Any tips for persuading a cat from not waking me up early in the morning?

david23

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I live with two 2 year old cats. One of them always wakes me up around 4:30 am as he wants breakfast. He usually does this by sitting next to me on the bed and tapping me on the shoulder. If this doesn't work, he extends a claw or two. Alternatively he will lick my head. If this doesn't seem to produce the desired response he and his brother will start dive-bombing the bed. They get left dry food before going to bed. He just wants his breakfast as he is a very dedicated and committed eater. I haven't been able to think of a good training strategy - and shutting the bedroom door is not an option. I have thought about trying to use an alarm to train them but haven't instituted that as of yet. Any thoughts?
 

Katie M

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Do they eat dry food? If so, have you considered using an automatic feeder?
 
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david23

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They eat a little dry food only. I think he just wants his canned food in the morning and he wants me to give it to him.
 

di and bob

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You could try leaving some dry weight management food out at night if you are worried about them gaining weight. .I get Science Diet, they like it. It might be enough to satisfy them for a while. Then completely ignore them, forcing them to eat the food and leave you alone if tehy are hungry. It is very hard to break a cat's habit!
 
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david23

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I do leave some dry food out at night. Trouble is, the one who wakes me is the one who's chubby (no surprise there).
 

susanm9006

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Play dead and Ignore him. If that doesn’t work, push both out of your bedroom and shut the door.
 

rubysmama

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I haven't been able to think of a good training strategy - and shutting the bedroom door is not an option.
My reply was going to be put him out of the room and shut the door, but I see that isn't any option. Any particular reason why, though?

I ask as, my Ruby used to wake me too early every morning when I first adopted her, and I quickly became sleep deprived. So I resorted to putting her out of the room and closing the door when she woke me, and telling her she had to wait for the radio to come on. After a while, one morning I didn't have to put her out of the room, as she didn't come in until the radio came on. And for the most part, she doesn't wake me early anymore. So there is hope for training him. We just have to think of the right method for you.

Another question... is this new behavior? Is something he's always done?
 
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david23

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My reply was going to be put him out of the room and shut the door, but I see that isn't any option. Any particular reason why, though?

I ask as, my Ruby used to wake me too early every morning when I first adopted her, and I quickly became sleep deprived. So I resorted to putting her out of the room and closing the door when she woke me, and telling her she had to wait for the radio to come on. After a while, one morning I didn't have to put her out of the room, as she didn't come in until the radio came on. And for the most part, she doesn't wake me early anymore. So there is hope for training him. We just have to think of the right method for you.

Another question... is this new behavior? Is something he's always done?
Re putting them out, well, these cats are very much "people cats" and would hate to be locked out overnight.

Re putting them out at 4:30-5 in the morning and going back to bed, I could do that except that I need to get up by 6 normally so I wouldn't really gain real sleep.

Your idea though with the radio is similar to what I'd been thinking re the alarm. I think I will start by setting the alarm for 5 and then not budging before (except to swat away paws and tongues). And then over time maybe I can move the alarm later.
 

She's a witch

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I would feed them a big meal of wet food just before your bedtime. It will most likely satisfy them for much longer. Imo dry food is not filling enough, especially if it’s not high protein low carbs
 

kittenmittens84

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Either you have to ignore them for long enough that they start to unlearn the “annoy owner at 4:30 = get food” association (best in the long run, painful in the short term for you because sleep) or you have to shut them out of the room before you go to sleep and ignore the meowing at the door long enough that they stop doing it.

We used to let the cat sleep in the bed until he started getting annoying around 5 and then get up and shut him out until his breakfast, but eventually he still started annoying us earlier and earlier even though there was no food involved because he wanted attention. Even if it was just 2 seconds of me scooting him out the door. Eventually we had to go to full on ignore mode which worked after like 2 weeks of hiding under the covers in the morning.
 

CityCatMom

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I do leave some dry food out at night. Trouble is, the one who wakes me is the one who's chubby (no surprise there).
Invest in an automatic feeder instead of leaving the food out at night. My cat used to wake me up really early too. Then I started using the machine to feed her a snack at 3am which helped tide her over till 7am.
 

rubysmama

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Re putting them out at 4:30-5 in the morning and going back to bed, I could do that except that I need to get up by 6 normally so I wouldn't really gain real sleep.
That's true, you probably wouldn't get back to sleep, however, hopefully eventually the cat would learn that waking you didn't get him breakfast, just locked out of the room.

I think I will start by setting the alarm for 5 and then not budging before (except to swat away paws and tongues). And then over time maybe I can move the alarm later.
That could work. :crossfingers:
 

Lisannez

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We have a fat older cat who used to wake us up every morning at 4:00 or earlier to eat. When we lived in a one bedroom condo we had no options, but now that we live in a house we have many. The first is to get an automatic feeder that feeds at the same time every morning. This helps the cat to also associate the feeder with feeding and not you. Trust me when I tell you that after a few days the cat will be sitting at the feeder a few minutes before waiting to be fed rather than in your room. I understand you don't want to keep you cats out of your room, but you have to decide what sleep is worth to you. The other cat, is not food but attention based and she would wake us up incessantly. We shut the bedroom door and kept them both out. Don't get me wrong the first week or so she cried and scratched on the door. It was hard to listen to, but eventually she understood they both do. Cats are creatures of routine, and they will follow whatever routine you decide they should. The first week or two is an adjustment and it's tough but after that they will stay out. We leave our door wide open now, they do not enter until we are awake no matter the time. In fact the non food oriented cat will sit outside the open door until we get up. You have to be consistent and cats are smart and sneaky. They know which hooman will feel bad and let them in the room. Everyone in your house has to be on the same page. There are some feeders too that do wet food.
 
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