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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Any way to stop cat waking me so early ?

24 replies

TheOriginalNutty · 04/04/2021 07:02

We have 2 cats, one is about 10 and one is about 5.

Both are absolute twats but the younger one is currently driving me mad with waking me up at the crack of dawn wanting to be fed.

She is food obsessed, always has been and would eat all day every day if it was up to her (except for the dry food down all day obviously 🙄).

She will generally start meowing at me at 5am and keep it up until I give up and feed her.
Both cats have a pouch of wet food first thing and then can have dry food whenever they like.

Help

OP posts:
Original poster
TheOriginalNutty · 04/04/2021 07:07

Meant to add that if I shut her downstairs she somehow manages to ping the bottom of the living room door which is oddly loud and wakes me anyway.

Might add that she's not even my cat she's dd2's who guess what, doesn't live here anymore 🙄

OP posts:
Longdistance · 04/04/2021 07:09

Get up you lazy slave!
My cat used to wake me early, so I’d put his food in his bowl at night and cover with a plastic lid and then he’d go and knock the lid off if he wanted his food.

TheQueef · 04/04/2021 07:09

I've been up two hours now.
My Burmese has concluded she is a bird so has to join the dawn chorus Angry
Even the other cats are pissed off, they are being nocturnal.
I feed dry all day with added pouches, last pouch at 11pm

tootyfruitypickle · 04/04/2021 07:12

I used to set one of those food timer bowls for mine when she was young (as was I , so enjoyed my nights out !)

Original poster
TheOriginalNutty · 04/04/2021 08:17

Hmmm I'm wondering if adding an extra pouch at night would help. Might try that.

She's now fast asleep on the end of my bed. Little sod

OP posts:
Original poster
TheOriginalNutty · 04/04/2021 08:19

@TheQueef Luna talks to birds. She sounds like the lizard thing from Prime Evil.

OP posts:
Villanelle17 · 04/04/2021 08:40

Can't offer any advice, but I was just going to start a thread asking about sleeping as I have been looking at getting a Kitten.
Obviously I know Kittens will wake you up more but once they get older, do you ever get the chance to sleep in?

lilroo87 · 04/04/2021 08:44

My cat would wake me consistently from 2am until I drag myself up to feed him. It's tough to stay strong and not do it though.
I now give him an extra pouch of food at night before bed and that seems to have done the trick.
Now he'll only wake me up if he wants a cuddle, usually around 5am, which is when DH gets up for work anyway x

tootyfruitypickle · 04/04/2021 08:49

My cat became a grazer as she aged, so dry food i put down at night would last her til mid morning. She didn't wake me as she got older, but also as I got older I slept in less.

saffysue · 04/04/2021 09:56

@Villanelle17

Can't offer any advice, but I was just going to start a thread asking about sleeping as I have been looking at getting a Kitten. Obviously I know Kittens will wake you up more but once they get older, do you ever get the chance to sleep in?
I think it probably depends on the cat but mine does let me sleep in now that he's no longer a kitten.

I do feed him in the evening which helps and he's usually happy to wait for breakfast until 9am or even 10am if we've had a late night.

BIWI · 04/04/2021 09:57

Are you only giving them food once a day? How much of the dried food are they eating?

Sounds to me like feeding them before you go to bed with another pouch would really help - they're hungry!

AnnaMagnani · 04/04/2021 10:04

What do you feed her?

Better grain-free food so they are full for longer. Ours are regular alarm clocks at 7am and 6pm but between those times, nothing.

New rescue cat was supposed to be v active and highly frustrated at being indoors. Had him 4 days - change of diet and he's happy with a run up and down the stairs a couple of times a day and has stopped whinging all the time.

They like to be full of real food.

Original poster
TheOriginalNutty · 04/04/2021 12:43

Whiskers pockets is the dry food which they both really like so I'd say she's eating a fair amount of that too. The wet food is just asda own meat/fish in jelly.

I'll increase it to two pouches for her. Elder one may not eat another pouch but I'll see.

Thanks everyone

OP posts:
YesItsMeIDontCare · 04/04/2021 12:49

How much do you value your sleep? Enough to fork out for a timed feeder that will ping open at 5am?

I just get through it with an afternoon nap 😁

GoLightlyontheEarth · 04/04/2021 12:52

Timed feeder you say? I want one of those! I think my car would spend all night trying to wrench it open though. It would be upside down in a corner when I got up.

Mizydoscape · 04/04/2021 13:10

We got a timed feeder it was a tenner off amazon. Our cat is locked downstairs but she meows so loudly in the morning to be fed. Set it up the night before and it opens in the morning. Perfect!

GoLightlyontheEarth · 04/04/2021 13:15

Could you post a link please? I think I know the one you mean.

Mizydoscape · 04/04/2021 14:51

@GoLightlyontheEarth it was called Pawise. It takes batteries and has a turn dial. Can't seem to get a link from the amazon app. Think it's gone up a little from when we bought it too but still worth it to us :)

GoLightlyontheEarth · 04/04/2021 15:45

Thanks!

KirstenBlest · 04/04/2021 15:51

DCat will wake me up. He has used he following methods:

Miaowing outside front door at 3 a.m.
Sitting on my head.
Sitting on my face (I think he is trying to suffocate me - he's done this a few times, but given that he can't open pouches or dreamies it is not a wise tactic)
Sticking his tongue in my ear and licking
Sticking his paw in my face.
Sleeping on my chest.
Running around downstairs.

RandomMess · 04/04/2021 15:54

Stop giving a pouch in the morning give at a night only.

Timer feeder for fresh biscuits downstairs at 5am

Lock the downstairs door so she can't open it.

TaraR2020 · 04/04/2021 16:06

@TheOriginalNutty

Whiskers pockets is the dry food which they both really like so I'd say she's eating a fair amount of that too. The wet food is just asda own meat/fish in jelly.

I'll increase it to two pouches for her. Elder one may not eat another pouch but I'll see.

Thanks everyone

If 2 pouches per day gets wasted, try splitting one pouch across both meals- half in the morning, half in the evening. Worked beautifully when I had this problem.
samlh · 06/04/2021 12:31

I found that giving HRH a bit more wet food just before bed helped him to sleep longer (6am instead of 4:30am). We just took it from tea time and it does help sometimes..

Other times he will insist on a 5am wake up call by sitting on my head and singing the song of his people. It's very hit and miss with him sometimes but since we've started giving him a bit more freedom overnight he will try his luck, realise i'm not getting up and bugger off downstairs to play until about 6am :)

sunflowersandbuttercups · 06/04/2021 21:07

Timed feeder to go off at around 5am.

Or, split the wet food you give them over multiple meals - my three get a pouch each/day - half for breakfast, half for their tea, as well as biscuits down all the time.

Cat-proof the door downstairs somehow?

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