door and spray her with water from a plant sprayer. After a few goes she would hear one of us getting up and charge downstairs before we had even opened the door. Before long she gave up coming upstairs altogether and even now she is still reluctant to come into the bedroom and just sits on the landing. 

I think she's proved conclusively that she has stronger will than me! There's something especially grating about that scratching at the door at 3am

We tried that too, but she waits just long enough for me to get back into bed before starting again.

I thought I'd solved the problem when I found a cat spray that had a motion sensor and sprayed a jet of air when anything came close enough.

Unfortunately after forking out £60 for this she learned to circumvent it, still not sure how. She's obviously smarter than me as it seems to get me more than her!

Have you tried feeding her as you go to bed? 

https://smartpetdevices.co.uk/collections/pet-feeders?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpr_...

Yes, she gets half a wet food sachet in the afternoon and the rest in the evening.

She seems to be more dog than cat when it comes to food. No off switch.

Thanks.

I was hoping for recommendations as I have one of those catmate ones and she destroyed it trying to get to the food. Some of the others look like they could be robust enough maybe..

Ah ok. It may take a bit more persistence to get a 12 year old cat to  change her ways! 

Maybe she is scratching at the door because she just wants you to let her in and sleep in your warm bed

To be honest that doesn't sound much. Our 4 would have a full packet in the morning and a second one at night. 

It's definitely food, although I think it wasn't an issue in the past as the door was left ajar so she did just that, after nibbling any exposed toes for a bit.

But since we have a baby in the room with us she's not allowed in.

Oh, should have mentioned she also gets a handful of dry food in the morning, in line with what's recommend for her. We did wonder if she wasn't getting enough so weighed her, but her weight is fine.

I might try increasing her food portion a bit more though.

Ha! This takes me straight back to my cat owning years

I doubt 'odourless' will work, they have a great sense of smell. Why not try leaving some dry biscuits out downstairs, at least you will find out if it is food or company she is after?
Chris

I am disappointed by this thread. I thought I was going to learn about odourless indestructible cats and how to feed them 

Put it in one of these at night https://www.petplanet.co.uk/p30417/petplanet_dog_cage_with_mat_medium_78_x_...

Can't you leave a pile of dry food at night? Preferably one she's not super keen on.

Then she can pick at will but is unlikely to hoover it up. But I suspect the issue is human company and possibly jealousy over the arrival of the baby that's causing this attention seeking at 3am.

Is that an acceptable way of avoiding an inconvenience due to our selfish desire to keep housepets?

My cat does this at all hours,either he wants to go out or wants feeding so now we just leave the bedroom door open,i have his bowl at side of our bed and just put some cat biscuits in his bowl he munchies them for a couple of minutes then goes to sleep.but hes a greedy little sod and if i dont feed him he insists on going out.

Hmm, afraid you could be right there. It's worth a try, although I suspect they'll be gone within an hour of going to bed.

Sorry to disappoint, but if you do hear of one of these cats I would love to hear more about them too!

Effective, although does seem a bit harsh given that she likes to prowl around the house at night (at least I think she does)

That's what we did when we first got her, just filled up a bowl with dry food, as the last cat I had as a kid would just eat what it needed and come back later.

A month later and she had ballooned from a petite tabby to a round ball, and was quite a bit overweight. As I mentioned earlier, she doesn't seem to have an off switch when it comes to food.

I suspect you're right about jealousy over the baby though.

She was fine before, when we left the door ajar, but we don't want her in the room now with the baby in there too.