Possible solution to cats waking you up for food

[weebeasties]

I have read so many threads about cats waking up their humans for food. I've seen countless comics about "kitty alarm clocks". I just wanted to put this out there as a suggestion.
We currently have 7 cats and they don't wake us up for food and none of our previous ones over the past 30 years did either. I think there are two reasons for this.

#1 We don't feed them as soon as we get up in the morning. We give ourselves "wake up" time. We drink our coffee, check email, etc. Then we feed the cats. They don't associate us getting out of bed with food.

#2. We don't feed them on a strict schedule. They get fed meals throughout the day, but the time can vary in a two hour period depending on work/school schedules.

I don't know how well this would work for an adult cat that is already in the habit of waking you up, but I think if a kitten is raised this way, it is far less likely to disturb your sleep. And fwiw, two of our current cats were adults when they came to us. They don't interrupt our sleep either so it apparently isn't difficult for an adult to learn this lack of schedule method. Now, waking you up because they want to cuddle on your face... that's another story.
Hope this helps.

 

[Show Me Your Kitties]

My mom and I have done this without realizing it, actually. She gets up first and does her morning things, like getting coffee, and sometimes she has a client and works on them first, and then she gives the fur-butts breakfast. They have never woken us up for food. They try to get me up to play with them because apparently all toys they love when I'm awake are suddenly boring when I'm not lol but not once have they yelled at us to wake up and crack open a can.

They also don't have a strict schedule and eat around ours (there are times we try to aim for, like 9AM and 6PM but that doesn't always happen).

I didn't know this was a tactic to prevent being woken up for food. Interesting! I guess I can also agree that it works then lol

 

[Mamanyt1953]

LOL, Hek doesn't wake me for food, she just decides I should get up. And she does this by sticking a paw in my mouth and jerking on my cheek. There is no ignoring that. Once I'm up, she goes back to bed.

And, THAT SAID, those are excellent techniques for overcoming the "food alarm" habit. In fact, I've seen cat behaviorists suggest just that.

 

[canucksfan1]

my cat only bugs me for food while im asleep if i was gone long n noone fed her, so dinner done in 2 secs back 2 sleep.

when she was like 8 human yrs old she would wake me or whine for food throughout the day so i took her to the vet & she had a virus + worms which the vet gave me meds for her to flush it out (i told the vet my cat kills then eats alot of wildlife all the time & he said thats probably where she got the virus/worms)

after the vet meds she stopped the craziness for food altogether.

 

[Maria Bayote]

The only one who is "bothering" me in my sleep is Bourbon, no matter what time of day (or night). She wakes me up for various different reasons: Hungry, demands that the litter box be scooped, wants to look out the window (she can do it by herself but she wants me to come with her), or just wants to swat me in the face for the heck of it.

My youngest is surprisingly very well behaved. She is less than a year old but never ever wakes me up for food.

 

[Neko-chan's mama]

Neko-chan never wakes me up for breakfast. She wakes me up my draping herself over my neck and purring loudly. Then she walks to my hand and nudges it till I pet her.

 

[nycats]

Currently my foster kitten comes to wake me up and goes as far as biting my face lol. Little stinker! Good thing he's cute. My big girl Aloo (I'd say she's 12-13lb) is the worst because she knocks everything off whatever surface that's near me. She'd knock it down then looks at me. It drives me crazy. She also sits in front of me and stares. It's very difficult to ignore. She gets so HANGRY

So yeah I mean if I endure this annoyance, she gives up after a while, but it gets pretty stressful because things get spilled, broken, scattered, and she comes back eventually. I do make her wait for our regular meal time. On weekends, she starts annoying me for dinner around 3pm, when dinner is served around 6pm

 

[Azazel]

My favorite is when they jump on my face right after they use the litter box.

 

[She's a witch]

My cats are on scheduled meals and pretty much get their food as soon as one of us gets up.. and they have never woken us up for it in the morning even when we sleep late on weekend at least not yet so maybe that’s individual? Or I like to think that big meal at bedtime keeps them from “starving” in the morning.