Conference misery::feline_v1

    Hi Lisamarie
    
    I went through the same thing with my last 2 cats.  First I had Zula.
    He wasn't flying all over the place, but at 5am, he would start
    circling my head and purring, rubbing his head all over me.  He
    wouldn't stop until I got up.   I love this, but not at 5am.  I started
    putting him out of the bedroom and closing the door the second he 
    started to do this in the morning.  After a week or two, he learned not
    to wake up mommy (until the Alarm clock goes off, and then he starts).
    
    Then I got another kitten.  Zula was a year old and I brought in Ziggy.
    The two of them decide to go wild around 4-5 am.  Flying through the
    room, over the bed, under the bed, off the walls, bouncing on top of
    us.  At first I would feed them and then lock them out.   Bad idea.
    They associated waking up mommy with food.  Now I just lock them
    out.   They're getting much better (after a few weeks).  They still
    occassionally do it but now it's more like 7am instead of 4 or 5am.
    When I get up and open the door, they are both patiently waiting there.
    Even if it is 4 hours later, they are sitting by my door. 
    
    Your kitten will eventually learn.  You can lock him in the bathroom
    with the litterbox if you don't want the himmie to get at him.   
    
    Pam

    Our Willy was a terror for the first few months (I can't remember when
    we started getting sleep) also.  He would nap from about 8-10 pm every
    night so he would be wide awake when we went to bed.  Every night we
    would continually disturb his nap to wake him up - he eventually got
    better.  My husband would also play rough w/ him right before bed and
    that seemed to help a bit.  We had tried locking him in the bathroom,
    but he would cry & scratch - that didn't work.  He's a year & a half
    now and only wakes me up if I don't get up w/ the alarm.  
    
    Word of encouragement - "it will get better" - I really was very
    worried myself at the time!!!
    
    Good luck,
    Sonia

    My four guys sleep all day, so when we come home, they
    are ready for action.....We had the same problem with
    the last two kittens, because of this.
    So, we made sure to tire everyone out by playing with
    them for an hour or two-serious, rough & tumble, chase
    the string, climb the cat tree, so they would be tired
    and go to sleep with us at 11:00.  It worked as we were
    able to change their body clocks around.
    Of course, it took 2 months before the two kittens were
    big enough to climb up on the double pedestal waterbed! :-)
    
    L-

    Kelsey is the same way.  I don't even need an alarm clock, because
    exactly at 6:00 a.m. he starts meowing loudly and jumping on and off
    the bed.  He will not stop until I get up to feed him, regardless of
    how much we squirt him.  Dana always has a snide comment to throw in,
    like "how come all the Ragdolls we have had do this, but the BIRMAN
    never does?"  Murdock is his favorite, a REAL cat (his words).  Anyway,
    Kelsey is definitely obnoxious in the morning, but the only way I can
    get more sleep is to get up and feed him, then go back to bed.  He likes
    his food FRESH, so this leave food out before retiring in the evening
    stuff doesn't cut it with him.
    
    My advice:  start training 'em early!!  If I had started with Kelsey
    while he was still young (it was cute back then!), we wouldn't have
    this problem now.
    
    Good luck.
    
    
    --Roberta
    

    1.  Play to tire him out before you go to bed.
    2.  Feed him some more before you go to bed (yes, exactly the
        opposite of what you are doing now.  He may be waking you
        up because he's hungry -- remember, eating a lot puts
        people to sleep also.)
    
    Don't take any notice of him until YOU want to wake up, i.e.,
    don't reward his behaviour.
    
    Hang in there, he will get older and calm down.
    
    Type in lowercase please....
    

    I also have the little Poco who is now over one year old.  We had
    the same problem and did like everyone else....a couple of hours
    before bed time we would play games.  We used all the kitty toys
    to tire her out.  Even when she had enough and went to lay down...
    we would continue to tease her for awhile, feed her and let her
    sleep.
    
    Did that stop her....somewhat...but then at 5:00 she would be ready
    to go again.  But Mommy wasn't... so we would shut the bedroom door.
    
    I have to admit since she is 1 year old now...it is better.  We
    still have a few nights that she thinks our waterbed is her race
    track...but it isn't to often.
    
    Hang in there..
    
    Sandy (tamba, Barkley and Poco)
                                     
    
    D

    HA!  Be thankful you only have ONE.  You ought to see what happens
    at 4:20am when I get up to go to the bathroom.  All SEVEN kittens
    plus 14 lb Bob decide its time to play!!!!!!!!!  8 against 1!!!
    Guess who wins.
    

    And I thought I was the only one!  You have a real problem there and
    you have my sympathy, for what it's worth.  Have you considered putting
    the kitten outside the room and the others in your bedroom? or is this
    not a good idea.  A large cage with some toys for the kitten might be 
    another solution.  

    Boy can I relate to this one, I didn't remember this stage with
    Holly-kitty, but then again she hasn't been a kiten for over 7 years! 
    Here's what I'm doing and would appreciate some input, right or wrong. 
    Bandit (the 4mo old) will go to sleep with me, since I usually hit the
    hay around 9:30 or 10 (sorry I'm not a party pooper, 5am comes early!)
    Both Bandit and Holly will come and settle down with me, when hubby
    comes to bed Bandit act like it's been a great nap now let's party! 
    What I'll usually do is keep Holly in our room and put Bandit outside
    the bedroom door and shut it.  I hate to make him feel that I'm
    favoring the older one, but he's just not settling down.  Plus his
    latest trick is to run and dive at the older one putting his front paws
    around Holly's neck.  I know it playing, Bandit thinks he's playing but
    Holly gets VERY annoyed, growls, smacks and hisses at the young'un.
    
    So what if anything should I be doing differently?  It's been so long
    since I've had a young'un!
    
