I do indeed remember that sound advice Jan, which is why I tried the picking him up and putting him out the room with no attention or fuss!
Although, I think he just thought that was a game too the way he kept racing back into the bedroom! LOL!
I will defo try keeping him out of the bedroom this evening and tonight, see how he reacts. Just hope he doesn't cry to much or for to long as it just breaks my heart and I can't bare to leave him like that!! I guess I just need to toughen up and leave him or start learning to live on 2 hours sleep! LOL!
Sadly, those are your choices. (You are right. You cannot let it turn into a game.)
Sammi I do feel for you! I would have suggested a playmate too, but if it's not possible then Charlie will have to learn that night time is quiet time, and human sleepy time
He may cry and make a fuss but in the end you will both be happy with the routine. Its a big change for him, from lots of littermates and other cats to being a single baby, but he will adjust. I bet he's just soaking up the attention being an only child
Hang in there, he will get better.
I think your right Jo, at the breedres house he was with his 4 other litter mates, Mum and Dad and 5 other Raggies! So it prob is a big shock to the system for him to be on his own now. I'm defo giving him the single baby treatment, and he's getting as much fuss as he wants (other than when Im trying to sleep! LOL!)
Have just spoken to my boyfriend and we've decided we're gonna attempt to keep him out the bedroom now and just sleep with our fingers in our ears if necessary! LOL!
Thank you all (once again!) for your brilliant advice! I'll shall keep you updated on how it goes!
Dexter did this too when I first brought him home. There's no way I would have locked him out of my bedroom though because I felt too bad. And I wanted him to get used to sleeping with me at night. I just endured his craziness for a few nights and after a couple weeks he was sleeping through the night (sounds like we're talking about babies!!
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What a cheeky little devil Charlie is!
I honestly think a little raggie is like a little baby! Maisie used to wake me up nibbling my chin and pawing my face. I think they do get a bit better with age. My Maisie is 6 mths old now and she's good at getting to sleep but wakes me up at 4.30 / 5ish every day! Good luck!
If you don't want to be woken in the middle of the night EVER from your cat, my suggestion is to begin training him to sleep in another room. Even when your cat is older and fine with sleeping in your room, you will still get woken if he jumps on and off the bed to use the litter box or go eat, and even older cats sometimes will have bouts of crazy playtime (just not as often as a baby kitten).
I gave Solo 3 chances, and you're out. He cried and scratched at the door if he got locked out. We ignored him. Eventually he gave up and figured that crying and scratching does no good because not even once did we ever recognize any of his efforts of meowing/crying or scratching at the door. Now if he gets locked out, he will go off and mind his own business and we do not hear a peep from him. Most of the time he sleeps in our room with us, but occasionally there is a night we just think "no way... he can't sleep with us tonight!" because he is going nuts. I am sure a heavy play session 30 mins before bed time, then ending with a bedtime snack should help also!
I have had to shut the Gs out of the bedroom at night. Gabby is not so bad, but Gabriel....! Yet, I did not feel that it was a good idea to shut one of them out of the bedroom and not the other. Every so often I will leave the bedroom door open at night. However, I always end up having to shut the Gs out again.
Sammi, I know exactly what you are going through, Coco was exactly the same. I used to give her at least an hours full on play time with Da Bird, which if you haven't got one you will be amazed at how much they love it and it really where's them out, you can get them on Ebay. Then she used to eat and drink, then bed. Its' a routine and they get used to it, it didn't take that long! Now Coco tells me when it's time to get some sleep. If on occassion she did still want to play or was being particually annoying in bed she was then shut out of the bedroom, they learn quickly and this kitten stage does last long. Now the bedroom door is always open and she can come and go as she pleases. As for Snowdrop, I have to say she has been as good as gold, much to Janes surprise I'm sure. Mind you she can't really do much, she has a safe enclosure with all her essentials in, I bought it because I wanted to keep her safe but didn't want to shut Coco out. She cried for a short while the first night but now she jumps in it and goes to sleep and we even have to wake her in the morning. I don't know what will happen when she has freedom, but I won't take it down until she has learnt that bed time is bed time! I'm sure charlie will learn really quickly. If you shut him out and he cries a lot let him in, if he's naughty, shut him out, leaving him longer crying each time before you let him in again until eventually he learns that if he misbehaves he goes out! This is very similar to the controlled crying method that is used for babies, which I used for both Sam and Nathan, and worked a treat! I didn't do this with my eldest son Glen and he didn't sleep through the night until he was 4yrs, lol! Good luck!
Well last night was the first attempt at getting a nights sleep ... and I can gladly say this post comes to you from a very refreshed, well slept and happy Sammi!!
And, also a very proud Mummy at Charlie for being so good!! We shut the door when we went to bed and he moewed three of four times then I didn't hea another peep out of him til 6.30am this morning when he heard my alarm clock go off! Such a good boy!
Thank you all for your advice and help on this one!