Cat help!

[margotb822]

I have two kittens that just turned a year old. I love them very much...except at about 5 am. As soon as the sun comes up, they are hyper and wanting breakfast. I have tried to shut them out of the room, but they meow and claw under the door (they've actually done quite a number on the carpet there). If I shut one out, it's just as bad. I did buy a feeder with a timer and that worked for a bit, but now that they are bigger, they attack it and slam it around all night long. I have a pretty small apartment, so there's nowhere else for me to keep them during the night.

I'm so fed up with being on their schedule. I went totally ballistic this morning and started crying because I just want to sleep.

Any suggestions?

[flvegan]

1. Can you just leave food down overnight?

Cats tend to graze, unlike dogs that scarf down everything in front of them at once.

[margotb822]

3. I have tried that

but I didn't have great results. I think my fat cat is eating it all, so the other one doesn't get any. But, it's looking like the only solution...

[Chan790]

4. My aunt has 7 cats with the same fat cat issue.

Her solution (which may or may not work for you): Her fat cat doesn't jump well, meaning it can't get certain places...so she feeds it at floor level in one room and in another room feeds the rest on a table that Rhonda (the large cat) can't get up to. At first she kept having to show her cats that dinner had moved...but now they've gotten it figured out just fine.

[flvegan]

5. Put a lot of extra down.

If fat cat eats to excess, you may need to isolate him overnight (maybe he stays in the room with you with another, smaller bowl).

[suninvited]

2. I leave my cats bowl filled all the time.

You never know when they get the urge to eat, and I think cats will not overeat even if their bowl is always full.

[applegrove]

6. Pick a time to feed them and stick to it. If that means you have to get

up when they act up - and spend two hours with them without feeding them so be it. Do not feed them till that time happens. In a few days they will have adjusted to the timing and perhaps will leave you alone in the early morn.

[stuntcat]

7. if nothing else works, get earplugs

do you wear them already? I started wearing them to drown out the fishtank noise but now I just like sleeping with them. I have a lot more dreams :)
The earplugs won't stop the cats from knocking things down though.. .. maybe they just need to learn that making the noise won't work for them.

[Haole Girl]

8. I tried behavior modification with my two cats...

by using a squirt gun filled with water. It worked, too, for a couple of years. When we moved into houses, and I no longer wanted to spray the walls with water, the cats started their "alarm clock" behavior again. (sigh) So, what I'm saying is this: If you don't care about ruining the paint on your walls, the squirt guns are quite effective! ;-)