6/27 mocha pmps 200

http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=18241

WCR: for the last three nights mocha has been so very, very loud. It happens around the same time each night, around 5 a.m., she starts her howling, which we are used to and can generally sleep through. But her new found habit is pawing at the door. Constantly. We tell her to stop, it does no good, we get up from the bed and put her on the bed, she get's down and does it again. We try to ignore her, and she does it louder and harder.

This morning at 5, I asked peter if he thought she might be low. Tested her, nope got 313. We finally barricaded ourselves in the room by stacking pillows up against the door so she couldn't get to it and she went to sleep. Or we were so exhausted that we went into a coma like sleep and didn't hear her pawing on the closet door once she realized the bedroom door was blocked off.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to why she has started doing this, or what we can do to stop it? This is becoming really frustrating because she is soooooooooooo determined to do it. We thought that we could let her out if that is what she wanted, cause she was done getting her feedings for the night and we could pick up twix's food earlier, but then we thought if this is only a temporary thing, we don't want to start letting her out earlier then we have to, cause well, we like to sleep and not have to get up any earlier then needed!

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301, any suggestions??

Have you figured out what it is Mocha wants? And better yet, have you figured out how you may be reinforcing the behavior? If you can figure that out, you may be able to encourage some other behavior. Of course, if she simply wants you up to pay attention, you are going to just have to put ear plugs in and ignore her.

You might try some Feliway. They make atomizers as well as a spray. If you get the latter, I'd just put a spritz or two on the places where she's pawing and see if that helps.

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301, any suggestions??

wow - good luck with that. I have a civvie that does the same thing - with her it's "pay attention" - she wants to be held, or to be able to sit with us. She's an older cat, just wants to be held - or haha: fed. I hope you can figure out what it is that mocha is after -

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301, any suggestions??

Hi,
I think it's one of the Siamese personalities traits. But if Mocha never did it before, I wonder what he wants besides attention! My GA Flamepoint was very vocal but especially vocal when he was on Mirtazapine when he was ill. I'm guessing Mocha thinks your sleeping too long. Let's see what others say.

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301 +4 288, any suggestions??

I don't know what mocha wants when she does that. If I call her name as soon as she starts, she runs over and jumps up on the bed and I can pet her until I fall asleep but the next thing I know, she's back at it! Once she's in her rhythm it's almost as if she can't hear me calling her name. She's just pawing and pawing and pawing at the door, and shes howling and yelling the entire time. She won't get up on the bed if peter calls her name.

All I know is that me and peter are both getting very frustrated dealing with this. And I mean, she can do this for HOURS! If it was only five or ten minutes until she fell asleep, then we could deal with it. But I have watched a full hour go by with her doing this. I don't know how long she did it after that, as I fell asleep, with a pillow over my head.

We have had feliway in the house before, it didn't really affect mocha like it did twix and cheddar. I guess we will just see how many more nights she can go, before she tires out herself!

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301 +4 288, any suggestions??

this may seem like a strange question, but has her thyroid been checked recently? Hyperthyroid can cause them to become more vocal and can make them more agitated at night. That's something I learned with one of my GA's. When was Mocha's last bloodwork, and did they check her T4?

Or it could be a Siamese thing, or a full moon thing. Jazzy has been a silent kitty until the last two days, now she won't shut up. :lol: Not sure where that came from.

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301 +4 288, any suggestions??

You said she's pawing at the door - is the door to the bedroom closed? My cat wouldn't allow me to close the bedroom door . If I did close it to get more sleep, he would bang the door with his head. this was my GA Siamese. My diabetic cat, Maggie, now gets me up as early as 2:30 am, and silly me gets up!

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301 +4 288, any suggestions??

mocha had blood work done in may of 09, and in september of 09, and then again when she had her dental, in may 10. What is the name of the T4 I should be looking for? Does it just say T4? Is that something normally included in bloodwork, or something you have to ask for specifically? We have never asked for that I know that much.

Oh wait, I just found the paperwork for her blood testing done in september 09, her T4 result was 1.6 and the reference range is 05-4.7 ug/dL.

mocha doesn't like the bedroom door being closed, but it's been that way pretty much for the last year. Twix and mocha eat different cat foods, and we feed them both overnight so it has to be shut. In the past when she has done this, she has pawed at the door maybe for a minute or two, but never as long or as hard as she has been the last few nights. I'm not joking when I say this cat has brought me to tears because she is SO determined!!

I suppose it is a phase and will pass .. but we're already stressed out from 100 other things and to add this constant pawing .. well .. it's just wearing on my last nerve ...

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301 +4 288, any suggestions??

