Occasionally needy in the AM for no apparent reason

[JulietteTruong]

My Juli usually wakes me up at about 6 am for feeding. Today I woke up at 5:30 for no reason, so I went to feed her a bit earlier than usual. She usually doesn’t finish the entire can and saves a little for later. Then I go back to bed.

At 6 am, I hear her meowing at my bed waking me up. Finally I go to her bowl and there’s food left, about half a can. So I try letting her into the backyard, sometimes she likes to use the potty there. We also have a litter box too. I opened the door and she doesn’t want out.

She’s done this a few times before. Any idea why?

 

[daftcat75]

Some cats have an impeccable schedule that you must adhere to. Even though it seems like feeding her early was the sensible thing to do, she might believe that you are skipping her 6am meal. You can either pretend to go through the feeding ritual and fluff up what she has left behind and re-plate it. But more than likely, she wants her 6am meal fresh. It may be better in these situations to wait until 6am rather than feeding her early.

 

[maggie101]

And use a food timer for canned food. They have cold packs which helps since my cat does not finish her food

 

[daftcat75]

You can leave wet food out for hours. Many cats prefer to graze. You can also use timed feeders and optional cold packs to queue up meals at times that may not be as convenient for you--for example, if her internal clock begins to skew and she wants her 6am meal at 4:30.

 

[suzeanna]

Juli is so pretty! Do you usually hang out with her after she eats? My kitty Susan waits by the sofa after she finishes eating her breakfast until I've finished making my coffee/breakfast, then hops up and joins me on the sofa as soon as I sit down.

 

[Cat McCannon]

We have Belle on a regular schedule, but change things up. Sometimes, I get up and feed her as soon as the alarm goes off, sometimes I pet her for awhile or play on the phone first. Sometimes, I hit the head before feeding her. On weekends, we sleep in and she has to wait longer. If I wake up early and can't go back to sleep, I pet Belle until the alarm goes off.

Same thing with her mid-day and evening meal. However, there are certain "rituals" we perform that let her know this is meal time. In the morning, she gets petted, brushed and played with before being fed. In the evening, we prep her food as we prep our own and feed her when we sit down to eat. (It also cuts down on her getting into our supper.)

Belle doesn't get a chance to graze. When we feed her, she cleans her plate. I think she has an "Eat when you can, because you don't know where your next meal is coming from" philosophy because the first four months of her life, she was a half-starved homeless stray.

 

[JulietteTruong]

You can leave wet food out for hours. Many cats prefer to graze. You can also use timed feeders and optional cold packs to queue up meals at times that may not be as convenient for you--for example, if her internal clock begins to skew and she wants her 6am meal at 4:30.

Oh yeah, my Juli is different from other cats I’ve known, in that she’s a grazer with her wet food. My previous cats and sister’s cats finished their wet food in one sitting. Sometimes Juli takes like one or two bites, and walks away. Eventually she finishes her food in a few hours.

 

[JulietteTruong]

Juli is so pretty! Do you usually hang out with her after she eats? My kitty Susan waits by the sofa after she finishes eating her breakfast until I've finished making my coffee/breakfast, then hops up and joins me on the sofa as soon as I sit down.

Thanks! sometimes in the morning, after she eats she goes back to sleep on my bed

 

[JulietteTruong]

Juli is so pretty! Do you usually hang out with her after she eats? My kitty Susan waits by the sofa after she finishes eating her breakfast until I've finished making my coffee/breakfast, then hops up and joins me on the sofa as soon as I sit down.

Is Suzeanna a dilute calico? That face is so precious!

 

[suzeanna]

Is Suzeanna a dilute calico? That face is so precious!

She is! I could stare at her all day.