Early morning wake up calls!!

[KGustavson]

Hi all,
We have two cats which we rescued a couple of months ago from Cats Protection and our boy cat is very vocal, which is normally lovely but he seems to be waking us up earlier and earlier for food and cuddles! It has now got to 4:30am and my husband is VERY unhappy, to be point where i'm worried he's starting to think life was better without them!! (although he hasn't said this in so many words, yet!!) I don't know what to do. Am thinking an automatic feeder should help, as it's mostly food that he wants, but he loves attention and vigorous head rubs and strokes so I think he also loves our attention as obviously misses it during the night! A friend has told me about a cat deterrent spray which squirts a puff of harmless air at the cat when it comes too close. I was thinking that this might be good to leave outside our bedroom (only at night) to stop him from meowing at our door and waking us up at 4:30 am! What I don't want to do is make him scared of ever coming upstairs. Has anyone used these deterrents before? I am also looking at automatic feeders so that I can set it for 4am to make sure they get fed without having to bother us!
Many Thanks!
Kirsty

[Jacks]

Oh dear, I wouldn't like that either, Kirsty!

Others may have better ideas but I suspect that he is getting into bad habits with you, and that (as with children) you may have to put up with a bit of a tantrum but if you give in he will just try harder next time...

Would it be possible to give them a nice 'supper' as part of bed time routine? Ours have this (we have 'fishy supper' - a mini can of Encore, as a treat, so not normal food) and then some biscuit left with water and no food until we get up to feed them. They used to pester but with supper and no response to pestering this has stopped and the excitement starts when I get up and head downstairs!

I do admit to 'treaties' in the night = if one of us goes to the toilet we bestow little Whiskas cruch biscuits on each cat as a special treat. They only get it if we've got up for the loo though

After 2 months they're still establishing a routine, so time to change it, methinks!

[KGustavson]

Hi Jacks,
Thanks for the advice! We give them wet food around 7 (when we get home and they have their dry food in the mornings. So I guess 11 hours is a long time to wait for food (considering they're not like us human's, we have our dinner, go to bed and sleep till morning then have brekkie), hence why they're so hungry by the morning! So if I give them their normal wet food when I get home and give them something else, just before we go to bed, like another wet food to share?? Is that what you mean and as annoying as it is (and tempting to just get up and give in!) we should just ignore him and eventually he'll stop bothering us?
Thanks!
Kirsty

[Jacks]

Hi Kirsty - yes, 11 hours is a long time - especially if they have periods of exploring during the night. I feed ours around 6-7 when we come home and then the little wet food treat snack just before we go up to bed. Find something they REALLY like. It becomes like a signal that it's bed time.

Then I would ignore the pleadings and they should stop eventually...

As I say, I make sure there is fresh water and a little dry food in case of extreme hunger... but not topped up. They have dry around during the day when we're out. Some people don't recommend leaving any food overnight but I can't see the harm in a little dry.

[KGustavson]

Ok, I will give it a try!
Many thanks for your help, will let you know how I get on!
Kirsty

[Janey]

I get this a lot with my foster cats initially. I agree with the ignoring, after a week or so my latest foster cat has settled now and this morning didn't even get out of her bed when I got up! I also make sure there's some food down usually give them some wet food and leave biscuits to nibble on through the night. We also have a play session before bedtime so that helps too!
Best of luck, and let us know how you go.

[SarahT1 [PLLE]]

Hello

My instinct is that your boy is primarily wanting attention. Of our two girls, one sleeps through the night unless disturbed by us, one will get up and have some biscuits and go to the loo, but settle again till morning, but our boy crashes out till between 4am and 5am when he decides he wants attention. Like you, my OH is not as charmed by this as I am. I find that if I let him have a bit of fuss time, he settles and goes back off to sleep, but that's not very easy when it's OH he heads for at this unwelcome time of the morning. We even tried swapping the side of the bed we slept on in case it was a matter of left v right, but he still headed for OH! Since we do leave dry food down for all of them in the night, I don't think he's as interested in asking for food when he makes his regular appearance on OH's pillow as he is in having contact. Unfortunately, I'm not a very good example to follow here, as I haven't worked out the ideal way to deal with this. I get up and give him some treats and then go into another bedroom with him, and have a cuddle on the bed with him there until he's settled again. Unfortunately, I think this is simply reinforcing the idea that Mummy will get up and give me a special fuss, so I do need to break that pattern too. At the moment the only alternative I can think of is shutting him out of our bedroom once he starts to do this, which is a real shame, particularly since I think he already feels that his co-felines get more fuss than he does at other times of the day, but interestingly that’s because they ask for it more than he does then. He is choosing his time carefully, I think, when he knows they have their heads down! He has supper and he has play time (often manic playtime!) before bed, so I really do think he’s doing it for attention. Significantly, he didn’t do this before we moved house, so it might have something to do with a different routine in a new bedroom.

