As some readers might have followed – our little critter has become slightly nocturnal for the last four weeks. That’s normal you might argue – after all cats sleep in the day and hunt at night. But cats also adjust to their human’s schedule – and until recently she would sleep through until it was time for hubby to get up.
Things got so bad recently – Bobby woke us between 4 and 5 with lots of scratching sofa and carpet and meowing that I even contemplated the counselling services of Vicky Halls, who helped many cat owners, whose problems are worse than ours. Cat counselling comes at a price and we’d choose the phone option – she often travels long distances to meet the cats in their environment and interview the owners. You can find more information about her services at www.vickyhalls.net .
However before we go down that route we decided to try everything we can to find a solution to this problem. Firstly Paul realised on Sunday that he hasn’t fed the birds outside for four weeks – and that might a reason why Bobby was so needy and demanded lots of attention. So he bought some birdseed and restored Bobby’s bird TV. She was so happy when all the pigeons started coming back to the bird feeder and onto the garage roof. For most of the Sunday she spent her time watching and stalking them. She never really hunts though and she is rubbish in catching anything. She once managed to get hold of one, but let go because she didn’t know what to do with it. Compare her to Dusty, my mum’s cat, who is a fine hunter. My father sometimes despairs with all the mice she brings home and his solution is not exactly ideal – as soon as she comes in with a mouse, he shuts her in the bathroom to finish the mouse off – because before he started this approach a mouse would escape and he had to somehow get hold of it – or days later he would find an unpleasant smell and a dead mouse under a cupboard or bed. Dusty is a beautiful grey Norwegian Forest and being a good hunter is one of this breed’s features. She also has mega-sharp claws!
Anyway making sure the birds come back to our garden certainly had a positive effect on Bobby. We also decided to leave the kitchen and conservatory door and her cat flap open so she could go in and out as she pleases (despite my worries).
But it didn’t make a difference to her nocturnal habits. At about 4ish on Sunday night she came back to demand to get out. We ignored her and she twigged that the flap was open. Relief, but not for long, at about 5 she had enough and wanted her food. So I went down to feed her the dry food she so loves. Paul decided to come with me downstairs, fed her wet and made himself breakfast at 5.10 (by that time I was back in bed). I just thought – well that’ll teach Bobby a lesson – but not the one we want her to learn.
For the rest of the Monday we were both pretty tired. But we may have finally found a solution, which I thought would be the only way out. Paul searched the net and found this useful website for cat owners: http://www.perfectpaws.com/spring.html
Basically Bobby as a single cat needs more play and is bored – so our strategy is to simply make sure she doesn’t sleep much during the day and evening and play a lot with her. Paul played almost 3 hours with Bobby yesterday evening. At about 10 she was really knackered. And what can I say – this morning she woke up at 6, which is the time hubby gets up anyway. However we can’t be complacent now and have to keep up this routine for a while until her sleeping pattern is compatible with ours. So watch this space.
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