five o clock every morning !

[Paul9856]

Guys

I am in need of some help here, our 7 month old scottish straight Belle, has got into the habit of waking us up at 5 am every morning. We have tried different things to change her habits but without success and are in need of some help. Can you give me any ideas about what to do please

Thanks

Paul

 

[talkingpeanut]

Hello! Can you tell us what you've tried?

 

[catlover1982]

we had the same problem for about a year with both our cats and in the end they out grew it. it's exhausting but hopefully they will.

 

[artiemom]

I know how tiring it can be. Artie would start at 3-4AM!! As soon as he sensed the morning. He would tap-tap me on the shoulder, go right up to my ear and meow!! It was as if he was screaming!!

I had to ignore, ignore, ignore!! He did get out of it, but it took a while. Do not move, do not yell, do not do anything to acknowledge that he woke you up. 

He will eventually get used to this, and will stop.

It does not keep Artie from jumping onto my bed, but at least the 'alarm meow" is pretty much all gone. He does it occasionally, when he is starving. 

I also leave a good amount of food out for him, during the night. I always find an empty dish in the morning. He also has toys to keep him occupied. 

Sometimes, he does get the zoomies at night. I just yell at him and ignore him. He will quiet down. that is until he breaks something or drops something.  

Good luck

 

[Kat0121]

 
Guys

I am in need of some help here, our 7 month old scottish straight Belle, has got into the habit of waking us up at 5 am every morning. We have tried different things to change her habits but without success and are in need of some help. Can you give me any ideas about what to do please

Thanks

Paul

Hi Paul,

What have you tried? He's still a baby so he's got all that kitten energy. Is he waking you up because he is hungry? Does he just want to play? Is he your only cat? 

If he's waking you because he is hungry, try giving him a snack right before bedtime. If he's waking you up to play, try some serious playtime right before bed. If you don't have a wand toy such as Da Bird, that would be a good thing to use as would a laser pointer. Get him good and tired out. 

If he is your only cat, you can also consider getting him a playmate- a kitten of roughly the same age. They will focus their energy more on each other and less on you! 

 

 

[tabbytom]

Hi paul9856,
This is pretty normal. My 8 month old kitten sleeps on my bed and wakes up at 4am and ask to be let out of the room. At 5.20am, he'll jumped up on the bed and wake me up to feed him.
If you do not feed him so early, do what Artiemom says, ignore him.

 

[hellomisskitty]

I know how tiring it can be. Artie would start at 3-4AM!! As soon as he sensed the morning. He would tap-tap me on the shoulder, go right up to my ear and meow!! It was as if he was screaming!!

I had to ignore, ignore, ignore!! He did get out of it, but it took a while. Do not move, do not yell, do not do anything to acknowledge that he woke you up. 

He will eventually get used to this, and will stop.

It does not keep Artie from jumping onto my bed, but at least the 'alarm meow" is pretty much all gone. He does it occasionally, when he is starving. 

I also leave a good amount of food out for him, during the night. I always find an empty dish in the morning. He also has toys to keep him occupied. 

Sometimes, he does get the zoomies at night. I just yell at him and ignore him. He will quiet down. that is until he breaks something or drops something.  

Good luck

I had the same problem and ignoring like artiemom has suggested worked for me. You have to do this consistently for a couple of weeks. The other thing I would suggest doing is to wear Belle out with playtime followed by a meal just before bed.

Good luck!

 

[Paul9856]

We have tried: 

1. feeding Belle later,
2. playing with her quite energetically until shortly before bedtime,
3. gently trying to sooth her back to sleep
4. ignoring her and hoping she will go back to sleep
5. Getting up and starting the day at Oh Dark Thirty

Not sure what the best course of action is but I will be re-watching Jackson Galaxy's shows as soon as I can tonight

 

[tabbytom]

Have you read this? It may help.
[article="33461"][/article]

 

[Paul9856]

I will pass this one on and see how we go - I think Belle is more persistent than I am patient though

 

[artiemom]

It takes a lot of patience to get through this type of cat behavior. 

I think the best thing to do, is just not move. Do not acknowledge Belle's presence. I had to do that for a while.. It was maddening. Or I would just turn over in bed and ignore..even the cute: tap-tapping on my shoulder..no smile, nothing..

 

[Kat0121]

Sophie does this too just not quite as early. I don't care during the week because I have to get up anyway but on the weekends, I get up, walk the dog then give the cats their breakfast and then I go back to bed. 

Sophie is quite persistent too. She will do the tap tap on the shoulder, she will squawk in my ear and she walks on my back. Try ignoring THAT one. 

