Any suggestions about cats waking you up at night?  

lol i don't thinck there is any sugestion.My cat does the same way to.But Sometimes i play with her in the day and i don't let her sleep at all and in the night he is tired so she get's to sleep.But is hard to get her tired becouse she'll play all day and when she sleep then she sleep and when she play she macke you run wild :)

All we know from experience is that they will continue to do what works. You have to be firm like with kids when small. Also keep in mind that they do know how to manipulate things bigger than them..US. LOL. So my suggestions in your case would be to serve their dinner more toward your bedtime, catnip is a good diversion and mine tend to take a nap after enjoying it. You could try and cuddle with your 16 pound beauty and maybe that would help you rest more. Ever thought of buying one of those bird or fish aquarium videos that they might enjoy? Good luck our feline friends sure do know to run our lives and we must strive for balance so we all can be happy!!!

I had this problem a few years ago with a couple of my cats that thought my bed was a playground while I was trying to sleep.
I tried alot of things and the one that worked was..

I kept a small spray bottle of water next to my bed. When they would wake me up and be rough housing I would say "no, go to sleep" and give a quick squirt with the water. It doesn't hurt them and you don't even need to get them wet .. just a little spritz will do it. After a couple of times they found another place to play at night. When they start all I have to do is say No go to sleep and off they run...lol

I don't know if it will work for you but you could give it a try.

Cats can be so much fun most of the time. I have only one. When I have an area that I don't want her in I use a product called "Stay off Training Aid" It is a product of Hartz. It smells like cilantro and it works wonders. You could spray it around your room fairly early in the evening so the order is not so strong that it bothers you. Use it for several days and soon they will stay out of your room.

We live with 12 cats, so I can totally relate to you & your "problem". LOLOL Our cats range from a few weeks old to 16-years-old. And no, the older they get does not necessarily mean the less they play....or keep you up at night! :o) And you're correct, closing the bedroom door only makes things worse.

Sounds like your 'big' guy might just want more "mommy time". Prior to going to bed, spend some one on one with him....combing him, playing with him or just sitting with him on your lap while you watch television. This may or may not help. Another suggestion, try sprinkling some lavender oil in various spots of your bedroom. Lavender is a soothing herb for all creatures.

You can also try to cuddle with them in your bed. Allow them to curl up under the covers with you, or allow them to lay down on your body (not your head LOL) where you and they can relax together.

Last but not least, try one of those "soothing nature sounds" CD's/tapes/machines. Believe it or not, sometimes they work for cats too!

Keep in mind, cats usually are pretty good with the Zen thing....and they can definitely 'read' our vibes. If they feel you anxious and frustrated, they're only going to "play with it"....and enjoy doing so. :o)

Relax, be firm and "hiss & spit like a cat" at them if need be. Seriously....remember, you're the Alpha. Think like a cat, be a cat!!!! LOL Good luck!

is ur cats he or she.i thinks males do the damage at night more than female cats.i had a female cat.she used to sleep with me.she comes to my bed aftr i get asleep.so wen i am awake ussually i will be the one who disturbs her.they in a way adjusted to our way of life to sleep in night.maybe you have to give some small punsihments to them they do are intelligent they will sop doing it for sure.

My TWO cats used to do the same thing, in fact, mine would come up to me and kiss me on the lips and their whiskers would tickle me awake, the best thing I did was shut them out of the room, took them about a week to stop crying and scatching at the door but they have finally quit and it has been almost a month now, good luck

I suppose it depends on the size of the house or apartment you live in, but my suggestion isn't just to close one door. From personal experience, at night I close two doors. :P

I have two cats and neither sleep with me. I originally thought they would, until the first night I tried it. Beastie is OK to sleep with. She's quiet the entire time I sleep (and I sleep a long time: 10-12 hours). Skinner, on the other hand, is the reason there's an area the size of a continent separating her and my sleeping body. :P

Skinner, who weighs about 14 pounds, thinks that my head is a Serta mattress. She hunkers down on top of my head, with her body covering my eyes and her tail wrapped around my nose and mouth.

As if having every sensory input device on my body covered in cat is not annoying enough, her excitement at being able to be on "Mama" results in her "making bread" on my scalp. "Making bread" is the kneading motion cats make when excited. They scratch on something with their paws while they flex their claws. In other words, it's a euphemism for "removing sections of skin in the most painful way possible." :P

So, while still rendered incapable of seeing, breathing, smelling or speaking but fully capable of feeling my scalp being torn to pieces, Skinner, whose nose is in my ear, starts purring LOUDLY. Only, she's not just purring LOUDLY, she's so excited that she's purring AND making a noise that's a cross between heavy breathing and moaning. Kind of like: UGH-SUGHHHHHHHG, UGH-SUGHHHHHHG in between purring: ERRRRRRRRRRRRRGTH, ERRRRRRRRRRRRRGTH; thus creating a sound similar to: UGH-SUGHHHHHHHG-ERRRRRRRRRRRRRGTH-UGH-SUGHHHHHHHG.

Words really don't do justice.

Anyway, after putting up with cat hair being in my eyes, nose and mouth and while my scalp was being systematically removed in inch-length sections and being deaf from having "UGH-SUGHHHHHHHG-ERRRRRRRRRRRRRGTH-UGH-SUGHHHHHHHG" shouted into my ear at a decibel level slightly louder than that of a Boeing 707 landing inside my head, I decided sleeping with Skinner just wasn't going to work out.

Fortuately for me, there's a bedroom door and down the hallway a door to the living room between me and Skinner at night. This means that her howling, yelling, screeching and crying is reduced to the noise level of a jackhammer.

If you're not able to lock away the cat in a section of your home far removed from your bedroom, I suggest replacing your bedroom door with a steel one; placing rubber tips on the ends of the cat's claws; and wearing earplugs. You wearing earplugs, that is. I don't think the cat will wear them.:P

Well my suggestion is get a third shift job of get rid of the cat. There is nothing you can do about it. Our cat sleeps in the basement and we close the door she has the roam of the house down there and never bothers us.

We too have an incredibly l-o-u-d 16 lb feline.He decides when breakfast should be , even if it strikes him that that should be a 3 a.m. we keep him out of the room at night and give him a softly playing transistor radio for company.