Cat's Waking Me Up Early

[StevenL]

Hello,

I've an annoying problem with one of my cats - he insists on waking my fiance and I up at 4:30am!

If I close the door to our room, he will claw at the door until I wake up. If I leave the door open, he paws at the mirror behind the door. If I block his access to the mirror, he pokes at the blind. He is very resourceful. Failing all that he just stomps on your face, no manners

Anyways, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this problem, can you offer any suggestions outside of simply barring them in a room somewhere? I'd hate to do this because sometimes they like to sleep on our bed.

For what it's worth, I feed them a 12oz can of Wellness daily - once in the morning, once at supper time, and a little before bed. Not sure what else to do, but it's not great to be waken up like this, as some of you may already know.

[Love4himies]

If you find something that works, let me know, mine start at about 3:30AM.

[StevenL]

It's funny, because when they do this, I wake up, grab them, put them in the basement, and go back to sleep. You'd think at this point they'd equate waking me up with being put in the basement.

Nope.

[Winston]

Just curious do you think they are waking you up for food? maybe you could try giving them a little bit of food before bed and see if that keeps them happy.

OMG this must have been made for you!

http://www.pets.ca/forum/vbtube_show.php?tubeid=121

[Koteburo]

Originally Posted by Winston

Just curious do you think they are waking you up for food? maybe you could try giving them a little bit of food before bed and see if that keeps them happy.

OMG this must have been made for you!

http://www.pets.ca/forum/vbtube_show.php?tubeid=121

+1 to this

[Loki Love]

I keep waiting for my cats to 'outgrow' this behaviour.. it's been over 3 years now, so I don't see it happening anytime soon.

I've tried playing vigorously with them before bed. I make sure they have lots of food before bed. I have finally just ended up shutting the bedroom door and try to ignore the scratches and meowing (and the regular antics of roaring up and down the hallway like they've been possessed!)

Good luck!

[14+kitties]

You said you fed them a bit at bedtime. Maybe he isn't getting enough. You have more than one cat. Have you thought maybe a little more food? Some cats require more food because of their activity level. Try feeding that one 12 oz can for the first two meals and opening a small can for their night time meal. It may do the trick.
You can also do some extra play with him before feeding and bed. See if it makes a difference.
Also, at times when cats wake us up early in the morning they don't necessarily want us awake for the day. My TT has a habit of licking my forehead earlier in the morning than I like. I finally let him. After a minute or two he's happy and settles back down until I am ready to get up. Maybe a couple of minutes of petting and spoiling and then telling him to settle may help.

[StevenL]

Man that video is perfect

Perhaps I will try evening out the food a little. Maybe a little less for dinner and a little more at night. I think it's undeniable they wake me for food, because when I get up to grab them, they immediately run down the stairs as fast as possible to the food bowl.

I'm hesitant to open a new can, because that stuff is expensive. $37 for 12 cans of cat food, so I'd rather just grumpily wake up, toss em in the basement, and go back to sleep

It's nice to see that everyone else has the exact same problem though!

[StevenL]

Originally Posted by 14+kitties

You said you fed them a bit at bedtime. Maybe he isn't getting enough. You have more than one cat. Have you thought maybe a little more food? Some cats require more food because of their activity level. Try feeding that one 12 oz can for the first two meals and opening a small can for their night time meal. It may do the trick.

I feed both of them about a tablespoon of food before bedtime.