Early morning grooming
Early morning grooming
I recently had to take my 8 year old female cat for a 3 week holiday at a cattery due to some building work going on at home. She hadn't been away from home since 2011 and on her return she's been more affectionate then before - not unexpectedly! However, she's also started to wake me up in the morning by frantically licking my hair, not stopping even when I gently push her away. Although I find this quite a sweet thing to do, it is a bit painful and afterwards quite a few hairs come out when I run my fingers through it. I'm worried I'll develop a bald patch! And also concerned that she'll swallow too much of it and it'll cause her a problem. Any ideas how I can modify her behaviour without having to wear a hat in bed?
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Lilith
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Re: Early morning grooming
Hi there and welcome 
This can be a problem! I once had a kitten who attacked my hair in bed at night. So I plaited it - and the little horror found the plait! Ouch! She grew out of this eventually but there's nothing worse than trying to sleep with a cat that wants to play, or groom, or whatever.
I don't think there's any danger to your hair - hair moults just as badly as cats do and it's normal to shed quite a lot of hairs every day; she's probably just loosened the ones ready to shed. I have kinky-ish long fuzzy hair which I rarely groom or cut, so I have sort of dreads but every so often I rake out the worst of the mats with my fingers and the hairy monsters that emerge are quite frightening but it never thins my hair. I'd be more bothered about her ingesting your hairs; the other day I caught one of mine, having used her tray, trotting around with a mucky lump swinging behind her ... suspended from one of my hairs ... ugh! I had to sneak up on her and grab her, and grab the revolting thing with a tissue, but if a number of hairs had stayed inside her she could have had a blockage.
As for your girl ... if you have long hair you could try tying it back or plaiting it (though of course she'll come and groom the front.) I would also suggest telling her 'no' VERY firmly, in a low voice, but I realise this is difficult when she's being so affectionate and you don't want to hurt her feelings, especially after the separation and the upheaval in the house. I wonder if she'd get tired of doing this if you wore a scarf for a few nights, or smoothed some sort of scent into your hair, say a mix of rosemary and lavender essential oil in a carrier oil which you could shampoo out in the morning (that's if you're a morning shampooer. Or even just round your hairline; I believe some cats dislike lavender though it can be used safely as a flea repellent. ) I don't think rosemary or lavender are toxic to cats but if you did use an oil or scent, you'd have to be careful that it wasn't harmful to the cat. Sorry, this is just off the top of my head (no pun intended lol) but I'm trying to think of some way to repel the cat without hurting her feelings ...
Hopefully other people will have more ideas but hope this helps for now ... like you I couldn't bear to shut an affectionate cat out of my room, but sleep is sleep and you have to have it!
All the best with her
This can be a problem! I once had a kitten who attacked my hair in bed at night. So I plaited it - and the little horror found the plait! Ouch! She grew out of this eventually but there's nothing worse than trying to sleep with a cat that wants to play, or groom, or whatever.
I don't think there's any danger to your hair - hair moults just as badly as cats do and it's normal to shed quite a lot of hairs every day; she's probably just loosened the ones ready to shed. I have kinky-ish long fuzzy hair which I rarely groom or cut, so I have sort of dreads but every so often I rake out the worst of the mats with my fingers and the hairy monsters that emerge are quite frightening but it never thins my hair. I'd be more bothered about her ingesting your hairs; the other day I caught one of mine, having used her tray, trotting around with a mucky lump swinging behind her ... suspended from one of my hairs ... ugh! I had to sneak up on her and grab her, and grab the revolting thing with a tissue, but if a number of hairs had stayed inside her she could have had a blockage.
As for your girl ... if you have long hair you could try tying it back or plaiting it (though of course she'll come and groom the front.) I would also suggest telling her 'no' VERY firmly, in a low voice, but I realise this is difficult when she's being so affectionate and you don't want to hurt her feelings, especially after the separation and the upheaval in the house. I wonder if she'd get tired of doing this if you wore a scarf for a few nights, or smoothed some sort of scent into your hair, say a mix of rosemary and lavender essential oil in a carrier oil which you could shampoo out in the morning (that's if you're a morning shampooer. Or even just round your hairline; I believe some cats dislike lavender though it can be used safely as a flea repellent. ) I don't think rosemary or lavender are toxic to cats but if you did use an oil or scent, you'd have to be careful that it wasn't harmful to the cat. Sorry, this is just off the top of my head (no pun intended lol) but I'm trying to think of some way to repel the cat without hurting her feelings ...
Hopefully other people will have more ideas but hope this helps for now ... like you I couldn't bear to shut an affectionate cat out of my room, but sleep is sleep and you have to have it!
All the best with her
Re: Early morning grooming
Thanks, Lilith. She's really not a lap cat so any signs of affection are very welcome! I'll try the lavender suggestion, I think, as that will help me sleep too