What do if you open the door? Where does she go? I am assuming that you have opened it to check that out.
This might seem silly and might not be doable...but can you reverse the food and put Mocha outside the bedroom with her food? Will she scream to come IN the bedroom then?
Maybe you can wake her up whenever you see her taking a cat nap in the daytime. :twisted: Scream and yell so she wakes up and maybe she will be really tired at night. :lol: half kidding with that one. Can you imagine trying to watch a cat so they don't doze off?? LOL.

What about a kitty gate across the doorway?

I do know what you mean about it wearing on your nerves. Raja does that with the front door when she wants to go out in the heat of the day. Constantly whining...it is sooo annoying and yet we are not trying to sleep at that time. I can imagine how frustrating it is to be so tired and have that constant scratching and howling. Isn't it amazing that you simply cannot tell a cat NO and expect them to understand or obey!!
Wish I could think of other things...hmmmmm...good luck with this...

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301 +4 288, any suggestions??

thanks pat. If we open up the door, she runs right out to twix's food bowl. She is one smart cookie. We keep mocha in our room because on the RARE nights mocha goes low, it's easy to find her in there instead of stumbling around trying to find her in a corner somewhere. Plus twix is not the type of cat that would do good locked up with us. She does not like confined spaces. We haven't thought about a kitty gate, but maybe we should. How tall are they? Twix jumps high with the utmost of ease ...

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301 +4 288, any suggestions??

Probably not much help, but where does Twix eat. If she has the run of the house at night Mocha might be jealous. Perhaps there is something outside that she feels she needs to keep track of, by going from window to window. When she can't she gets frustrated and obsessive.

It sounds as if it is becoming an almost compulsive behavior. The longer it goes on the more it is reinforced. If you do get up and let her out what does she do? How much would it upset Twix if she was closed in another room with her food?

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301 +4 288, any suggestions??

I guess there are all different types and kinds. However, if it IS Twix's food that Latte is after, well, hmmm...it wouldn't mater if Twix jumped it, right? The question is: would Mocha try to jump over it?
Twix would not be motivated to get into your bedroom, but Mocha would be motivated to get to Twix's food.
She probably thinks that you should just open the door for her and go back to sleep. Never mind about ME, I'll just hang out around uh..let's say...uh Twix's food! LOL
Something like this maybe? http://www.amazon.com/North-States-Extr ... B0002JETOM

Of course, it might not work at all. But at least she wouldn't be scratching your door.

I totally understand why Mocha outside might not be good. They do find great hiding places, don't they?
Battle of the Wits. We cannot let the kitties WIN, can we? nailbite_smile

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301 +4 288, any suggestions??

You might wanna smack me for asking this, but...
there is a litter box in your room overnight, right?

Latte has always slept in my room with the door closed. She HATED it. Over the years she has gone through many phases of rebellion during the middle of the night because of it. Now she just sleeps leaning against the door most of the night! :lol: Too old to put up a fuss, I suppose. But is is often very excited for the doors to open, and if I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night....zooooooooooom, she is OUT!

So you have food, water, LB, and toys? Is there anything else in the house that is not in your room (other than twix's food) that she might want?

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301 +4 288, any suggestions??

thank you for all your suggestions and helpful ideas. That baby gate would not work in keeping mocha in or twix out. The reason we separate them is because they eat different foods. Mocha eats low carb wet cat food, and twix eats dry kibble. Twix has ate wet cat food in the past and every single time, she develops rodent ulcers on her mouth and the treatment for those are steroid shots, not anything we want to get into.

In our room mocha has her own LB and her autofeeder, she has toys, her stand, our bed, she has it pretty made in there. Like I said, we have started locking her up in our room since her diagnosis and after we found out that twix can't have the wet cat food, so this isn't new. We have locked her up for the past year and other then the first few nights she has done great, usually gets right up in bed with us and bunkers down. It's just been these past few nights she has been acting crazy.

Mocha has always been vocal so we are used to that .. it's just this pawing and pawing and pawing ...

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301 +4 288, any suggestions??

Do Lou would do the same thing at our door and was except he has a shock mat at our door with no battery in it I used to use it years ago to keep him and another girl off a certain area and he remembers it from 5 yrs ago slightly shocking him and he stays away from our door now and but before he was banging our door every night not sure if you want to go to the extreme of getting something like this but I own 2 of them and they do work and once a cat learns what they do you can usually use them turned off. I know some people think they are mean but I find them useful. It sure is quieter at night now without him banging our door every night so I can sure relate to what you are saying.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... pcatid=668

Re: 6/27 mocha amps 301 +4 288, any suggestions??

I use something called Pet Ease for my dog with cushings. It's a phermone plug in and they make one for cats too. You could try that.

It's looking like it could be a busy night for you guys.