Some cats can stay up all night while also making strange noises, annoying you very much; in this case, you need to learn to train your cats and kittens to sleep properly to get a good night’s sleep yourself.
Do cats sleep at night? Well, normally, your cat stays up all night because they are nocturnal creatures. Because of this reason, they might stay up, as hunting and playing are their natural behavior at night.
Unfortunately, this might mean that your cat would be playing on your bed and roaming around the house, destroying your routine, especially if you find it hard to go back to sleep after you wake up. There are ways, apart from medications, to get your pet the right cat to sleep.
Why Does My Cat Not Sleep At The Right Time?
How much do cats sleep? Well, cats usually sleep for 12 – 16 hours. Unfortunately, however, much of this sleeping is not done at night time. There may be a lot of reasons for this happening. For example, your cat might not be getting enough exercise during the day. Because the cat is so full of energy throughout, it might start acting active at night time when you’re starting to sleep.
In addition, your cat might be more active when with a companion, and it might be that most of the time during the day you’re away, so when you do come home, your cat starts being active.
This can be very unpleasant if you’re going to sleep. Other reasons your cat might wake up is if it gets a bit hungry or thirsty during the night or if the cat’s bed or litter pan has been changed. Too much-interrupted sleep may also be due to an underlying sickness, so it is important to keep that in check.
Do Cats Sleep At Night?
Cats usually do not sleep at night; however, the conditions they are put in can drastically affect how and when they sleep. Even though their daily rhythm is different, cats can also learn to sleep at different times after spending more time with others who have different sleeping patterns.
So, it might be very annoying initially; however, after some tolerance and patience, you may realize that your cat is adjusting to your sleeping pattern as well. If you want to make the process even faster, there are a few things you could do. These are ignoring your cat’s activities.
If you give your cat a lot of attention when it behaves like this, it is most likely that it will continue with that behavior due to all the attention, as cats are attention-craving creatures. It is best to keep your cat in a place where you can ignore it properly. You could also feed the cat a huge meal right before sleep time; the digestion process will likely make the cat sleepy.
Moreover, if you increase your cat’s activity in the daytime, it is most likely to get very tired at night and then fall asleep. This will also help avoid any naps your cat might take during the day, which might also affect the nighttime sleep.
How To Train
It is known that cats are nocturnal creatures because of which they show such behavior. However, that is not entirely true. The thing is, cats are not exactly nocturnal but crepuscular. This means that cats are naturally more active at dusk and dawn.
To get your cat the perfect routine, it is important to keep in mind their playtime and the feeding time, both of which influence how tired cats might feel. It might be best to have your cat’s playtime around an hour and a half before you want their bedtime to be. After this, let them eat.
This is because if cats play a lot right before they are fed, they will be as tired as needed to be before they sleep. For this to happen, you need to stop free-feeding your cat as well. Start regulating your cat’s feeding times, and it will help with sleep as well as diet. If you free feed, their bodies will not properly digest food naturally, which will make them active at different times of the day.
It is suggested not to feed your cat more than three times a day and keep a long break between the mealtimes, at least 6 hours. Once you try this, you might start seeing differences in your cat’s sleep in one or two weeks. It is also important to make sure you ignore your cat and be patient for a while until they start sleeping properly.
How to Avoid Your Cat from Waking You Up
Cats don’t sleep at night and annoy their owner by waking them up several times during the night. This can be very annoying; however, it is avoidable. There are many ways you can do so. But, keep in mind that it isn’t just you and everyone in the family who is making the same changes so that the plan is effective.
This requires a few behavior modifications for your cat. You should pre-plan everything before you go to bed especially. For example, giving your cat a very long and tiring play session before its sleep can tire it just enough to not annoy you at all. Keep in mind that if your cat does wake you up, you should ignore it as it may backfire.
Also, it is important to make sure your cat is kept away from where you sleep in case you have a sleeping disorder. You can do this by giving it a bed far away from yours, like in another room but be sure to provide it with water and a litter pan for night needs so that it doesn’t wake you up if it needs anything.
Your cat might wake you up because of the energy levels boosting up if it doesn’t have anyone to play with during the day. This can be avoided by bringing another cat into the house. This is best for kittens because they are much more active and get those sudden urges to be active much more often.
