Vjylku

I've had my newest cat just a couple months. This is a female spay DSH tortie, shelter rescue, estimated age 1.5 years.

I have small tables at each head corner of my bed, holding various things on shelves at different levels, including a telephone, my alarm clock, tissues, a mini first-aid kit, books I am reading before bed, and each has a small lamp on the top. These lamps are just over a foot tall, and maybe 8 or 9 inches diameter on the shades (about 35-40cm tall, 20-25cm dia).

As she has become more comfortable in her new home and with me as her human, she has taken on a new hobby. The cat has been rubbing against the shades of these lamps while I am sleeping, and frequently rubbing hard enough to tip it over onto the floor. Fortunately in this age of plastic LED bulbs, there is really no harm done, though the shades might be getting lightly wrinkled. The biggest problem here is the sudden jolting awake this causes for me. Unfortunately, this means I am not really able to issue a proper corrective action.

I have noticed this happens mostly in the hour before wake-up time- 0545 for me, but it has happened as early as 0200. I wonder if it might be a deliberate attempt to get me up for breakfast, although it doesn't work, I just put the lamp back and go back to sleep.

I considered spraying the lamps with a citrus oil, as I have used this successfully in other places. But I find that I do not like that smell either, and these lamps are very near my nose while sleeping. I also considered trying some sort of adhesive on the bottom of the lamp, but I am not sure what kind would work well, yet still allow adjusting or shifting the lamp when desired.

Has anyone had a similar situation, and any other suggestions of things to try?

You have several options:

1. Somehow attach the lamps to the table. There's many ways to go about this, such as actual hardware, or just creative use of glue or tape. This seems the most destructive and difficult solution to me, however.


2. Replace the lamps with different lamps that the cat can't knock over, for instance, floor lamps discretely behind the table, heavier lamps that are bottom heavy so they can't be tipped, or those lamps with a bendable base that can be hooked over your headboard. Or even just get lamps that won't make much noise when knocked over.


3. Move the lamps before going to sleep. Perhaps the simplest solution, but also somewhat annoying because you have to remember to do it every night.


4. Keep the cat out of your room at night. Though this is a possibility, it often doesn't work out very well, because once used to going into your room, many cats will scratch and meow to get in, and you will have to accept getting no sleep until it gives up.


5. Make the table itself unpleasant for the cat to stand on, so it won't go near the lamps in the first place. You can do this by putting double sided tape on the table, which most cats dislike as long as it's sticky enough. Or another option is vinyl carpet protectors with the teeth facing up, so it will be pokey when the cat walks on it.

The other answers are good, but I've had success with a more direct approach: outstubborn the cat.

Rather than trying to minimize the sound/inconvenience of the falling lamp, try to maximize it. Be creative, e.g. put a bowl with glass marbles on the lamp (I used this + a metallic plate to create a really loud and startling noise). Anything that makes a racket will do.

The idea is to teach the cat that knocking over the lamp is not nice. As you said, there's not much drawback to the cat when it gets knocked over now, so make the message clearer by making the experience even less nice.

My cat did it twice after I started using the marbles, and never again. However, you will of course not enjoy the loud sounds so it requires some tenacity from your end.

If it's only the lamp, you could try to screw the base of it to the table with an electric drill.

You could also put the lamp directly on the floor when you close it before to sleep.

However if your cat is actually trying to wake you up, I'm afraid they will find something else to throw down. In a house with cats, no fragile thing should stand near an edge.. it's just too tempting for them I think :p