 

[neely]

I found that our cat tries to wake us up earlier in summer because the birds are chirping and it is light out sooner.  I second ignoring him, although my hubby eventually gives in.

 

 

[hbunny]

I have a 2 year old that is still very much in the kitten stage.  He just became an indoor kitty, and honestly, I think he just learned how to relax and play.  He plays all the time, middle of the night, whatever.  He was waking us up nonstop.  We are site-swapping still with him and my older guy, so he has "his" room he goes to at night with 3 baby gates stacked one on top of each other in the doorway.  Unfortunately, it is right across from our door.  He would wake us up howling because he was awake and wanted attention, play, and just companionship.  We solved it by buying a ton of toys for his room (in addition to the tons around the house already) and now all we hear every so often during the night is "squeak, squeak-squeak-squeak" when he plays with his toys.  Could you try putting interesting things at the other side of the house maybe that would get her attention, maybe deflect her and keep her busy when she is up during those hours?  A toy treat dispenser in the room farthest away from your bedroom?  Shortstack seems definitely happy and content in "his" room at night now that he has more toys, and full food bowl, and water.  LOL we compare it to putting the baby to bed for the night.

On another note--I do feel your pain.  My grumpy dude who is set in his ways (the 12 year old) has started waking me up about 4am by walking all over me, and I've been assuming it was because he is aging and maybe his "clock" is off.  At first I thought was the DST time change--it always affects him for a day or two, but apparently it wasn't because it kept going on, day after day, at the butt-crack of dawn.  I usually get up around 5, and you know how that last hour is the BEST sleep!  And here he was interrupting it!! 

I finally put two and two together--he started a new antihistamine this pollen season that has a side effect of increased appetite.  I now open yet another can of food for him, put it in our bedroom when we go to get in the bed, and he has left me alone!  And that bowl is always empty in the morning, and he is ready for his breakfast.  I learned that even though he had leftovers in his bowl from his dinnertime about 6, he wouldn't eat that throughout the night--it kind of gets crusty and dried out, then I tried just feeding his evening meal later, that didn't work either.  So now he is a 3 can a day kitty--sometimes more, if he decides to do the "I don't want that, give me something else" routine 

  And of course I do.  He's my baby.

Be patient and just hold out.  It's kinda like having a baby in the house with a kitten or young cat.  They will mature and settle. 

@Artiemom   Wow!  You my dear have the patience of Job.  I've had one of those that screamed at me, it's an experience with that in your ear in the middle of the night!!  Wurp has done that, but it was alerting us that something was in the yard, like a dog.  He would see a dog, possum, raccon, or an armadillo through the window and have to come scream and screech at us to tell us!  Thank goodness he got over that.  I think he likes his beauty rest better now than patrolling out the window all night.

 

[pegleg]

What artiemom and hellomisskitty said is right, you really have to ignore them until they get the message. One of mine likes to walk all the way up me and should in my ear. Luckily I sleep like a log so it doesn't wake me but when he and his sister try it when I'm having a doze they stop if I don't pay them any attention.

It will take some patience as we all know how persistent a cat who wants something can be.

Do, as suggested above, leave out plenty of toys and change them around. You can get silent cat toys too!

Do you leave good out at night? I put a portion of their dry out just before I go to bed and typically it's mostly gone in the morning.

 

[talkingpeanut]

How much are you feeding per day? At 7 months old, she can have unlimited access to food. I'm wondering if she is hungry.

 

[basscat]

You wouldn't believe how much more you can get done in a day if you get up at 5:00

 

[hbunny]

 
You wouldn't believe how much more you can get done in a day if you get up at 5:00

Oh BassCat...I wish I didn't know!  Now that I'm in that routine of needing to get up early, I wake up before 5 every. single. morning.  Therefore, so does Wurp.

I'm just always whipped by 9 every night.  I never need to be rocked to sleep, that's for sure!! 

BTW, love your avatar picture!  Beautiful!

 

[Paul9856]

Hi Tom, this is in line with the advice we have seen on the TV (Jackson Galaxy) I will speak to my wife and we will see what happens

Thanks

Paul

 

[tabbytom]

It takes some time, patience and a hardened heart (which we caved in 99%, lol) to ignore the meows. But if you kind of k ow your cat, it's easier. Both parties have to get used to it.
My boy is up at 4am and he meows to get out of the room and wakes me up at 5.20 in the morning is because he is hungry and I understand that so its ok for me. During the day he can call and ask for food just after 2 hours which I'll talk to him gently and tell him that he just eaten 2 hours ago and it's too early for his next meal and he just walked away and never bother me.
It's all just in the routine. You'll get use to it, lol