In addition, if your cat is waking you up way too early for breakfast, what you can do is not give it breakfast that early when it asks you to. Instead, do so late in the day, which will prevent it from doing so over and over again. Keeping a well-balanced routine for your cat with playtime, perfect mealtimes, and the right amount of everything will affect cat sleep perfectly.
Other Ways
You could always close the door when you’re sleeping. This way, your cat will come and scratch your door for a while but eventually go back. It will not get the companionship and attention it needs and will eventually go back and learn to sleep.
Another thing you could do is play soothing music to help you and your cat sleep. There are a lot of products for your cat that will help with this. Apart from music, there are other sounds to get your cat sleepy, for example, waterfalls, bird sounds, or white noise.
If you give your cat earphones or earbuds, the effect on getting it sleepy will be enhanced. If your cat still annoys you at night by making noises, what you can do for yourself is get some swimmer’s earplugs, which will keep all the noises at bay. Keeping your room very dark will also help with your cat not seeing and annoying you, which could also be avoided by shutting your cat out.
It is best to let your cat know that a bedroom is a place for sleeping and not daytime activity. What you can do is keep all of the toys out of the room to tell your kitten it can’t play there. If, however, your cat still does find other objects such as socks entertaining, you should keep all these hidden as well.
In addition, keeping the door closed when sleeping is the simplest and effective way to keep your cat out of annoying your sleep. Also, using a fan or any sound machine will help you sleep if you are easily disturbed.
Shifting Playtime to Daytime
Regulating your cat’s playtime can have a huge effect on its sleep patterns. This is because the play determines how active your cat is going to be throughout the day. Tiring it out during the day will avoid any random bursts of energy at nighttime.
Ensure to ignore it during the night and not during the day. How much attention you give your cat affects its behavior a lot, as cats are attention seekers. If you find your cat sleeping and it is daytime, waking it up to play with it will prevent it from having a disrupted sleep cycle.
You can use toys that are interactive to keep your cat occupied. In addition, allowing it to explore the outdoors will help stimulate your cat’s brain and get it tired at the right time.
How to Train a Kitten to Sleep
Kittens, because they are not used to sleeping patterns, may doze off at the wrong times and stay up and start playing when you want them to sleep. How much do kittens sleep? Well, new kittens will sleep about 90% of the time.
Older kittens, however, may sleep lesser than that. A 6-month-old kitten, you would find, will be sleeping about 16 to 20 hours of the day. So the question is, even though kittens sleep so much, why do they stay up at night then, annoying your sleep? This is because of the nocturnal nature, but it can be avoided with some regulations.
A Routine
It is essential to get into a routine where you give your kitten a lot of time. The best way would be feeding it at the same timings every day.
In addition, you should change the litter and at the same time every day. This way, your kitten will learn a routine and include bedtime in it as well.
Keep the Kitten Busy
Kittens usually get sudden urges to be active, just like any young creature. They like to hide, scratch and explore. If you make sure that they do these activities during the day and not when they should be asleep, you can avoid it happening at the wrong time.
Usually, after kittens wake up and stretch, they might go around humping and chasing; this might create a lot of chaos but is essential to fulfill its needs. You can keep them occupied and get them tired just right by giving them toys when they are bored. If you ignore this, then this behavior might start taking place at night time instead.
Toys to Keep the Kitten Busy
Giving your kitten a lot of interactive toys will keep them busy. Some of these can be puzzle games. In these, the kitten will have to open a container where then they will get a treat. Another tiring game could be chasing a ping pong ball or chasing a toy mouse on the end of a string.
The good idea is to ask your kids to play this with the kittens. Other games could be a scratching post or perches for them to jump on. If your kitten plays with toys making a lot of sounds, it is best to keep them away at night; otherwise, you’ll be woken up by the noises.
A Meal before Bed
Feeding your cat before bedtime will help it sleep. Usually, cats get sleepy after eating, which will affect the cat’s sleep routine, and you can get positive results by doing so at dinner time. Just make sure that you don’t give your kitten way too much to help it sleep. This will cause your kitten to gain too much weight.
Conclusion
Usually, with some effort and proper planning, training your cat for the perfect cat sleep won’t be a problem. Just make sure that everyone in the house is going with the plan and that your cat has a routine it is sticking to. This way, the sleep time will also stick itself into it.
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