Cat giving me little bites to wake up

[PotassiumPermanganate]

Every morning at around 4.30 - 5am. He's lovely, and I will get up and take him downstairs to open the door and let him out, but then more often than not I can't get back to sleep. I'm knackered. But the main point is, is the biting just his way of communicating that he wants to go out? I find it all very interesting how they tell you stuff, as a fairly new cat owner.

Can you get a cat flap? Easiest way to solve this

Does he not have a cat flap?

I'd shut the bedroom door! Absolutely no way I'd be letting a cat rule my sleep schedule like this, anything biting me awake is banned from the bedroom forever.

Cat flap.

yes, he is communicating.

Ohhhhh it's a long story. We do have a cat flap but it's not very conveniently placed. Partner will have to work out as solution as he wanted the cat in the first place, but manages to sleep through all of this.
I was just more interested to find out the extent of their communication skills

Mine does this as well, generally very gently and if I don't wake up she leaves me alone, she only does it if she suspects I am awake or nearly awake - she did it when I dozed off on the sofa much to my sons amusement :) if she feels that it's about time I got up, about half past eight, she pokes my nose with a soft paw!

My previous cat would pat my eyelids until I opened my eyes!
Current cat only wants to snuggle and sleep and grumbles when I get up ❤️

Yes, he’s communicating! And it works for him because you wake up, which is the intended effect.

Mine will try licking my arm to wake me up, but if that doesn’t work I get the gentle bites. She doesn’t bite the rest of the time, so she knows what she’s doing (and she does it because it works!)

Absolutely the cat's way of communicating!

One of mine will tap my cheek with her paw until I stir and if that doesn't happen fast enough she will flex her claws.

The other one will head butt us and howl until someone wakes up.

The bathroom window (ground floor) is always open, they use this to come in and out, they also have 2 litter trays but they still like the attention.

There isna school of thought that because cats generally dont sleep dmfor hours (no one told mine that) or deeply, they worry that you might have died so they are trying to revive you and check you are still alive.

Personally I think its just cos they are lovable twats!

One of ours does this, but only to DH and DC4 who he has identified as being the Weakest Links. It's a gentle toe nip, but then he does enjoy licking smelly feet as well. Always preceeded by a lot of yowling and attempts at herding towards his food bowl.

Mine stuffs his grubby little paw inside my mouth! 😆

They have fantastic communication skills when you learn how each individual cat communicates. Mine currently has a collar on and we take it off under supervision to let her wash every so often. She’s quickly learned that when she wants to wash, she jumps on my knee, puts her leg up and mimes washing it!

Learning the slow blinks language also gives you a whole new way of communicating with your cat.

Mine puts a paw on my head and then tugs at my hair with her mouth.. it’s v bizarre and it would be bloody cute if I wasnt thinning already!!

My cat used to claw my scalp, now she just sits and meows in my face. (I live in a studio apartment so not much I can do). Good thing I love her haha

By shutting our cat downstairs at night (where he has access to a cat flap), we have completely avoided this problem.

We tried that, but its quite difficult to sleep through the sound of a >6 kg cat repeatedly bodyslamming the door. Or then climbing up to various first floor windows and screaming through them. Or attempting to, but misjudging it and slowly sliding off the sloped porch tiles clinging on with his front claws then landing heavily on the car/gravel underneath - all while complaining.

Not a sleeping thing, but if our tortie wants my husband's attention while he's dressing, and he's got his back to her, she'll pat him on the bum. Sometimes, she sticks a claw in 😆

Ha! Ours has learned how to open doors by jumping on the handles and pushing! (The lady who we got her from had to fit all her door handles upside down in the end.) If she wasn’t able to get in, she would howl and cry outside the room all night and throw herself against the door. (We tried shutting her out of the bedroom for a few nights when we first got her, and quickly gave up on that plan!)

Cats sleep against each other in the wild — they rely on body contact to know they are safe from predators. The cat just wants to be near you to feel safe to sleep. I’ve had cats who don’t particularly want to go in the bedroom and are happy to sleep downstairs; but I came to realise that our current cat really needed to feel comforted by having us nearby.

Our previous cat used to come in to our bed, sit on me, and pull my hair until I got up - all while purring her little head off. Less cute than it sounds at 5am! Eventually we started to shut her in the kitchen at bedtime.

We lost her to cancer last year and now have a little boy cat who was shut in the kitchen pretty sharpish after his settling in period. Occasionally if DP is away I think it will be nice for him to sleep in with me, and yes, it’s so nice to have him cuddle up at my feet… until 5am!!

My girl has a cat flap. It locks overnight to keep her in but is always open to let her in. She likes to go out at 5am and then sit under the bedroom window shouting until I go down and let her in. To get to this spot she has to go past the cat flap, climb onto a table, up the fence and jump onto the roof of the summer house. Much easier to come in through the cat flap but where is the fun in that?

My boy has a cat flap. He’s very much an indoor outdoor cat and has been since I got him 7 yrs ago. He also seems to be nocturnal. He’s allowed out whenever he wants since I realised (6 1/2 years ago ) that he can force himself through a locked cat flap if he so chooses. He’s a brute!
He still comes up to me for snuggles in the morning after his night time adventures, although his idea of morning often differs to mine. Sometimes he just wants to curl up beside me and sleep and other other times he wants some strokes. He communicates this by patting my face. If this doesn’t work he pats and meows. If this doesn’t work he pats, meows and flexes his claws. If I’ve managed to ignore all of this ( unlikely) he licks my eyelids as he knows this is the one thing I can’t ignore 😂 Good job I love him….

He’s trained you perfectly - bite the human and get attention!

Either shut him out of the bedroom, leave the window open for him overnight, ignore him or accept your status as cat slave forevermore

Mine paws me, it's very gentle but bloody hell his claws are sharp! It's his way of getting me up or getting my attention, the other way is plonking himself on my desk whilst I'm working.

Cats who'd have them 🤷‍♀️😂🙄

Ours goes out in the evening and comes in at about two by knocking on the window. Op would you not leave her downstairs with a litter tray? Sleep is precious!!! You can make it up to her during the day!

I think that if you don’t have your cat sleeping with you then you are missing out on one of the nicest things about having a cat.

A little warm furry body against mine purring me to sleep is absolutely lovely.

My girl leaps back and forwards across the bed using me as a springboard when she thinks it is breakfast time.

I have learned that it is best to do as she asks and then come back to bed for a top up nap and she joins me again once her tummy has been properly accommodated.

I love being her slave.

I sometimes think this is what differentiates cat people from dog people.
I want to create an environment which encourages communication so I can enjoy watching her be utterly herself rather than any desire to make her do what I want.

Yes, I’m generalising about dog people I know but that does reflect many dog people I have met.

I do love dogs (and horses as you can tell from my user name) but am essentially a cat person.

Definitely communication. Honestly just shut the door though. I love my cat but otherwise she would be exactly the same every morning if I didn’t. She has loads of other suitable places to snooze overnight, is safe has access to food/water/litter tray and then I am not grumpy 😂