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The litter tray

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

Original poster

Early morning wake ups by kitten

28 replies

Stressedgiraffe · 19/07/2023 10:28

Help! I'm being crippled by 5/530 wake ups by the kitten. I stupidly put him in the bedroom at night. He'll settle after about 30 mins of fussing onto his cat tree bed for the night. But not long after it get light he jumps on me to wake me up for breakfast.
How can I stop this except for making him sleep downstairs?
Photo as needed

Early morning wake ups by kitten
OP posts:
Jonnycakes · 19/07/2023 10:31

You don’t, you do exactly what he says and when he asks. Sorry no help at all because I really want a cat and this is the only place I get my fix. Hopefully someone helpful will be along soon with proper advice 😂

ThelmaDinkley · 19/07/2023 10:33

Aww he’s cute. Can you leave some biscuits down for him.

LosingTheBelly · 19/07/2023 10:33

TBH I think you need to just accept the New World Order.

(Gorgeous cat!!)

Original poster
Stressedgiraffe · 19/07/2023 10:33

I know cheeky bugger is currently snoozing next to me ( I might go back to bed as I'm off this week)

OP posts:
Icepinkeskimo · 19/07/2023 10:39

He’s still a baby, my girls still wake me up early, sometimes just for a reassuring cuddle, sometimes because they want breakfast. 20 mins later back to sleep.
I love watching them fall back to sleep
purring, snuggled up.
If ever the time comes when they get more independent and stop doing this, I think I’d be sad.

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 19/07/2023 11:10

Basil woke up Mrs Grumpy and me this morning by pawing our faces and biting us at 5.00.
Once we were both fully awake he curled up again at the foot of the bed purring loudly and laughing
It's a cat thing.

moderndaywitch · 19/07/2023 11:22

My cat is over a year old and still does this, I hoped it was a kitten thing. It is worse in the summer during the longer days, in winter he is slightly later.

I have an automatic feeder now which opens at 5:30, but sometimes he still makes noise even after eating. I think it's also boredom.

cinnamonfrenchtoast · 19/07/2023 12:14

You can't unless you shut them out of your room.

All our cats sleep downstairs including the 10 week old kitten. It's been like that for all of them since day one so they don't know any different.

cinnamonfrenchtoast · 19/07/2023 12:14

B xxxxxxz.

whatchagonnado · 19/07/2023 12:27

Cats are nocturnal creatures so they will be active at night. Dawn and dusk is prime hunting time.
My cats are shut downstairs at night and come and go as they please through the cat flap so no one is disturbed.
Gorgeous kitten though !

Toddlerteaplease · 19/07/2023 14:54

My girls wake me for cuddles.

user1471548941 · 19/07/2023 14:57

It’s not a kitten thing, my 6 and 10 year olds still do this.

Solution is automatic cat feeder set to serve breakfast at 6am. They learn that the machine feeds them in the morning and bother that, not me! My ginger has been known to attack the feeder…. They then settle for another hour or so or if they come in our room, it’s for a quiet cuddle rather than jumping on/smacking our faces for food/attention. We love snoozy cuddles with the boys.

Saying that…. He’s ginger and therefore rules the world… you must do exactly as he demands.

Pixiedust1234 · 19/07/2023 15:08

We used to give our girl wet food for breakfast/dinner but a bedtime supper of dried biscuits and she used to race us upstairs for it (fresh bowl, fresh biscuits). Funny how we would accidentally give too much for supper so there was always enough for light snacks throughout the night 😂

We probably got woken up once a year before 7am. Or maybe we were just blessed with her.

whirlyhead · 19/07/2023 15:11

My 4 all start complaining about 5 am with the worst one being the elderly deaf one who does an excellent howl we call "the song of abandonment/starvation". We just see them as our alarm clocks and provide cuddles as needed.

