Why is my cat getting up so early?

[IOnlyWantSexMoneyPowerAndRevenge]

Long but Ive tried to pre-empt any questions.

Tl:dr - why is my cat suddenly asking for breakfast so early and keeps it up for hours?

She's about 12.

She has always been food obsessed. She used to be a stray and then had an owner who would feed her constantly but shes been with us about 8 years and we've been pretty strict about food.

She gets tea at 1830 and supper at 2130. She's absolutely fine about those meals most of the time.

We cant leave food out because she'll eat it in one go and be sick. We've tried automatic feeders but she'll eat that and then pester us for more. This has always been the case.

No changes to her food times or her asking for food apart from breakfast.

She's always asked for breakfast from about 6. That's fine. We have never fed her before 6.

However... for the last 2 months or so she has started asking for breakfast from 0400. We'll move her out of the bedroom and close the door but then she'll scratch and meow at the door until she is fed. On the very rare occasion we've needed to put her out of our room before, she'd just wonder off so the insistence and scratching etc is new.

I now make sure I feed her by 0615 every day. I read that you shouldn't feed them as soon as you get up, you should go to the toilet etc first so I do that.

It doesn't make a difference. This morning we needed to move her out of the bedroom at 0330 but she scratched and meowed until I got up at 6.

Once she's had breakfast, she's fine. She doesn't ask for food anymore than she would normally. Its just breakfast that shes being a pain about.

We only have a kitchen door downstairs so there is nowhere we can lock her in. Plus, she often sleeps with us and I think stopping that would make her unhappy.

No other changes to her. No changes to her routine or the house. No changes to her food.

I don't think its because shes being woken up by neighbours. Our neighbour used to get up at 3 (we know this because hed leave his car iddling 😡) and we have shift workers and that never bothered her.

She's a house cat although she does have supervised access to the garden.

So I don't know why she's suddenly being such a pain at this time in the morning. Any ideas? Any suggestions on how to deal with it? As I say, its just breakfast.

It definitely does seem you’re shutting down any kind of suggestions here. I know you say your cats never done it before, but as cats get older, they can have disrupted sleeping patterns. So many things like other people have suggested could be the cause - hunger, boredom, the fact it is lighter in the morning, temperature or it could be an underlying medical condition. At the end of the day, I think the best advice would be to get a professional opinion if you’re not happy with the replies here.

There is literally the same time period between breakfast and tea as there is super and breakfast. We don't get this behaviour around tea. If it was low blood sugar, wouldn't she be pestering for tea early in the same way she is breakfast?

She has no other signs of diabetes. We actively monitor her water intake and litter tray because she gets recurrent UTIs so we are very aware of any changes to how much she is/isnt drinking and weeing.

I was talking about the thyroid test being in November. She had her shots and a general check up in March and all was fine.

Maybe she's listened to one of those motivational podcasts that suggets leaping out of bed at first light and eating to kick start your metabolism?

Or, she's getting older and her sleep requirements and patterns have changed. Much like the effect of our hormones/ aging brains.

My sympathy! Our cats are a similar ages and also have become early birds. We can usually get an extra hour or two if we give them their last meal later but often I just have a bowl of cat food ready in the fridge, stumble downstairs bleary eyed at 4.30am to feed them and go back to bed and try not to grumble... the upside is they come back to bed full of food, content and snuggly for cuddles until I have to get up!

It's the daylight OP - by the time it's September or even August she will be going back to your normal routine. Mine drives me mad wanting to go out at 5 a.m. but in winter he's still sleeping when I get up at 7.00 a.m.!

Literally just the kitchen door but there is no heating in there (for the winter obviously!) or anywhere we could make comfy for her.

Ok. The most obvious explanation seems to be changes in habits due to age + daylight. I will see how it is in a few months.

She's definitely slowing down. She has dodgy hips and I don't think it will be long before we have to get some steps for her to get on/off the sofa/bed. The vet isn't concerned that her hips are any worse but obviously if it gets to the point where we think she needs steps we'd get her checked again rather than just assuming its age.

To be clear:
Thyroid testing in November 24 due to increased vocalisation. It was fine and shes settled again now.
Annual shots and general check up in March 25. All was OK
UTIs - investigated by vet and they think she has a short urethra so it is what it is. We know the early signs of them and can deal with 99% of them quickly and effectively. We also know when she needs medicine and get it straight away.
Bad hips - I cant remember why without looking at her records but within a few months of coming to us she had to have major hip surgery. She's not in pain but has to put more effort into jumping etc than other cats and can get uncoordinated.

You are too soft I would pop a cosy bed and pet hot water bottle in the kitchen each night.

Our vet recommended wheat heat bags for our cat with arthritis, she loved them. I got some circular ones off EBay to fit her favourite spots

I reckon it's the early mornings too - maybe, with age, she isn't sleeping as deeply or as comfortably, so it wakes her where it wouldn't have before? Even with blackouts, I reckon they hear the birds belting it out at 5am... Might be worth a little pain relief in her evening meal, see if that helps her sleep? Even without previous surgery, mine is getting a bit creaky in the joints at 10 years old.

That's why mine have always been locked downstairs, but I know it's too late to start imposing that on her, you sound like a caring, diligent owner ('thought I hadn't given the vet enough money lately', arghh, yessss...) 😄

I’d be splitting the same amount of food over three meals so she feels like she's eating multiple times a day.

Mine does this sometimes and I just stagger out of bed, feed her then go straight to sleep again. It's no worse than waking up to go for a wee really.

It is.

Our boy (and our girl before him) is shut in the kitchen overnight because of exactly this. He’s newly two with no health issues, he’s just a greedy “lark”.

We split his meals so he gets breakfast/lunch/dinner and supper, and his peak pestering time is now about 10.30am, looking for his lunch - which he never, ever gets before 12pm.