How Can I Get My Cats To Stop Waking Me Up In The Morning?

hopefully they won't be as hungry in the morning

they'll nibble at the food at night, but let it sit there.

I don't understand why they insist on being fed the same time every morning. It's not like they'll go hungry, I already leave a double feeder with dry food out for them.

No, just kidding, they are just cats.

How late can you feed them on weekdays? Maybe try to change their habit, don't feed them as early as you do, feed them as late as you possibly can? It might take some days but eventually it may work

because I have to be at work by 5:45 and my wife can't feed them because she's allergic (she's Celiac). So I kinda have to feed them once before I leave for work and once when I get home.

I know I don't HAVE to feed them in the morning, but I feel bad because they obviously love the wet food more than the dry stuff.

Change the time they're accustomed to getting their favorite food. It might take some time for them to get used to it, but they probably will eventually.

...don't feed them immediately on days when you get up early. Go about your business before you put out the food, and keep pushing that time back later and later, until it's around the time you get up on weekends. Cats are creatures of habit, and you just need to change their habit.

If that doesn't work, I recommend ear plugs. That way, you can ignore them, and they will eventually get the hint.

Gradually changing the feeding time is a good idea.

And don't I know it about cats being creatures of habit. At this moment my neediest cat is begging for attention. She is never satisfied no matter how much attention I give her. Scratching her back is the only petting that's acceptable and she bugs me non-stop. I've had to learn to ignore her when she is constantly meowing for a back scratch because if I don't she'll always ask for it in an annoying way and never give up until I relent. I love petting her but not all the damn time, so I make sure to give her attention only when she's not being so needy. It's worked to some extent, but it's sometimes easier to just give in and pet her when she's relentlessly begging and loudly meowing. I swear she has no long-term memory. I will pet her and pet her for a half-hour straight and 2 minutes after I stop she's back again begging as if that never happened and I'm neglecting her.

To really change a cat's behavior you have to change your own behavior.

I'll describe my two cats.

The older one is named Cece and she's a grey DS. She's quiet and shy and only meows for food. Most of the time she likes to be left alone, but also kinda wants to know what you're up to - if that makes any sense.

The younger one is named Camo and she's a white and orange Calico. She's spunky and loud and fearless. I can't even go to the bathroom without her following me in, and if I close the door on her she'll scratch at it until I let her in. She only stops scratching long enough to meow at me. When I do let her in she constantly wants to be petted and rub against me.

If I lock either of them (or worse, both) in the bathroom they'll scream and claw at the door all night. I can't even just leave them outside the bedroom, they just wail and wail and wail.

I love my cats, but Jeez, I never knew owning them could be so irritating.

When they're done eating they'll join you.

i don't want to be woken up. Once I'm up I'm pretty much incapable of going back to sleep.

Good luck.

with them on the other side

to sleep through.

or just get some ear plugs

dry food overnight.

They are naturally most active evenings and early mornings. I've heard this suggestion for getting cats to sleep later in the morning: Get blackout curtains.; that way they can't tell dawn is coming. Other than that, I got nothing. My own cats usually don't get up until I do, maybe because I'm now retired and always get up at the same time, whether weekdays or weekends. They know that they won't get fed until I get up.

It took her THREE YEARS for her to stop waking us up in the morning.

But she did stop.

We will never, ever, ever feed a cat in the morning again. She kept trying to wake us earlier and earlier - it just got out of hand.

so you know they aren't hungry but only feed them the canned food at night.

The first few days/week will be rough but stay strong. They'll eventually figure out that you aren't open for business in the am.

This sounds like the easiest way. Feed them canned food at night instead and do it consistently, it might take them a while to get used to the transition. Which means NOT giving in to them in the mornings during that transition.

They harass you in bed, spray them with harmless annoying jets of water. Let them know they will be fed at your leisure and not on their insistence. Show those kitty boos who's the boss, like Tony Danza.

I love cats. Endless entertainment.

Companion animals aren't so delicate that they can't handle some correction in their behavior. You have to set limits or they'll walk all over you. If you don't let them know what's OK and what's not, they'll just act out of their own animal natures.

When you take one of them out with a Claymore, the surviving cat will get the point.

No need to thank me.

My advice to the OP is that he is totally fucked, and needs to learn how to live a life of sleep deprivation.

When the cats started nagging him at o'-dark-hundred, he flipped on the Agent of Satan for a minute. High-speed cat exodus. After 2-3 days, the cats stopped nagging for wet food for breakfast.

And actually a pretty good idea.

Give them to someone else

Have a Rmoney residence and sleep in one of your other homes

Sleep in a soundproofed room with an airlock - or better yet the Space Station (in space no one can hear a "mew!"

sniff some glue and drink a beer and you should be able to fall back asleep.

love that movie lol

Or else put them out and then go back to bed.

Mine get a packet of wet food when I get home from work and they've got access to a big bucket of kibble whenever they want it.

They are still young (4 mo) and I don't want them getting into trouble while we're sleeping.

Not sure if this will work for older kittehs who never had to stay in one room overnight before.

Banjo would tenderly pat my face until I woke up and gave her scritches. She was more reliable than my alarm clock.

being awakened at first light (which is about 5:00AM in Minnesota during the summer) is not an option.

Before I got my cat, I asked some cat-expert friends how to prevent the Alarm Cat syndrome.

They had two suggestions:

1. Feed the cat wet food only at night or midday

2. If he woke me up at the wrong time, I should say "no!" sharply and pull the covers over my head. If he woke me at the right time, I should pet him and praise him and generally make a fuss over him.

Eventually I trained him to wait till the radio comes on in the morning. He learned quickly and waits patiently before the nuzzling and pawing starts. However, if I sleep in too late, say about 9:00 or 10:00, he gets impatient and starts waking me up anyway, radio or no radio.

He gets wet food at night for dinner (around 5:30) and dry food for breakfast at 5:30 am. The dogs are on the same schedule. We could never leave an auto feeder for our cat because he would eat all day or the dogs would eat it all.

Usually right before bed I try to leave some dry kibble out for him...most of the time that works, but he usually starts trying to wake me up at 3 or 4 am.


I agree with other posters about switching to kibble breakfast...I am sorry your cats do this, I feel your pain.

I have an older dog who usually has to potty in the middle of the night so sleeping through the night is a luxury I can only dream about.

You have to adjust to life with them; and they have to adjust to life with you. One way to let them know their attentions aren't welcome is to greet them with compressed air. Eventually they'll understand the difference between 4:00 a.m. with you asleep in bed and the same time of day with you sitting on the edge of the bed while putting your feet into your slippers. If it's a BIG difference to you, it should be a big difference to them as well.

Or, stick 'em in a gunny sack with a couple big rocks, tie it shut, and take it swimming with you.....(I don't recommend that solution, mind you, but their biological clock is set, and you can't adjust it.)

You could try keeping them awake during the day, to show them how it feels, and try to readjust their sleep schedule that way. 'Sworth a try...

if you start when they are young or new in the house. Yell at them and appear angry. They can sense moods. And they don't like it when their human is PO'd. After a while they won't engage you until you are awake and engage them. Cats train you. You can train them to a certain extent.