Waking up / Feeding Frenzy

[noladeb]

I am at my wits end with my two kitties!

Every morning, EVERY mornrng, they wake me up to get fed. Not just a nice wake up either.. its anything from swatting the water bottle off the table next to me, pouncing on me, climbing the blinds, howling.. you name it, they both do it. So, I usually kick them out of the bedroom (4:30 am never is a good time to wake me up) and shut the door. THEN it gets worse. They body slam the door, meow and howl, claw at the underneath of the door - I've had it go on for over an hour.

Funny thing? When I'm out of town - my husband says they are quiet as a church mouse and don't make a peep. Sigh.

What in the world do I do about this? I try ignoring them (see above, it lasts for over an hour at times), feeding them later at night, not giving in, etc. I just don't know what to do. I know they aren't TRULY hungry as when I'm gone - they don't do it to my husband!

Help!

[MowMow]

Put the vacuum cleaner right outside the door, turn it on but leave it unplugged. Drag the plug into the bedroom under the door to a plug you can reach from the bed. When they get obnoxious plug it in so it fires up. Unplug it after a few seconds.

Someone on here suggested it and it worked like a CHARM with Book.

[Nan]

Do you give them a little food before bedtime?

My cats eat canned for their morning and evening meals, then I give them about 1/8 cup dry food before bed. In the morning I make them wait until I'm done getting dressed before they get their morning meal. (to try to keep them from associating my getting up with eating)

[3furbabies]

Originally Posted by MowMow

Put the vacuum cleaner right outside the door, turn it on but leave it unplugged. Drag the plug into the bedroom under the door to a plug you can reach from the bed. When they get obnoxious plug it in so it fires up. Unplug it after a few seconds.

Someone on here suggested it and it worked like a CHARM with Book.

I love this!! All three of mine hate the vacuum. Great suggestion. The cat will get the hint fast. Lol

[littlesushi]

Originally Posted by Nan

Do you give them a little food before bedtime?

My cats eat canned for their morning and evening meals, then I give them about 1/8 cup dry food before bed. In the morning I make them wait until I'm done getting dressed before they get their morning meal. (to try to keep them from associating my getting up with eating)

i do the snack before bedtime too and it has worked well in our house.

[hllewellyn]

I'm waiting until it's time for me to leave for work in the morning, which is 7 am to feed them. They still pester but it's not as bad. They hover around me, follow and stare while I'm getting ready...lol

[aniela]

I trained my cat by continually kicking him / pushing him off the bed when he bothered me before the alarm went off. Now, of course, my cat comes running and pounces on my face whenever he hears the alarm. Hit snooze and he wanders off and does it again when the alarm goes off again. I have woken up at 5 am to see my cat sitting next to me patiently waiting for the alarm. Creepy!

[Kitty-The-Cat]

My cat does the same thing when I let her sleep in my room on the weekends. Somewhere around 5:30-7 in the morning I get a wake-up call from Kitty telling me, in no uncertain terms, that it's time for me to get up and give her breakfast. So eventually I do get up, give her breakfast and then go back to sleep, though like you sometimes she'll keep trying to get me up on-and-off for an hour or more. But once I do get up and feed her she usually leaves me alone the rest of the morning.

During weekdays I don't let her sleep in my bedroom and she just waits patiently at the door for me to get up and feed her (usually around 6:45 in the morning).

I think the key might be to establish as predictable a routine as possible. If the cat knows you're going to get up around a certain time and feed him/her/them, they might not bug you so much.

Oh yeah, and leaving food in the cat dish the night before makes no difference. I think part of it might just be an "Everybody it's time to get up!" routine for the cats, whether they're hungry or not.

[Kitty-The-Cat]

Originally Posted by aniela

I trained my cat by continually kicking him / pushing him off the bed when he bothered me before the alarm went off. Now, of course, my cat comes running and pounces on my face whenever he hears the alarm. Hit snooze and he wanders off and does it again when the alarm goes off again. I have woken up at 5 am to see my cat sitting next to me patiently waiting for the alarm. Creepy!

My cat has learned the alarm clock thing too. On occasion on the weekdays when I don't let her sleep in my room, if I take more than about 3-4 minutes between the time when my alarm clock rings and when I open the door, Kitty gets a bit impatient and scratches at the door. But she *never* scratches at the door before the alarm clock rings.

[Mom of 4]

I don't know how I trained the girls, but they leave me alone (except to cuddle) until I get up. No knocking things over, no trying to wake me up. But as soon as I'm awake, they tell me how hungry they are.
The dogs are the same way - they probably taught the cats. I can even let the dogs out to do their thing in the middle of the night or early morning. As soon as they come back, I go right back to sleep, with no one bugging me.
Best thing ever.