Ragdoll waking me up!

[emilyock]

Hi everyone, I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips or advice please!

We have two ragdolls, Goose (F, 1yr) and Rooster (M, 8m). They are the loves of our lives but Rooster is a bit of a handful! He consistently wakes me up by continuous meowing from as early as 4:45am - 5:45am every day. He sleeps through the night fine, but as soon as he wakes up he has to wake everyone else up. We've got an automatic feeder so he has food available from 5am. He also has a habit of scratching the wall above our bed, which not only is annoying for us, but our neighbours too.

Does anyone have any similar experiences, and any advice on how to calm him down/ get him into a routine where he doesn't do this?

We have a strict food routine, and as I said, he always has food available, so I'm really not sure if it's maybe just an attention thing.

We live in a one floor little lodge/ bungalow, so it's not possible to keep him downstairs over night. If we shut him in the lounge, he would no doubt scratch at the door..

Help needed please!! Thank you in advance :) Emily

Following as I am having the same issue with my elderly cat x

Two cats in a small area. Presumably with no outdoor access.

yeah. Not much you can do. Will get worse in summer when it gets light earlier. Cat’s routine is set by dusk and dawn when the instinct is to hunt.

is there any way you can build them a catio? Then at least they’ll have more space, and the ability to go out and watch the world when they get bored.

eta assuming they’re neutered- if not that’s the first thing.

He sounds bored, does he have toys, things to climb or anything to look at out of the window?
They're both beautiful ♥

Cats are crepuscular, unlike us primates. You are forcing them to live in an unnatural situation, and they are trying to alert you to that fact.

Try the Jackson Galaxy simmer and boil method, sorted my two cats out so fast!

He just wants some attention and to play. Given his age, it’s likely something that won’t continue for that long but for now I think you are just going to have to get up earlier than you want and spend time having fun with him.

There's a very cute subreddit for Ragdolls @emilyock may get more advice there. 😹

This made me chuckle because my boy is 15 and STILL wants attention/play in the early hours 😁 Cats are a law unto themselves!

Thank you! He's got loads of toys, scratch posts, cat trees, they're both spoilt rotten! A garden to look out at too. As soon as you pick him up or fuss him when he's meowing he starts purring.

There goes my optimism that he will grow out of it! 🤣

It’s a much cuter way to be woken up than by a noisy alarm clock though.

This is a cat's natural wake up time. If you don't like it and it persists, you will have to shut him out of the bedroom.
I think it's luck whether you have one that wakes you up. My cat tends to bugger off and amuse herself elsewhere and comes back to nap.

Yeah mine is almost 6 and he still does this. It’s not as bad in winter and we are up early with our children anyway but in summer it’s way worse. We have to shut him in a different room overnight when it’s summer! Ignoring him doesn’t work as he just starts gently nibbling us lol

I mean, he's called Rooster, waking up early is his actual job.

A garden to look at, but not to go out in? Sounds frustrating. If at all possible I'd let him outside. You can cat-proof garden fences with overhanging netting, if simply letting him out isn't an option for whatever reason. A catio would be a lot better than nothing too. The sensory stimulation of the outside world really can't be replicated indoors.

I absolutely wouldn't get up at 4.30am to play with the cat, all that's doing is reinforcing that his noise and scratching is working: he's successfully training you to do what he wants. Use earplugs until he gets the message that you get up on your own schedule.

Yes shut him away.

Can you leave them a puzzle feeder with treats in last thing before you go to bed?

This is true! What did we expect!

Same issue here in a 1 bedroom flat although my cat does go out. No cat flap as not allowed. Elderly dog compounds the issue as they wake each other up.

The only thing that help me somewhat is going ro bed v early, say 8 or 9pm. I appreciate that wouldn't suit everyone but I'm single and disabled and naturally a morning person.

Thank you all for your comments.

We let them out in the day when we can, but always supervised. They're ragdolls, so predominantly indoor cats due to their lack of street savviness, meaning they are naturally more vulnerable. There is no chance we would want them going out while we were still asleep. When we own a property, we will of course get a catio. They're not that fussed at all about getting out though, even where we open the door to go out, they just watch us. We rent, so can't build a catio at the moment.

I think the bottom line is he just wants attention, which is fine, just something we need to adapt too. The most important thing is that they're loved, fed, played with, kept warm and safe, so if it's just a case of trying to ignore his noise in the early hours as best I can, then I'll adapt.

I can't get up at 4:45am to play with him each morning - I don't that's realistic unfortunately!

Thank you all for you help 😌