Why Does My Cat Bother Me At Night?

Once you decide to adopt a cat, your life will change forever. This sweet, sensitive, and intelligent creature will bring so much love and fun to your life but can also keep you awake at night.

You’ve probably asked yourself this question: why does my cat bother me at night? Although your cat might be really fond of you, unfortunately, it doesn’t care much about your sleep schedule.

Cats are driven by their own needs, like most creatures, including humans. Your cat doesn’t necessarily want to disrupt your sleep on purpose and doesn’t do it to bother you. However, you might not be that happy about its attitude, especially after a long day at work.

In this article, we’ll explain in detail why your cat will try to wake you up at night. We’ll also discuss how to react to this behavior.

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Why Does My Cat Bother Me At Night?

Cats usually wake up their owners because they’re bored, scared, or cold. If the cat needs to satisfy an emotional or physical need, it will try to wake you up and let you know that you need to attend to its needs.

Cats are nocturnal animals, and in their natural habitat, they like to stay active at night. However, when they’re living with your family, your daily schedule might force the cat to sleep at night after spending time with you. Here are a few reasons why your cat might be prompted to wake you up at night.

Your cat might be naturally active by night. Even though you’ve probably tried to change this behavior, some cats prefer to play and interact with other people and pets at night, just like some people are night owls and are more productive at night.

If you leave the cat alone by itself for a long time, your cat will probably feel extremely bored. When you’re back at home, your cat will be excited about your presence, thinking that it’s finally playtime, although you might be exhausted after a long day of house chores or work tasks.

If you’re not giving your cat enough physical stimulation or exercise during its active period, it will probably stay active and playful at night.

Your cat might be hungry or thirsty if you haven’t paid enough attention to its diet during the day. It might try to wake you up because it needs a midnight snack.

The cat’s bed or litter box has been disrupted and doesn’t feel comfortable anymore. As a result, the cat might not be able to sleep comfortably at night.

Your cat’s schedule might not be in sync with your schedule. It might feel active at night and stay inactive during the day when you’re ready to play with it.

If your cat isn’t used to waking you up at night and suddenly starts to disturb you when you’re already asleep, this might be related to a new health issue. Your kitty might be suffering from arthritis, hyperthyroidism, or dental problems, and the pain might be keeping it awake at night.

Your kitty might be suffering from sleep problems. Some conditions like dementia or feline cognitive dysfunction affect the cat’s sleep schedule, so it will become more active and needy at night.

Some cats start to become more active at night when they get older. As a result, these cats will try to interact with their owners at nighttime. This can be related to health issues or the natural process of aging that changes the overall cat’s behavior.

How Can Your Cat Bother You At Night?

A cat’s night behavior is often called night crazies and might affect your personal and professional life. If your kitty is keeping you awake at night, you might not be able to get up in the morning, suffer from mood swings, and even face problems with your significant other because you can’t sleep well. Here are a few ways that your cat might try to bother you at night.

Your cat might not try to wake you up but will play excitedly, knocking down furniture pieces or breaking things, so you will eventually wake up.

Your kitty will keep on scratching your bedroom door to wake you up.

The cat will get on your bed and try to touch your face or lick you to wake you up.

Your kitty might try to nibble on your toes or fingers to catch your attention.

The cat will get on the bed and walk all over your body until you’re alert.

Your feline might not be able to get into your bedroom, and in this case, it will usually cry all night outside the bedroom until you let it in.

How Can You Stop Your Cat From Waking You Up?

Cats are natural hunters, and they have sleeping schedules that are quite different from others. Your cat might be waking you up because it’s awake, as it naturally hunts for food early in the morning before you wake up.

However, because you keep the cat in the house and feed it regularly, it will probably change its behavior and follow your sleep schedule. But what if your cat starts bothering you at night? Here are a few things that you can do to control this behavior.

Make sure that everyone in the family understands what is going on and is ready to help with adjusting the cat’s behavior. If one person doesn’t cooperate, it’s unlikely that this behavior will change.

Start readjusting your cat’s behavior by scheduling an hour of play and fun before its bedtime. This will guarantee that the cat has had fun and exercised properly, so it doesn’t feel that it should channel this extra energy when you’re asleep.

Before taking your cat to bed, give it a tasty meal or midnight snack. This will guarantee that the cat won’t be hungry or thirsty when you sleep.

If you’ve done this and your cat keeps on waking you up at night, ignore it. This will teach your cat that this behavior is not going to work, so it will eventually stop trying to wake you up at night.

Make your bed off-limits to your cat. If you have sleep disorders or wake up for any reason during the night, make sure that your cat won’t get into the bedroom, or it will learn that it can wake you up whenever it likes to. Set up a comfortable bed for the cat in another room, but make sure that it has access to litter and food, in case it needs any while you’re sleeping.

Try rubbing a bit of catnip on the cat’s bed to make it more desirable. Cats are known to find catnip extremely attractive, and this will encourage your kitty to sleep in bed.

If you spend long hours away from home, it might be a good idea to get another cat to keep your cat company. Cats can get extremely bored when it doesn’t get to interact or play with other creatures. This is crucial, especially if you have a kitten that typically has more play energy than an older cat. If you have an adult cat, introducing a new feline can be a little challenging but might also help your cat overcome its nighttime behavioral problems.

Set up a special schedule for your cat and stick to it as much as you can. This includes setting up feeding, exercising time, playing, and grooming time.

Take your cat to the vet to check for any health issues, as some of them might cause the cat to wake up at night.

Final Thoughts

Cats are amazing creatures, but their needs are different from ours. Although you might be a loving cat parent, you might not understand what is going on with your feline. Some cats wake up at night and bother their owners to the point that it might affect their personal and professional lives.

Cats wake up at night for several reasons, like feeling bored or hungry. In some cases, cats might wake you up because they’re suffering from a health problem. When this happens, take your cat to the vet to rule out any health problems. You can try to adjust your cat’s behavior by making sure that it’s properly fed and stimulated before bedtime.