Question for my fellow cat owners

[kendallt]

I posted this on my FB but figured I'd post it here too because I need all the help I can get!

Does your cat wake you up ridiculously early in the mornings? Is there anything you can do to prevent this? My cat wakes me up without fail every morning between 6 and 6:30. He climbs on my window sill, jumps on the bedside table, tries to knock things over, etc. Is this normal cat behavior, and if so, other than locking him out of my room (which won't work btw cause he'll just sit outside my door and meow), what can I do to make it easier to deal with? I feel like I haven't had an uninterrupted night's sleep at home in years.

[Becca Bonneville]

In my experience a cat does what he wants lol. My cats always have their witching hour where they go nutso and run around the house like a pair of lunatics.

On a serious note...

Unlike what most people believe, cats can be trained if you want to try to do that. You can maybe try to work on a bedtime routine. Play with him to get his hunting instinct/energy out, groom him to help relax and feed him.

If possible, try to play with him during the day too so he isn't just sleeping all day as well to break up things more.

[nikkiARNGwife]

Mine do too..but my kids wake me up that early anyway so it doesn't really bother me lol..sometimes though if I get up and feed them they'll leave me alone after that and I can go back to bed :/ (kids too lol)

[Nutmeg]

Both of mine do that, too. I've had some luck by making sure they have a small snack during the night,though it doesn't always work. The only other thing that helped was when I had to put my instigator kitty on prozac for her anxiety. But she lost almost all interest in food so it had to stop.

[LoriJ]

yep, I am afraid that any cat that I have ever had just does what it wants! My Gladys is an early riser too but I always assumed that was because we are up at 6:30 to get ready for work and school so that is when her food is out. I don't know if I could train it out of her as she is an old cat but we love her even if she does wake us up on the weekend! LOL!

[mariewilcox]

Originally Posted by kendallt

I posted this on my FB but figured I'd post it here too because I need all the help I can get!

Does your cat wake you up ridiculously early in the mornings? Is there anything you can do to prevent this? My cat wakes me up without fail every morning between 6 and 6:30. He climbs on my window sill, jumps on the bedside table, tries to knock things over, etc. Is this normal cat behavior, and if so, other than locking him out of my room (which won't work btw cause he'll just sit outside my door and meow), what can I do to make it easier to deal with? I feel like I haven't had an uninterrupted night's sleep at home in years.

LOL - I had to laugh because of what you call ridiculously early I get up every morning by 5 am but one of my cats without fail will wake me up with the same routine every single morning around 2:30 am. He jumps on the bed and walks across my pillow behind my head then onto the night stand. He then proceeds to knock over the lamp and will play with anything on the night stand (I have learned to put EVERYTHING except the lamp in one of the drawers). He'll then go into my bathroom and scratch at the shower door until he gets that open, then proceeds to the doors under the sink. I get up and toss him out and close my bedroom door and fall back to sleep until 4:45 usually. If I leave my bedroom door closed all night he'll just scratch at it all night until I let him in

[calvinawalsh]

Our cats have a dedicated room they go into for the night. It is part of their "routine" at the end of the day. There have been some evenings when they go to the room early because they want to go to bed! They have toys and food available to keep them happy. For us it is good to know that they can't get into anything dangerous for them and they aren't outside getting in to trouble, we know they have a safe environment and we are able to sleep undisturbed. (Except for the next door neighbor's dog barking all night!)

[luckyme]

I have a baby gate up at the top of the stairs so my cat can't actually get to my bedroom. My kids are 5 and 9 now and don't need the gate, but the cat would paw my door if the gate weren't there so it will stay up because it saves my sleep!