How do cats tell the time?

[Whoateallthechocolate]

DCat is wondering around the house looking v confused as neither DC is home from school yet. Thursday is the only day that they both have a club straight after school meaning that, rather than at least one of them being home for 3.15, neither is home until 4pm. She has this problem every single week.
But how do cats do this?
Unlike previous cats I've had, she's fairly laid back about when she eats but always appears at 3.15 to greet the DC as they get back from school, at 9pm as it's DD's bedtime and, even if she's been out hunting all night, will race in at 7.20 to make sure she's there for when DD gets up.
I'm not complaining about this as it's much easier getting DD to bed on time now the cat comes to find her!

They use pawket watch

Years ago my late DM used to come and stay with us sometimes. My work hours varied a lot and I often had to do overtime at short notice. So I would never arrive home from work at the same time of day. DM said she always knew when to put the kettle on because the cat would go and sit on the windowsill about 3 minutes before I got home. I have no idea how she knew, but she did.

OP do you tell the cat the kids will be home later? Honestly it's not as daft as it sounds. Several of mine have had some concept of time or routine. My Mum always told the cats when we were going on holiday or even if we were going out and would be back later than usual. Some cats genuinely seem to understand as exhibited by their behaviour.

Before COVID my cat knew what time I got home from work and would come out of the cat flat to sit on the wheely bin to greet me!
Now he knows I'm here all day he just pops into the home office to
Check on me from time to time

My parents live in a different country. I can only visit a few times per year in normal times. Back when they had a cat, my parents swore blind that said cat knew when I was coming to visit even though there was no fixed pattern. She would definitely act differently for a few days preceding my arrival. I treated her very well (I'm the real cat fanatic in my family) and she somehow knew the queen was coming to stay and she was going to get spoiled.

Bizarrely my MIL is convinced her cat could tell the time and knew when it was Monday because she had leftover roast chicken

DH and I used to laugh about it but maybe there was something to it!

My cat knows when the postman is going to come and sits in the porch waiting so that he gets scritches. The postman always tells him he's a lovely boy and asks where does he want his post - all caught on the Ring camera.

He also waits for DH to go on his morning jog but he's crap at timing that and was out there at 5am today. DH was not so up for a run at that time of day

I don't have a cat, so nothing to add but I'm loving this thread! Amazing

Not my cat arrives at precise times. Often 9am or 9.45am. Would never turn up for example at 9.37am

My cats wakes me by stomping on my head at 5.00 in the morning.
Except on the weekends when she lets me have a lie in so stomps on my head at 7.00.

My cats queue up at the cat flap about 5 minutes before it unlocks in the morning. At 9:30pm my girl cat comes meowing that it’s time for bed.

They use cues like the sunrise to “know” what the time is.

DCat jumps on me every morning at 6.29 just before my alarm goes off to remind me it's her breakfast time :-) at the weekend she lies on me until I give up, feed her and go back to bed. After breakfasting she joins me and curls up behind my knees.

They can tell the time I'm sure of it! My PILs cat used to vanish in to the barn on a hot day and without fail would emerge at 5pm everyday for tea, it was so funny.

Ours comes in at 9pm every evening.
(Once all the kids have gone to bed and are asleep! )

He's a smart boy

My cat gets her dinner at 6.45. She starts campaigning for it at exactly 6.30, except when the clocks change, and she gets all confused. She is no longer allowed constant access to dry food because she's greedy, so she is also ready and waiting for a light supper at 10pm, and if no-one gets up to give her it she makes her displeasure VERY well known. Now we're working from home, she's right there for lunch, but that tends to be triggered by the hob or microwave being switched on - I call her Pavlov's Cat.

We had to start shutting her in the kitchen overnight (with bed, litter tray, water etc) because her ideal time for breakfast is 5am. No-one in this house agrees.

@Tambora my childhood cat was the same - Mum worked different hours at different times of day but the cat always went to the front windowsill just before she arrived home - uncanny

We had to have our oldest cat put to sleep recently (he was 19 and had kidney failure) but even when he was really slowing down and didn't like to climb the stairs anymore he would still climb up to the study and my son's bedroom at 9pm to let everyone know it was time for him to go to bed (snack, medicine and closed into a room downstairs where our other cat couldn't bother him)

I do miss his bedtime announcements 😔

Our other cat only announces meal times but that seems to be about 10x a day do not sure it's clock related 🤣

One of mine gets wet food at 11pm and as judy all hell breaks loose when the clocks change. Our late dog had the same problem.

My childhood cat was always to be found at the top of the hill on our road waiting for me to come home from school.
My current cat's are always sitting in the hall waiting when I get in from work.

I can tell when it's 8:30 in the evenings, as Girlcat comes to STARE at me until supper is served. She also thinks I should always go to bed by 10:30pm, unless she fancies a cuddle on the sofa of course.

One of my cats gets off my bed at 9.50pm every night and comes down to the living room to settle in his basket for sleep. They are currently using the living room for their bedroom due to building work but he is very keen for us to turn the TV off so he can sleep.

My cats use their smart phones or paw watches to tell the time...😀

A mixture of their internal clock and external cues, such as the sun/moon and other regular occurrences.

Mine know that I'll be in shortly after the local primary kids stampede past the front door, so are usually awake when I open it. When DP is working, they know I might fall for their claims of starvation, so will be waiting by the door itself - when he's in, they don't tend to move off the sofa, unless he's vacuumed, which is when they'll both clamber all over me to tell me how simply awful their life is and that I might be able to offer them a small crumb of comfort by putting another dinner in their bowls. They were very confused last night when I didn't come back until 7pm and DP had already cooked dinner for when I walked in; they aren't used to him coming back first.

#1 Cat will come and inform me that it's gone time to go to bed by sitting in front of me and pretending to be all bug eyed from exhaustion and his head is too heavy for his shoulders at 10.30pm. He can also tell the difference between work days, weekends and holidays, as he'll refuse to get off the bed until the very last second if my alarms don't go off, even if I wake up at exactly the same time. He also sits on the stairs and watches the birds going off to roost for the night, so they're telling him it's coming to the end of daytime.

Previous cats could tell the time by when the sun hit the perfect patch in the hall for them to have a quick nap whilst bathed in a warm, golden glow. Once it moved from the hall to the foot of the fridge, it was pretty much dinner time.

My cat wakes my husband up at 5.30 for breakfast and sits by the front door when he is due home. I am WFH for the past year and she sleeps all day by my feet until my daughter is due home and then goes out .....

DS5's cat waits for him in the window when he's due home from school!! And goes up to bed at his bedtime.