We've learnt to go to bed at 9 pm to accommodate the early starts.

neverwakeasleepingbaby · 19/07/2023 15:28

Yeah sorry I get up at 4am every single morning to let our furry overlords out. Sometimes they start partying at 3am and I feel that's too early. I could shut them downstairs but I feel bad because the toddler terrorises them during the day. This is their consolation prize

Nomoreheroics · 19/07/2023 15:30

You have to put the kitten downstairs with litter tray and water overnight. Otherwise you’re making a rod for your back:

MIBnightmare · 19/07/2023 19:19

Just to really depress you can I just say that my 10yr old came in at 4:44 to make 'biscuits' on my head... her brother arrived at 5:05am .. both chucked out !!

Breakfast is at 7 am and NOT A MINUTE BEFORE !!

Massive Barricades required ... pillows , and more pillows outside the doors ..

MadCatLady27 · 19/07/2023 20:19

Ours used to sleep upstairs with us until the BSH started being a right a**e and would not quit demanding food after about 5am. You'd push him off the bed and he'd just come back again and again and again

My ragdoll, who used to be fine sleeping upstairs with us then got wind of his bad habits

After one night of about an hour's sleep due to the metal blind repeatedly being bashed against the window, they now sleep downstairs!! If I go down to get something after they've been put to bed they're actually in their sleeping spots, resigned to their fate! We put a door mat under the door with a weight on so the carpet can't be pulled up

I don't think it helped when we first got BSH OH would give in to his demands so he learnt by being a pest he gets what he wants. He's shot himself in the foot as his bed is now downstairs!

When it was cold this winter I felt bad so got a nice teddy bear throw for them for the sofa

Bumblebee2022 · 19/07/2023 20:36

Yep, our cat sleeps downstairs for this reason. I used to be able to sleep through her, but dh couldn’t so he made the bad guy decision for her to be downstairs. But if he is away now, I still shut her downstairs as my sleep pattern has changed and she wakes me now.

she wasn’t waking us for food, she only has dry food and there are always biscuits down for her, she’d want to be let out, I don’t even think she needed the toilet as she goes out and sits on the drive, I think it’s boredom and neither dh or I appreciate being woken up to entertain the cat!

Twatalert · 19/07/2023 20:48

You try to ignore it if you can and put out food overnight. Mine still tries to wake me but not most days and I still ignore him or else I will never sleep in peace again.

What's really grating is when I put my alarm for 30 mins later than usual and he thinks he needs to wake me at my usual get up time. He did it today, it really made me grumpy. But he was unusually hungry and ate two pouches so I can understand how he must have felt.

ilovesooty · 20/07/2023 23:41

My older cat sleeps with me and gets up when I get up. The 16 week old kitten has his own room and he never makes a sound until he hears me getting up.

My friend's two adult cats start tantrumming at 4.30am, winter and summer. They sleep downstairs but one of them hurls himself at the cat flap (he pushed it through the door and broke it last week) and his sister yowls and claws the carpet. Her husband has to get up and let them out. Every day.

stayathomer · 20/07/2023 23:44

One cat starts miaowing from the sitting room at 5 some nights, then other starts scratching from the other room, then they wake up the dog who is in the kitchen. I’ve 4 children under 15 and it’s been years since I’ve had so little sleep!!

Caramelsmadfuzzytail · 21/07/2023 00:44

I kinda retrained my cat. She would try and wake me up at no way o clock by meowing at me, then when that didn't work, the paw with claws came out. I then buried myself under my duvet. She now comes in at anti social o clock quietly meeping. I still ignore.
She's 12 so I'm lucky I've got what I have.

Archeron · 21/07/2023 01:23

My puppy did this till about six months old, then gradually learned to sleep longer. So did my human child. Small creatures just wake up annoyingly early but it goes away as they get older.

WarmBeerAndSandwiches · 21/07/2023 01:55

Our kitten did this until he was about eight months. We would let him sleep in with us until he woke and started being a pest at 5am when he wanted food and playtime, then he would be put out into the hall to run around and play until we got up. We bought him a Surepet microchip feeder so he could help himself to food. We were lucky he didn’t scratch at the bedroom door or yowl outside it once we shut it though. Nowadays he doesn’t wake us up so we leave the door open and he goes and plays for a little while then comes back to bed and snuggles up.