So that’s been no use to you at all! Just sharing Jackie’s view that it is about routines and we have to establish them on behalf of our furries. I read a really good article in Your Cat about doing this by ringing a bell which signalled ‘bedtime’ or ‘end of fuss time’ or ‘humans own free time’! There was a great case study in which this was working really well with a kitty who was demanding attention at night and it was used in conjunction with having more well defined attention times during the day. I will try this with our boy – to be fair to him, having moved we haven’t got much of a routine at the moment, as every day is filled with some sort of chaos of decorating, renovating, gardening etc, as well as normal stuff such as going to work, and with only our oldest girl allowed in the garden at the moment, he could do with more focus from us just on him, and without the girls pushing in during the daytime. Perhaps I’ve answered for both of us now!

Keep in touch with us!

[emmab]

Unfortunately we are in the same position with our two. Yu simply cannot ignore it, especially with my husband working shifts...it isn't an option.
I am still trying to find an answer to this. The same with us, in the fact this morning it was 5am. I thought they were waking up with the birds but the cats seem to be beating them to it! I keep them in at night, but have tried just letting them out early, but they also seem to want food. If I put a rota dish on for them I still have to get up to let them out! Tricky one this!!

[HRHFluffy]

Hi Kirsty. I really feel for you. I'm afraid I can't offer any useful advice. Like Emma and Sarah, I am woken up at 5am every morning by my little girl. It is impossible to ignore her, as when I've tried, her cries get more and more pitiful. It's not just the food she wants (she has food down during the night) but she likes to sit at the back doorway, door wide open, admiring the world. I let her do this for about 10mins then it's back to bed and she will then reward me by settling down on my tummy.

[Hazel]

Same story here! My OH works shifts though so is often getting up at 4:30 or coming in at 6:00 so I can't really expect the cats to understand when it's a weekend and we want a lie in.

I found playing with da bird etc for half an hour before bed then leaving plenty of biscuits down for midnight feasts does help.

[Willowgill]

Oh dear and I thought it was just us! At home Daphne sleeps with me (we're in separate rooms as OH has sleep apnoea and has a cPap machine) - she is no bother at all during the night. Alfie and Max are downstairs and the cat flap is open for them to wander in and out. Max doesn't go further than the garden as he's blind and as far as I know just comes back in and goes to sleep. They all have their wet food dinner about 4pm (Alfie possibly later if he's not home) and then they all have biscuits for supper when we go to bed around 10 isn. Unfortunately when we take them to our weekend place we have huge problems with Max who wanders around all night crying. He's not lost as he has the run of the place and knows where we are - he runs straight in the kitchen when I get up to him and eats a bit of food I give him - he'll settle down for 10 mins and then starts again. I'm sure he's realised that Mummy gets up and he gets attention if he makes this noise so we've also made a rod for our own backs by giving in to him. Still trying to find a solution - he refuses to stay in the bedrooms with either of us until I actually shut the door and put a pillow against it to stop him getting out (he has water, tray and biscuits in with me and Daph). Eventually if I'm lucky he gets on the bed and settles down for an hour or so - if not I'm sat in the living room with him at 3,4,5 am

[emmab]

Do you think this is more the case with the lighter mornings as well?

[SarahT1 [PLLE]]

That's a good point, Emma. Edgar is surfacing around the time of the dawn chorus, so it's rather nice listening to that, although I hadn't been planning to do so with such regularity!

[emmab]

Well we are in France, so close our shutters each night, so the room is pretty much pitch black! However,it doesn't shut out the bird noise, especially whilst it is so hot atm, and the windows are open each night!!!

[HRHFluffy]

I also thought it might be the light mornings. So I made sure every possible window was covered to disguise the light coming through. However it had no effect whatsoever on little Fluffy. Maybe it is the birdsong they can hear too which signals that it's morning and time to wake everyone up!

