Train Your Cat to Let You Sleep

Jackson, I haven't
slept in three days.

My cat keeps me
up all night long.

I'm gonna kill her.

No, I'm not gonna kill her,
but Jackson, you gotta tell me.

I'm gonna kill myself here.

Tell me, how do I sleep
through the night?

And I say, oh, that one?

That's easy.

So let me ask you
something, people.

You ready to get cat-ified?

Let's go!

As you have noticed
I'm sure, this

is not exactly the cat cave.

It is a cave.

It's a little echoey in here.

But no, I am in a hotel room
in San Diego, California,

where we are wrapping
up filming the season

of "My Cat from
Hell" season five,

premiering-- coming
up in the spring.

Do stay tuned because
you'll find out

everything you have to know
about the premier of "My Cat

from Hell" here, on
the Cat Daddy channel.

Just, you know, stay tuned.

So today we're
talking about what?

Your cat allowing you to
sleep through the night.

Now, the last
episode I was talking

about the concept of
circadian rhythms,

a cat's 24 hour clock,
and how naturally it

wants to get them
up at dusk and dawn.

We can help guide
their circadian rhythm.

We can reset their body clocks.

But there's a couple of
really important things.

Now when last we met I
also gave you homework,

and that homework
was about making sure

that you established a daily
rhythm, that you establish

rituals that happen
throughout the day that

helps keep their body going.

And the one thing that is
most important to what we're

going to do right now is
they're feeding schedule.

Remember something,
if you allow your cats

to graze all day
long, if you allow

them to eat whenever
they want to eat,

then not only do you not
have a chance of affecting

their behavior
even a little bit,

but you're not
allowing their body

to process food in
the natural way.

They're constantly in
this arc of digestion.

And we don't want that
because then their energy

is totally unpredictable to us.

Here's what I would
ask you to do.

If you free feed, make it stop.

The next step is, you
bring in meal time.

Real big change in a cat's life
is not met with nice things.

And you do not want to
encourage bad behavior,

and by making rapid changes
like that, you kind of are.

We'll keep the dry food
out, but then every day you

just put less and less in there.

And by the end of that first
week that, there is food

down there, they don't feel
like they're missing anything.

But by an hour after
you leave for work,

they've polished it off and
now they're waiting for a meal.

Now here's the rule of thumb.

I would like to see no
longer than between six

and eight hours you
can make it happen.

So you're feeding
three meals a day

and then your cat's
energy is coming up

to meet those meal times.

And I guarantee you,
within a week or two

of instituting this meal
time, your cat's energy

will come up to
meet your schedules.

Your second step
is to try to get

them to go to sleep when you do.

Let's say your bed
time is 11 o'clock.

OK.

So by 9:30 you should be
feeding your last meal.

But you don't want to
do that in a vacuum.

In the past-- you know me-- we
have been talking about hunt,

catch, kill, eat.

Right?

And so that means playtime.

That means you have a
really nice, chunky play

time right before
that last meal.

You bring them to a
boil during play time.

You get them just pooped out.

Then you let them come
down for a second.

Again, all cats have the
second wind, the third wind.

Cats are built for
speed, not for distance.

So bring them to a boil,
let them come down.

Bring them to a
boil, now it's going

to take less time for
them to get worn out.

Now less time, now
they're tired, right?

When they pooped out, boom.

Now, hunt, catch, kill, eat.

Feed their last meal of the day.

What comes after eat?

Groom.

Yeah, baby.

We're all about getting
clean right now.

And then sleep.

And then you go to sleep.

Now we're getting
to the hard part.

Because now you've got
to do some serious work.

So now it's 3 o'clock
in the morning,

and your cat is waking you up.

But you know, I gave you
a meal at 11 o'clock.

I wore you down at 9:30.

You should be down for the
count right now, but you're not.

Now here's the tough part.

I mean, I'm laughing
only because I

know how ridiculously
hard this is.

What you've got to do at
3 o'clock in the morning,

your cat's driving you crazy.

You ignore them.

You ignore them completely.

Completely.

And you definitely don't get
up, feed them, walk around,

go to the bathroom,
come back again.

You don't play with them.

Nothing.

You ignore them completely.

Because that is payoff.

Negative attention, positive
attention, any attention

whatsoever is still attention.

You have to
extinguish the payoff.

If you tell them
night after night

after night that nothing's
going to happen when they

do that certain behavior,
that behavior will stop.

So people, what that means
is that for about 10 days

to two weeks, it may be
really, really long nights.

Don't kill me.

Now, if it goes past 13 nights?

Whatever, come find me.

Because I'm telling
you, it won't happen.

In conclusion, let's
give you some homework.

Take a look at that blackboard.

Now, write it down here.

First thing you do
is change your cat

from free-feeders
to meal-feeders.

Big change.

Next thing you do is you feed
in conjunction with play.

Third thing, remember
that your cat's energy

moves with your energy.

So remember that you're trying
to merge the two together.

Your energy, your cat's energy,
your clock, your cat's clock,

merge them together.

Then don't forget, the last
meal of the day an hour

and a half before you go to bed.

You're going to hunt, catch,
kill, eat, let them groom

and sleep until you go to bed.

Boom.

Then we get through the night.

And then the last step, folks--
the last, most important step

is, ignore them.

You guys can do this.

You can affect your
cat's body clock,

and that's how you do it.

That's how you sleep
through the night.

Boom.

Consider yourself cat-ified.

Alright.

Let's wrap this up.

Hey folks, if you're trying
to find me, I'm easily found.

Take a look at Facebook
and Instagram and Twitter

and YouTube and Google+.

And don't forget,
speaking of Google+,

every month we do Live
from the Cat Cave.

And that is a live
Google Hangout.

This month I'm just going to be
doing live question and answer.

That will be a lot of fun.

In the meantime, folks,
take care of yourself.

Take care of your cats.

And all light, all
love, all mojo to you.

THEME SONG: You're a bad cat.

I'm not a bad cat.

You're a bad cat.

I'm not a bad cat.

You're a bad cat.

I'm just misunderstood.

Meow.