FYI for those who are wondering why...

Making sure you get enough sleep to maintain your health be it night time or nap is a necessary evil, though I'm not so sure it is evil. Sleep is a good thing. Taking naps is always preferable to hospital tests and the expense of-- if you are sure it is Tom-olepsy. Having pets is like having kids- a 24 hour job. It can be exhausting when they are sick or missing or in heat..etc. Take care of yourself Sue :)
 
Thanks both :) Yeah, I am convinced its Tom, he's always caused issues with my sleeping and now I think about it, I never had most of what I now consider to be problems before he came to live with me. IN fact this is the second or third time I have thought about it, and a logical conclusion would be to simply send him away... but I can't, so I keep "forgetting" thats what the problem is. I can't lock him out of the bedroom at night because the noise and wailing he sets up outside the door is actually worse than trying to get some sleep/proper sleep with him up and down all night, and fidgeting.
 
My wife says I nap better than anyone she's ever known. I can fall asleep almost instantly, get awakened in 15 minutes, and hop up and go.

However, I don't get enough opportunity to exercise this wonderful talent, dang it.
 
We owned 1 cat years ago. He used to sleep in our bed. If he bothered me, I'd throw him across the room, so he went after the softy -- my dear wife. After 3 years with 1 cat, we got a second cat. And even my wife couldn't live with the two romping on our bed. They got locked out at night. The first nights sleep with no cats, my wife woke up the next morning, and was blown away by how good she felt, and realized that for 3 years, the 1 cat would go in and out of the bed a couple of times, constantly disrupting her sleep.
 
The worst thing is even if you get use to them laying in the crook of your legs [yeah try to turn over] or pouncing up and down throughout the night, they have this thing for chasing your feet under the covers and sometimes they nip HARD! Then you get irritated and are wide awake.. My cat is 20, she sleeps in a cat bed on the warm vent, but I remember those days when she was young and I remember them from my cats when I was a child too.
 
My wife says I nap better than anyone she's ever known. I can fall asleep almost instantly, get awakened in 15 minutes, and hop up and go.

However, I don't get enough opportunity to exercise this wonderful talent, dang it.

I've been told that falling asleep almost instantly (which is what I do) is a sign of sleep deprivation. I've done a sleep study as well and was diagnosed with sleep apnea. But in discussions with my doc, we concluded that it wasn't affecting my life in any appreciable way. So I'm either willfully ignorant or too tired to know, as I never get to bed before 1am and Nate has a habit of waking me up at 7am.

Regarding napping, I once had a watch with a countdown time that I would set for 15 minutes naps, and then reset for 12 minute pasta. I got tired of setting and resetting the watch each day so I shortened my naps to 12 minutes. Can't live with soggy pasta. That's barbarism.
 
They do say the short naps are better if you want to wake up alert and feeling well though if you are sick or really sleep deprived it's good just to sleep a few days :D
 
Good luck. How about just closing the bedroom door and/or purchase a set of earplugs.
I can't sleep with earplugs (tried that when I had feral neighbours who would start boozing at 8am and turn the stereo up full blast with their fave 5 Tina Turner songs... on repeat... all day... I just couldnt sleep with the plugs, even though they were lovely and soft... annoyed me more than the noise.

Bedroom door closed... he can keep up the scratching and wailing longer than I can tolerate it. HOWEVER... he does have a heated bed (I actually bought it for Ms Smoochie, the cat I had to have euthanased in 2010, when she was so sick) but its never been plugged in. I'll do that today and see how he goes. He likes the bed... its a matter of whether it will keep him warm enough to stop bugging me to be let in. He's an idiot, really. He's having a little petulant nervy right now because I am in the study (which annoys him...I'm supposed to pay attention ONLY to him), and he's gone out in the rain. Idiot cat.
 
They do say the short naps are better if you want to wake up alert and feeling well though if you are sick or really sleep deprived it's good just to sleep a few days :D

I sometimes power nap. I've had some this week but I only get to have those when I have also had a decent night's sleep. Close eyes, fall asleep, awake again 10 mins later feeling excellent. After the "bad" nights, I have to go down for a min of two hours.
 
My g/f has sleep apnea, as well as cataplexy... which has nothing to do with cats, lol

I went nearly 10 years with having my tiny, 6 lb girl sleeping on my chest, between my feet, pressed up against my side, sometimes tucked beneath my chin. Many mornings I woke up sore and stiff-jointed, but I'd give nearly anything to have those days again, I felt so loved.

Sue, I'm sorry Tom is being so difficult for you in this... :(
 
My g/f has sleep apnea, as well as cataplexy... which has nothing to do with cats, lol

I went nearly 10 years with having my tiny, 6 lb girl sleeping on my chest, between my feet, pressed up against my side, sometimes tucked beneath my chin. Many mornings I woke up sore and stiff-jointed, but I'd give nearly anything to have those days again, I felt so loved.

Sue, I'm sorry Tom is being so difficult for you in this... :(

Thanks, Chris :) We are now at 11 years of difficult. I'll try locking him out of the bedroom tonight and see how we go. He may feel less inclined to move from his own bed if the heating is on.
 
Sue,
At least its not this favoured trick of a past cat of mine:- Back paws tucked under chin, belly pressed against mouth and nose, chest and head draped over the top of my head, front paws (and claws!) extended to reach the nape of the neck. It took nine years before I abandoned attempts to get him to change his sleeping habits. But we miss them when they are no longer there......
Peter
 
If the door doesn't work ... maybe a line of balloons around the bottom of the bed or even a few on the bed. Typically, a cat will mess with them ... one will pop ... and the cat takes off like a rocket. I read that this is a training method to keeps cats off furniture, I've never used it so no idea if it is successful. Just seems like it should work and it isn't harmful to the cat.
 
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