My cat wakes me every night

[Nettybags]

Hi , I have two lovely cats but I must confess I have spoilt them and now have a problem .
Tom and kitty are 10 years old and have always woken me at 4 am every morning for food . Tom pulls hair , meows and picks fights with kitty ( she plays along ) . Can't lock them out of bedroom he gets too stressed . I have tried food timers and they still wake me . And now they are on different diets it's even harder ..
Please help any advice appreciated two wonderful cats and a tired mummy

[Sad_CatLover]

I think it's hard because of the age they are now. I think the only thing for it is to break the cycle.
Could you try to bring the time forward bit by bit? Don't respond straight away.
That or just don't give in, lie there and don't get up and they will learn in time.
It's very hard though!!

Are they still active or is it just attention that they want, are they lap cats?

[geckodiva]

My lot are used to me either going out or coming in at 5am. So when I am on days off they still want feeding at 5am. But that is fine for me as I don't have to be up at any particular time later on in the morning.

I agree that you need to break the cycle. You could try getting them to associate 'getting up' with a light coming on or a (quiet-ish) alarm. And then gradually move the time the light or alarm comes on further on until you get to a more sensible time. I know it can be very difficult to play being asleep when you have cats jumping around your head

[Nettybags]

They are both indoor cats I think with tom it's all about attention .. Kitty would sleep through but tom wakes her .
I've just been to pets at home and bought loads more toys and boxes to play with I thought that I could keep them separate from day toys and get them out of a night and maybe that would help .
I think your right about trying to resist getting up to them . Its like a little alarm goes off inside him always at 4 am on the dot .

Do you think it's possible to break this pattern at their age ?

Thanks all the help x

[lilynmitz]

Can you leave some food down for them overnight - possibly in a timed feeder if they wolf it down all at once? I make sure there's always food down at night and never get pestered in the morning, and none of my lot have ended up overweight as a result.

[Nettybags]

Thank you for all your advice ... Still trying to lay still and ignore tom so he has taken to sleep around my head lol . Will keep you posted if I win the battle x