Sleep Training My Cats
How COVID required us to change our cats’ sleeping routines
The Reason
Like many people at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I found myself considering my options. At the time I was living in Madrid with my partner and our two cats, Blue and Nala.
The sleep time pattern in our small apartment was quite simple — leave our bedroom door open so the cats could come in and out as they pleased during the night. If we didn’t, it resulted in quite a lot of scratching or yowling at the door, even if they didn’t necessarily want to go out. It was just us and our cats though, so leaving the door open was no problem at all.
However, the COVID pandemic really made myself and my partner reflect on what we wanted in our future and, as it turned out, it wasn’t something we could do in Spain. After this realization we put plans in place to move to London (my partner’s home city) where he could take the next steps in his career and I could begin a Masters I’d wanted to do for quite some time.
Moving country in a pandemic is no easy feat, especially with two little fur babies, but in August all four of us landed safely in England. We were very lucky in the sense that my partner’s parents had room for us all to stay while we save up for our own place.
It was an adjustment for the kitties — new rooms, smells, people… but they adjusted quite nicely. One major difference however was their night schedule. The alarm in the house is motion triggered, meaning our kitties could no longer roam as they liked. When bed time came, they had to stay with us in our room.
There was more than enough space and quite a lot of fluffy blankets, cushions and pillows, so comfort was no problem and they had all their necessities like food, water and cat litter. Nevertheless, it was still quite a sudden change to now have the bedroom door closed. As predicted, it took them quite a while to get used to NOT being able to leave the room once we were in for the night. We realized that we had to sleep train our cats. If not neither they nor we would ever get a good night’s sleep! This process resulted in quite a lot of restless nights and early mornings for me and my partner but I have to say that it was completely worth it.
The Method
Before beginning I didn’t even think it was possible to sleep train a cat. In fact, I never even thought to look it up. We just went with what we thought would work best. So, how did we do it? A good question. It was actually quite simple — much simpler than I’d anticipated and it took only a few steps.
1. Treats: When we brought them in for bed time we began giving them some treats in order for them to associate it with something good. We used Dreamies cat treats, but any treat they enjoyed would do. I’d scatter some around the room to make a fun little hunting trip for them, and even put some in Blue’s favourite box (he has so many, but the big one in our bedroom is his favourite.) It became an entertaining, investigative time for them where they received rewards.
2. Routine: We tried to stick to a strict enough routine, especially in the beginning, so that they knew what to expect. We’d go to bed around the same time every night and wake up around the same time every morning and, eventually, it became a normal part of their day. Now we can change it around a bit — if we go to bed late, so do they and they’ll even wake up later too. No more 5:00 am morning yowls from Blue, one of his favourite things to do in Madrid. He didn’t want anything — he just wanted you to be awake and out of bed. Not anymore though. He wakes up with us in our routine. It’s great.
3. Spray bottle: Negative reinforcement. Something which isn’t always nice but is sometimes necessary. This was used to stop them scratching at the door and yowling continuously in the night. I initially introduced a spray bottle with Blue a few years ago, when I first got him. He was a misunderstood cat who’d been to foster home after foster home, never lasting too long in any of them. He was grumpy and, because he’d never stayed anywhere long, didn’t know how to act. Whenever he wanted something — food, attention, open the door etc. — he’d bite you. Not too hard, but it still hurt a bit. He didn’t know how else to act. I didn’t want to give up on him though. After doing some research I came across using a spray bottle and, after a while, he stopped biting completely! The good news is that he knows the spray bottle means STOP. Sometimes just seeing it is enough to make him quit whatever bold activity he’s doing. Because of this Nala learned quite quickly what it meant too, without us even having to use it on her. At night, when they were still trying to go out, all we had to do was shake the bottle and they’d stop. Sometimes we did have to spray, but doing it beside them sent the message just as clearly as spraying on them.
The Result
After only a few weeks our cats fell into a routine. They would know that it was bedtime and would cuddle up on a blanket, ready for the land of nod. They prefer sleeping on the bed with us, usually somewhere around our feet, on their own pillow or on the soft, plushy throw.
Sometimes Blue will sit on the windowsill and gaze out before settling, or maybe they’ll both go for a snack before sleeping, but if they do they’re calm and quiet. Very rarely do they scratch at the door anymore, but if they do all we need to do is shake the spray bottle.
Really, the only trouble now is that we need to make sure we are in a comfortable position in bed before Blue settles because, once he does, he won’t move for anything. He’ll happily ignore us as we try to twist ourselves around him, trying to find a semi-decent sleeping position.
Nala on the other hand will move but then it takes her a little while to settle again. She always does though, usually on her pillow at the bottom of the bed, but sometimes on our stomachs and, if we’re very lucky, she’ll ask to come under the duvet and be the little spoon. Her loud, tiger purring when this happens is the cutest sound to fall asleep too.
It took a few weeks of work, but we were actually able to sleep train our cats! I don’t think I ever would have thought of it if it hadn’t been out of necessity, but I’m glad it happened. Now they are more than happy to curl up with us during the night and we all wake up together, greeting the new day.
