Cat waking me up at all hours of the night
Hi all,
Seeking advice on my boy. He's 15 years old, DSH, has always been pretty clingy and neurotic and somewhat prone to colds/hayfever, but otherwise healthy. He is getting on in years and is starting to show confusion, he's even clingier, he's definitely changed sleeping patterns (much more daytime sleepiness), so we suspect he has some kitty dementia.
Over the past 6-7 months or so, he's started waking me up constantly over the night - he'll stand outside my bedroom door, meow loudly and plaintively, and scratch/bat the door. When I open the door, he'll basically lead me downstairs (wind around my feet until I start walking, he'll run ahead a bit then look back expectantly, if I turn back to my room he'll run back and start the whole thing over), lead me to his food bowl (he grazes on dry food overnight), and have a few bites to eat. It's only at that point that he'll stop the leading behaviour and let me go back to bed.
Things I've tried:
- Keeping the kitchen light on in case he was having trouble seeing the bowl (no change)
- Keeping a bowl near my bedroom door (he'll eat from it, but also keep meowing/batting at the door)
- Trying to ignore him (he can be so loud, nearly impossible to ignore, and actually more disruptive to my sleep than just getting up, leading him downstairs to the bowl, then going back to bed)
- Opening the door, telling him 'NO' in a firm voice, and closing the door again (ditto)
- Opening the door and letting him in, in case he'd prefer a cuddle to food (he jumps up on the bed then starts swatting at my face until I get up. He has opted for a cuddle once or twice, then when he's done, he'll start swatting at my face again)
He's also starting to get a little aggressive about it if I'm too slow for his liking, swatting at my legs. He's actually given me some scratches before.
On a good night, he'll only wake me up every three hours or so. On bad nights, it's every hour or more.
We've seen our vet about this. He said that cognitive decline in older cats isn't something that you can change, but he'd do some checks to see if there was another medical reason and did some investigations; the only thing they could find were some very early signs of hyperthyroidism, which he's now being treated for with no change in behaviour.
Any ideas at all? For once it's actually not too bad a thing that I have a chronic illness and don't work/study, because at least I can have some nice 3-4-hour naps during the day, but I'm exhausted. We went interstate last month to see family and despite the rock-hard bed and terrible pillow, I slept better than I have in months. He's not doing this to my mother, and didn't do it at all to a family friend who watched him during that trip, and during a longer one in November.
Is this a dementia thing? Is there any possible way to train him out of this behaviour? I'm completely exhausted and out of ideas.
Cat tax: my beloved fluffy little miscreant.
Posted May 2, 2026, 4:09 AM UTC