[Themogfather]

I dont get vocals but i do get a cat sitting on me while im asleep and poking me with her paw till i pay attention.

[Shelly and Dora]

I think I must be incredibly blessed!! Clearly I am, as I am mummy to Dora!!

Anyway, Dora being an indoor girl is extremely routine led we take about 10 biscuits up to bed with us, she eats those while I clean my teeth etc, then u get into bed, she jumps up, has her glucosamine for her arthritis, then gets into one of her 2 beds which are on my bed. This is probably why I am single. As how could I possibly fit Dora's 2 beds, Dora, me AND a man in???!!

We then go to sleep. Dora wakes around 5:30 but is SUCH a good girl. She will sit up in bed, have a wash, jump off the bed, go for a wee, have another wash then play very happily for about 50 minutes to an hour. She has lots of toys dotted around and her favourite game first thing is to knock a toy down the stairs, chase it, pick it up in her mouth, run back upstairs and repeat...... And repeat....... And repeat..... You get the general idea!

Regular as clockwork, about 10 minutes before the alarm goes off she jumps on the bed, gently nudges my face with her paw,rubs her nose on mine and meows to tell me its brekkyfast time.

I'm sorry I can't offer much advice around changing behaviours. Dora did make a lot of fuss when she was little (she's 6 now) but silly as it sounds I followed the Jo Frost child suggestions.... 1st meow etc I used to say 'its still beddies time darling',2nd I said 'still beddies time', 3rd I just ignored her and pretended I was asleep. It does take a lot of resolve to not give in but its worth sticking with it in my humble opinion!

Good luck

[emmab]

This morning Chamaille was awake at 0410!!!! I let him outside, but he chose not to go out but follow me back to bed! I think it was the food he was after, so I got up again and gave him a little, and Gemo followed! I only gave them a little, and they were OK. So they have put pay to my suggestion it was the dawn chorus and light causing them to wake up early. They didn't go out much yesterday as it tipped down all afternoon. Maybe the answer is tokeep them outside all afternoon, and set a food timer dish for a few nibbles at 5am ?

[HRHFluffy]

Poor you Emma. That was an early one this morning!!!

Have we seen pictures of your new babies yet? I'm sure we'd like to meet the new members of your family and also to see the culprits who keep getting you up so early

[emmab]

Chamaille is the black one, aged 1 year and has just one white whisker, and Gémo is black and white 8 months now. It was a 0430 get up again this morning! I got up and gave them a couple of croquettes and they were fine. They went out and came in and went back to sleep on the bed! Still not a solution for me, for the perfect nights sleep. You cannot be angry at them though...they are too loving for that!

[HRHFluffy]

Oh Emma they are both gorgeous Thanks for posting their pics. We can put faces to names now.

I can see Chamaille's white whisker. I have a soft spot for black cats and I've always wanted a black and white one too. I'm so glad these two have come into your life.

All I can say is at least they are consistent with their early morning calls!! Let's hope they break the habit soon. Since Fluffy has started her 5am wake up call, my sleep has suffered considerably. At least when we're all up in the early hours, we can think of each other and take comfort in knowing there are plenty others up at that time seeing to their furbabies.

[emmab]

Absolutely! I do not know why black cats get neglected in rescue centres. They have such character. I go for the ones that have been neglected more, as I think they deserve a chance just as much as others. If you find a remedy for this problem keep us posted!

[JulieandBarney]

Oh Emma , they are beautiful !!....My Barney always tries to wake me about 5am by licking my eyelids !!.....I work full time and my hubby works 4 nights, so as you can imagine, I get a bit tired at work after little sleep ! ...Now I just ignore his atempts at waking me....initially it didn't work, but I carried on ignoring his requests, as tired as I was, and now he will settle back to sleep if he can see he gets no response......very hard to do with a cat licking your eyes !!!! It did take some time though....x

[Hazel]

...My Barney always tries to wake me about 5am by licking my eyelids !!.....x

Ouch! Nobody needs their eyelids exfoliating! Clever cat though and well done you for not responding, that must have been difficult!

