Licking Cat/Kitten

Question
Hello,
I have a 6 month old kitten who absolutely LOVES to lick me! She only licks my boyfriend and I who spend all of our time with her. She doesn't do it to strangers. She tends to do it intentionally in the middle of the night while we are sleeping accompanied with heavy purring. I don't necessarily want to discipline her since I think it's probably a form of affection, but at the same time it causes us to wake up every couple of hours and it's starting to cause great sleep loss! We have tried scolding her when she does it by telling her no and putting her off the bed. But she's usually back within a couple of minutes right back in our face, arms, body... licking again!

All in all she's a great kitty who does the 'normal' kitty type things, but I've never had a licking cat before!

Any advice?

Answer
HI
cats waking their owners in the night is a very common problem although I'm not sure that many do it by licking their owners. You certainly have a character there.
Basically this is an attention seeking device to get you to pay her some attention and if at all possible get you up to play with her or to give her food. Cats are most awake at night time and so this is when they want to play etc. It can be a difficult process to break but telling them off and putting them on the floor does the exact opposite to what you wanted. Instead of the cat thinking "oops I'm being told off" they are thinking "great i got their attention i like that i want more" and so the behavior continues. The only answer is to either stop them getting into your room and ignoring all attempts to get in. If you can manage to do this over a period of weeks the cat should after a time realize that that they will not get a reaction from you and go and do something else. I also recommend playing with them a hour before you go to bed so that some of that night time energy is used up. Also if you can place them in a separate room with their litter tray, water, bed and some toys, this should also help keep them amused and settled at night.
I warn you now this is a hard habit to break and will take nerves of steel on your part. Good Luck

Kate