my cat is a needy child -Help!

firstbabysingle · March 2015

In some ways I feel like she is helping me prepare for when I have my little man and have to get up all hours but basically my cat Lily who is almost 1 years old now and myself have been inseparable since I adopted her as a rescue kitten. I never knew I would end up pregnant so she became my little fur baby and I spoilt her allowing her affection demands and shared a bed cuddling her every night.since being second trimester and now going into third I decided she needs to start sleeping in laundry in prep for baby arrival but if she hears me sneak down the hall to go relieve my bladder she wakes up the whole house and meows until I either cave in and let her out or let her tire herself back to sleeping until a reasonable hour. What can I do to make this easier? I feel so guilty putting her in there but she needs to get used to it because I will be sharing a room with my infant until he is old enough for his own (being a first time single mum I feel like it is safer)

ElRuby · March 2015

Are you planning on co-sleeping? If not, why can't kitty still sleep with you?

rsalata · March 2015

Oh crazy kitties.I have a kitty shes good other than stalking me every time I go to the bathroom. I also have a dog who I share a bed with and he's getting huge so I'm going to be dealing with the same problem... He would go crazy if I left him in the laundry room. That's where he stays when I'm gone for a couple of hours each day. But he's such a baby. Sorry I don't really have any suggestions. Try buying her a bed and putting it high up on something level to your bed. That's what I'm going to do with my dog. I'm going to stack pallets up to the height of the bed and put his bed on top. I hope it works. Crazy animals I love my furry kids though!

KaLikeAWind · March 2015

Yeah I am wondering why kitty can't sleep in your room after baby. I get that you and baby will be sharing a room, but baby will also be sleeping in our room for the first couple of months and I never considered banishing my cats from the bedroom. If you were planning on co-sleeping with baby then I can see it a little more, but if its just that baby will be in a bassinet or crib in your room I don't see why kitty can't join you. Also, I noticed that you are basically locking her in the laundry room. For a 1 year old cat, being locked in a small space like that overnight (which, cats are nocturnal creatures by nature, night is when they are most active) would be very limiting to her mental activity / stimuli and emotional well being. I would consider instead just shutting the door to your own bedroom so she can have the run of the remainder of the house. I'm not trying to flame you, but I honestly think its kinda mean to keep her confined to such a small room when your only goal is to keep her out of your room. Unless you don't have a door to your bedroom. Talk to your vet about it.

Edited to add - I worked in feline only veterinary practices for almost 8 years, so I'm kinda the crazy animal cat lady here, so take what I say with that mind.

rsalata · March 2015

I come from a long line of crazy cat ladies. My grandma was a cat lady my mom is and so am I. They're beautiful! And were not crazy but that's what people say...er just love animals.

ElRuby · March 2015

I am destined to be a crazy cat lady!

aj1327 · March 2015

My cat starts making weird noises and trying to wake everyone up (mostly our dog to play) around 4 or 5am. If we yell at him to stop he will, but for this reason, we will be shutting him out of our room. We'll probably start next month to get him used to it. Maybe you could just close the door to your room?

carolyngrace · March 2015

If I close the door to my room my cat will either scratch the door/carpet or meow until it wakes me up. They are so persistent.

I plan on putting the cat outside at night once it's warm enough. Happily that will coincide with baby being here. Not because she can't still sleep with me, but because I don't want her meowing to get fed every time I get up to pee (or the baby wakes me up). She's just too annoying at night.

aj1327 · March 2015

carolyngrace said:
If I close the door to my room my cat will either scratch the door/carpet or meow until it wakes me up. They are so persistent.

I plan on putting the cat outside at night once it's warm enough. Happily that will coincide with baby being here. Not because she can't still sleep with me, but because I don't want her meowing to get fed every time I get up to pee (or the baby wakes me up). She's just too annoying at night.

This is another good option and our cat usually loves going out at night.

Westypet · March 2015

My cat sleeps next to me so I am not co-sleeping for this reason and I'll place a bassinet by the bed.

If we lock kitty out of the room, she cries or rips apart the carpet until we let her in.

I'm not worried about cat jumping in the bassinet or harming the baby at all. If baby cries, she'll probably just go hide under the bed.

finchfeeder80 · March 2015

We have two kitties and no intention of kicking them off the bed in June, so no help here. They're our babies, too.

HoosOnFirst · March 2015

Yep, cat will sleep in our bed as always, baby in bassinet close by. If we kick him out he will bang on the door and meow all night!

CBHoneyB · March 2015

We co sleep in our house and our 3 cats just join us.

ElRuby · March 2015

I don't even know how you begin to set boundaries for your cat... They live by their own rules... Many are nocturnal and need to roam.. So confining them to a room is just cruel. With DS we locked them out of our room for a few nights and in their own way they kindly understood but then we all just settled back into our normal routine of one cat on the pillow, the other roaming the house all night, and baby in the bassinet.

heatheremanderson · March 2015

One product that is inexpensive and may help with some of your cat's anxiety is Feliway (I believe in the states it is available at most pet stores especially the larger chains).

I am going to safely assume your little girl is spayed and her getting up is not related to heat cycles (cats will not go out of heat until they are spayed or pregnant as they are induced ovulators). If she is not spayed however - doing so may correct some of these behaviors as well

missjenniebean · March 2015

Just shut your bedroom door so kitty can roam the house. I'm a FTM but never thought of keeping kitty out of our room, only baby's.

CurlyMom78 · March 2015

We're not kicking our dog out of our room! She will probably stick to her routine...on the bed while we watch tv (if we can stay awake...lol!), gets kicked off to her own bed when we go to sleep, and then she sneaks up sometime around 4 am to finish out the morning until we wake up. We will probably put a bed for her in baby's room if she wants to hang out when we are in there (she's a non shedding dog).

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