[emmab]

Well...headline news! Since posting these pics, Chamaille has since lost his solitary white whisker! This has been his recognition since we adopted him. Maybe we will come across it one day...or maybe he pulled it out himself

[HRHFluffy]

Julie you've got to give Barney some credit. As Hazel said he is a clever boy. What a good tactic of his to lick your eye lids. He's probably trying to open them . Well done for not giving in. Must be quite difficult to keep your eyes shut when this is happening. It's making me chuckle just thinking about it.

Emma that is a big coincidence that Chamaille has lost his one white whisker!! I think he's been having a read of your posts

[SarahT1 [PLLE]]

Coming back to this post to report that Edgar seems to have changed his routine - hopefully! Rather than waking up OH at around 4am, he's taken to sleeping on the bedside chest of drawers on OH's side and he doesn't start stirring until a much more reasonable time. Long may this continue! Hopefully Edgar has realised that his Daddy doesn't appreciate face prods in the early hours but he can still be close to him in other more welcome ways! As I said before I wouldn't mind if he did it to me and when he wakes OH up I just move with Edgar to another room to give him some fuss, but I have rather appreciated not having to do this for the last few nights. Of course having written this on here means that I have immediately jinxed it and Edgar will be back on his early morning alarm calls as of tomorrow morning!

[Willowgill]

Love all these stories - especially of Dora's routine. During the last two years of my late departed Harry's life after he had been given a death sentence of 3 days (take him home and spoil him then bring him in at the weekend to be PTS ) I first took him upstairs to bed with me. We then developed a much loved routine which lasted until just before he died 2 years later. He would run up the stairs before me but never quite get all way up until he knew I was following - he then had his supper biscuits while I got ready for bed and it was then a race to see who could get to the bed first - invariably he won. I always read for 5-10 minutes before sleep and during this time he would sit on the pillow and 'knead' my hair - sounds painful but he was really such a gentle boy and mostly it was fine. Once the light was off he moved down the bed and planted his two front paws in my hand or sometimes his little head and we would go to sleep like that. In the morning I'd wake up to find him sitting squarely on my chest gazing into my face - if I didn't respond he would gently pat me with his paw until I finally gave in and got up. He would then sit on the bedside locker patiently waiting for me to get into my dressing gown etc before we went down to breakfast with Max and Alfie. When I brought his ashes home I placed the box on the bedside locker where he will always remain. I missed him so much when he was gone so when Daphne arrived on the scene I took her up with me. We now have a very similar routine apart from the touching which is not allowed - I swear at times she's Harry reincarnated with some she devil mixed in She is also very good on a morning though and only occasionally bangs on the door to get out being quite a lazy girl she's happy to stay on her blanket till the sun is up!

[meriad]

I am realising more and more that I'm very lucky with my gang. Because of the layout of the flat the only window I could put the cat flap into was the bedroom one so there was no way I could sleep with the bedroom door shut.

But I'm also lucky in that my cats are grazers not gobblers so I can leave dry food down for them 24/7 so they at no point ever are hungry and they've never woken me for food. I feed them wet food when I get home from work; and again a bit just before I go to bed and also in the mornings.

But probably more important to me; given that I'm out the house at work for nearly 12 hours I also don't think it would be fair to lock them out my bedroom at night as well as that would mean a potential interaction time of 4 or 5 hours only which I don't think is fair to them. I love having mine on the bed with me (and admittedly it's one of the advantages of being single ) and actually worry when I wake up in the night and there isn't at least one cat in sight.

[hayleyrowe]

Hi Kirsty,

I adopted two cats from my local animal sanctuary just over a month ago and they were doing much the same thing! Some time between 4am and 5am, they'd jump on the bed, tap my face and meow until I woke up and fed them. They had a favourite spot in our bedroom (on top of the chest of drawers) and would snuggle up to a blanket every night, so I decided to move the blanket to the spare bedroom to encourage them to sleep there instead, and stopped letting them in to our room at night. They were a bit upset to begin with but they're getting used to it. Ours are fed at about 8am, then again at 7pm when we get home from work, but I also split a pounch of food between them just before we go up to bed and make sure that there are always biscuits available. It seems to have done the trick!

As rescue cats, I guess that they're still getting to know me, and settling into a new routine... which is probably the case with yours too. They'll soon learn if you keep the door shut at night that you're not going to feed them and give them cuddles... though you may have to put up with some tantrums for a few days!

Good luck

Hayley