My Kitty Insists On Being Fed Earlier And Earlier In The Morning...advice Anyone?

[Mary Lisa]

Hi all,
My baby boy (mixed breed although I think there's some Siamese in there) is a year this month. I adopted him about 3 months ago. He is an early riser, 4am for feeding, which I have no issue with as I rise at 5am to prep for the day, but for the last 3-4 weeks he's been rising between 2 and 3am for breakfast and impossible to live with until I do. Even putting him out doesn't seem to curb the behavior. I've tried to ignore it until 4am to try and 'train' him about the timing but no luck. I noticed the shift I think we we when to day light savings, but we sprung forward so wouldn't that mean his little clock would be rising later not earlier! Some night's aren't as bad as others but I'm a bit at wits end. Can anyone offer some insight and/or advice on this matter? FYI, I feed him twice daily dry and wet food with added water about 12 hours apart, we play approximately 15-30 min daily when I get home from work around 4.30pm, I have lot's of toys, climbing space and haven't even restricted counters or tables. I've had him checked by the Vet who says he's in good health, his stool seems consistent and clean (normal); clean box daily. He's has many windows to observe outside activity. Could he just be growing and need more vittles? Help anyone!

 

[orange&white]

If he's eating every bite of food you're putting out, he might need more food. That's probably not the problem though if he isn't too skinny.

You could try feeding him his second meal right before bed, instead of 12 hours from breakfast. (Of course, then he might be bugging you all evening, instead of 3am!)

 

[Sarthur2]

M Mary Lisa

Yes, he's just hungry. Twelve hours is a long time. He's barely an adult, and male cats continue growing and filling out for up to 2 years.

I suggest that you leave out dry kibble for him 24/7, along with his water. I would give him a third wet food meal before you go to bed. Hopefully this will help!

 

[Mary Lisa]

If he's eating every bite of food you're putting out, he might need more food. That's probably not the problem though if he isn't too skinny.

You could try feeding him his second meal right before bed, instead of 12 hours from breakfast. (Of course, then he might be bugging you all evening, instead of 3am!)

I tried that actually around 9 or 9.30 with last installment. didn't work but thank you so much for your advice. Maybe I'll give it another go

 

[Mary Lisa]

Yes, he's just hungry. Twelve hours is a long time. He's barely an adult, and male cats continue growing and filling out for up to 2 years.

I suggest that you leave out dry kibble for him 24/7, along with his water. I would give him a third wet food meal before you go to bed. Hopefully this will help!

Oh I'll try this! thank you for the insight. When I mentioned this to the vet he said no more than 1/2 cup dry a day, which I'm sure I give scant, and supplement with wet and a few treats. He weighs 10.2lbs approximately and he's grown but could I be starving him? Sometimes he acts like he's gotta get that food, and then walks away after a few nibbles, and I'm like, what was the rush? Then about 10 min later he returns and gobbles it up. I'm projecting like a normal human I suppose but I don't want him suffering either.

 

[Sarthur2]

He just sounds hungry to me. My cats free-feed, so they never wake me for food.

The returning to eat 10 minutes later is typical cat attitude!

Then there's always their need for attention. If you allow him to free feed his dry, and give him a third small meal before bed, and he is still waking you early, then he just wants you to get up. Let's hope it's a food issue.

 

[orange&white]

Maybe you could feed him his wet portion during the day and his dry portion at night for him to nibble.

 

[orange&white]

Personally, I wouldn't free-feed a cat kibble after 1 year old. I've had too many get fat around 3-5 years old from the "bottomless bowl" of dry food.

If you think kitty is yelling for food now, try putting him back on scheduled meal times in a few years.

 

[Mary Lisa]

what exactly is free food?

 

[orange&white]

Free feeding means that you have kibble out 24 hours a day and the cat eats all it wants. Been there; done that. Got fat older cats as a result. Kitty diets are no fun.

 

[Mary Lisa]

so you're saying free feed trains the cat up to eat what he wants and walk away; eat when he's hungry VS. full cat bowl all the time? I guess I don't get the difference. Sorry I'm a bit new to cat ownership

 

[Sarthur2]

Free feeding is dry food available 24/7. That is what I do. My cats also get wet meals at specific times.

Mine do not "pig out" and eat all the dry food at once, and they are not fat. But some do pig out and get fat.

You need to try different things and see what works for you and your cat.

 

[Mary Lisa]

do you just leave out the bag of food or a specific kind of dispenser?

 

[Sarthur2]

You just fill the bowl the cat eats from every 24 hours. My bowls hold about a cup, which is double what your vet suggested.

 

[Mary Lisa]

do you hide food in different places so they can 'hunt' for it?

 

[orange&white]

Not all of my cats have become overweight from free-feeding, but enough of them have become fat to the extent that I'm not in favor of free-feeding after somewhere between 6 months to 1 year. Kibble seems to "break" some cats' ability to self-regulate how much they should eat.

The first suggestion for overweight cats is to stop free-feeding and put the cat on scheduled meals.

 

[Mary Lisa]

Not all of my cats have become overweight from free-feeding, but enough of them have become fat to the extent that I'm not in favor of free-feeding after somewhere between 6 months to 1 year. Kibble seems to "break" some cats' ability to self-regulate how much they should eat.

The first suggestion for overweight cats is to stop free-feeding and put the cat on scheduled meals.

My cat isn't overweight, but judging from the feedback in this thread and his behavior it seems he is very hungry. I think I'll try a modified common sense version to start with and see what occurs. He certainly seems to be keen to stop when he's full. Wish I were more like that!

 

[Sarthur2]

I do not hide food or treats, as my cats play with each other and go on a screened porch. They also have a toy box, but there are toys the cat can play with that will release treats. You should experiment!

 

[Mary Lisa]

thank you so much!!! It's definately trial and error. I hope I haven't been starving him! He certainly has a lovely coat, seems healthy and fit, but I tell you, if he's 'growing', and he certainly has long legs getting longer, this could be the answer.

 

[Ardina]

Assuming it's only behavioral, something that worked for me when my cat started waking me up earlier and earlier was to set a particular stimulus that my cat would associate with mealtime. So I had a particular sound as an alarm (different from my wake-up alarm!) that I would set to go off a half-hour after I woke up (the half hour later is important - that way your cat is associating food with the alarm and not your waking up). And my cat would only get food once that alarm went off. The important thing is to "reward" only the alarm sound, not any of the behaviors that your cat does to get you up - meowing, walking across your face, scratching things, etc. Which means that you completely ignore those behaviors - you don't give any attention, food, or even negative attention like telling your cat to stop whatever they're doing. After a couple of weeks of this, my cat figured out that she could sit and wait by my phone instead of trying to wake me up.