    BTW, He's VERY fascinated with water, I thought cats didn't like water?
    The other day I had about an inch of water in the bottom of the tub, I
    picked him up placed him in it and there was absolutely NO reaction, is
    this a strange cat or what?  AND...at 4+ months, can I give him a
    bath, just on principals?  What would I use, would my son's Johnson's
    baby shampoo work?
    
    Lyn
    (who need to be retrained in kitten raising)
    
    

re: bath

yes...the sooner you get them used to being bathed the easier it will be.
Cats get dirty (whether indoor-only or not) just like we do and their skin
benefits from bathing.  I use shampoos made for kittens/cats...they don't
irritate the eyes - and rinse real well.  Other than that, I think if you
keep the cat warm until he/she dries completely, you are fine.

re: bahavior questions.  Cats are curious by nature and will get into
everything as kittens.  The hellion stage usually doesn't last too long,
luckily, and can sometimes be easier on the humans around if there is more
than one kitten...of course, that can backfire and you can have two kittens
on your face at night..8^}

My solution is simply to work the little devils to exhaustion every evening.
When the boys were babes, I played "chase the scarf" all over the house.
I dragged it from room to room and they chased --- and chased.  On a good
night, I could get a mile or two under their belt.  It usually worked to
make them good and tired by the time I retired.  I was too, as a matter
of fact.  Needless to say, the scarf did not survive the kittenhood so don't
use a treasured heirloom for this.  

			Enjoy this time...it passes all too soon.  8^}

    Lyn, you should meet my Murdock!  He absolutely LOVES water!  He is
    even beginning to enjoy being bathed!!  Each morning, he sits on the
    edge of the tub while I shower, and jumps in to watch the water drain,
    He loves to let it drip all over his face and back.  He tries to catch
    the droplets as they fall from the shower head -- WEIRD!!  And you
    should see him when it's raining out.... he LIVES by the window,
    watching the water run down the glass.
    
    Now, when he was a kitten he HATED to get wet!  Wonder what happened??
    

    Poco chases the water sprinkler....and when she was a terror we
    use to squirt her with the water bottle....but she would just lie
    down and enjoy it.   My other two hate water....

    Sandy                                    
    

    I don't bathe my cats.  My understanding is that they don't
    need it if they groom themselves are are indoors only.
    

    Well my preferred way to de-flea the cats is a bath in Nolvacide
    shampoo.  And even if I'm not showing a cat i like to bathe them
    once a year in late spring to help them shed.  Most cats don't
    absolutely have to have a bath, but they sure feel nice afterwards.
    :-)
    
    BTW - all the kittens got their first baths last Thursday.

>    I don't bathe my cats.  My understanding is that they don't
>    need it if they groom themselves are are indoors only.
 
	I took my cat to the vets yesterday - he has lice, and I can't get
	rid of the lice eggs.

	The vet said not to bathe him at all, whatever the situation.

	Spraying would have killed the eggs, but as they really stick, I'll 
	have to wait until the hair sheds for them to go. The other alternative
	is to shave the hair, but as they're between his toes, it would mean
	knocking him out first.

	I'm keeping a wary eye on him!	

	Heather

    What are the symptoms of lice? I know fleas when I see them, but not
    lice.
    
    Lisa plus P&R
    

indoor-only cats don't strictly NEED bathing to be healthy...but the people
they live with them may very well NEED the cats to be bathed.  For some reason,
the flakes of saliva and the flakes of skin from a cat are one of the most
common allergens known.  If you keep the flakes of both under control, you
have less chance of becoming sensitive in the first place....and it can make
you comfortable with your cats even if you develop sensitivity.  I KNOW.  I'm
one of them folks.  We all live in comfort because the thundering herd all
get regular baths.

Cultural bias affects vets as well as any other human.  While vets in the UK
seem to feel that cats should not be bathed, I've never met a vet in the US
who felt it was detrimental...in fact, my last three vets, including the
current one, feel that cats SHOULD be bathed - it is better for the skin to
be bathed at LEAST once a year for indoor-only and 6 or more times a year 
for cats that go outside.  

    Lyn,
    My kitten loves water too.  I'll fill the bath up with lukewarm water
    and she'll slide down the sloped end and swim!  Something for Funniest
    Home Videos.  As far as everything else-I have the same problem and
    really can't help you out.
    Sorry.
    LisaMarie

    re: Funniest Home Videos -  OR For PRIME TIME PETS.  It was on on
    Friday's at 8pm.  It hasn't been for a few weeks now so I don't
    know if it got cancelled or moved for the new season.
      N
    

>    What are the symptoms of lice? I know fleas when I see them, but not
>    lice.
    
 
	My cat gets lice - you know he's got them because you can see the 
	lice-eggs.

	They are tiny pin-prick size eggs, yellowy/orange.

	The most common place for these is in-between the front claws, and in/
	around the ears where they scratch.   

	He must pick them up from somewhere - but I haven't a clue where.

	Heather

    .0
    
    We just picked up a seal-point simese kitten and he's hell-on-paws. WE
    have to close our bedroom doors each night so we can sleep.  Our kitty
    litter (we have 3 now) is downstairs, so it is no problem.  You might
    consider moving the litter another place, and closing your doors to get
    a good nights sleep.  It made a big difference in our house!!!
    
    We let the kitten sleep with us for the first few nights, big mistake. 
    My other two also have a turf issue on the king-size bed and then this
    little guy decided to move in.  The nights consisted of AJ (big adult
    male), Tina (older female with no patience) hissing, screaming, running
    to tackle Taco (12 week old simense) on our bed, all NIGHT.
    
    The kitten (taco) only crys for a few minutes prior to us closing the
    bedroom doors.
    
    good luck, it's been an experience for us.......