by Dawn S (Deltona, FL)
Aramis at 6 Weeks
Beauty Shot
Cat sleeping
The cat won’t let me sleep. He grooms, nips and licks his human at bed time. My kitten is 5 months old. He is one of 3 we have from a single litter. The brothers love each other and us and they play and purr and love us as much as they love each other. They are all fixed. My Aramis is my baby. He loves me most and the feeling is mutual. Since leaving the “nest” he has almost always slept with me, all curled up, under the covers or tucked up next to me on the sheet. Lately, he has started to lick and paw and nip me during the night. He is crazy and unstoppable. He’s purring the whole time and wants attention, but it doesn’t matter how much loving he gets, he HAS to lick and nip (not hard but annoying at 3am). If I boot him out, he jumps right back up. If I hide, he tries to dig me out, if I roll over, he switches sides. If I continue to boot him out, he sits by the bed and cries. One night I turned on the light and started talking to him and he calmed down and went right to sleep. Any ideas? This happens almost every night and lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Help! What does it mean and how should I handle it?Dawn: Thanks for your submission and including pictures. Aramis is so cute! Sorry about adjusting the title of your submission. Oh we have had the cat will not let me sleep problem in our house many years ago. We made the bed off limits to all felines when mommy and daddy are in it. We were surprised how quickly everyone picked up on this. All cats complied in a couple of weeks (man they are smart)!They are allowed on the bed during the day but if a child jumps in bed at night they get the leg sweep (no yelling or violence) just a slow leg sweep under the covers. My wife was the hardest to get to accept this because she loves the night time snuggle with her babies. But when the cats will not let you sleep it’s time to make a decision (good sleep or not). Lets see if anyone else leaves a comment with some fresh Ideas! Thanks again- Mark