Creative cat?

This morning I learned that Odo is creative! He meow constantly, and he had developed a very annoying way of waking me up when meowing to get me out of bed didn't work--he would bite my head. The biting my head routine has been going on for a few weeks, but it wasn't getting him anywhere. He also tried hitting me in the face with his paw (no claws, thank goodness), but that didn't help him either. This morning, he came up with a new plan. He took a big chunk of my hair in his mouth and pulled on it, while using his paws to push my head in the other direction. He seemed to be trying to pull my hair off of my head! I still refused to get up, so hopefully he'll drop this new bit of creativity soon.

I can't in good conscience lock him out of the room since his meowing will probably draw complaints from my neighbors. Any suggestions on how to get him to leave my head alone in the morning?

I get a similar scene from Tibby and Willow - they'll sit there proding and poking my face and head. The only thing I can suggest is to continue ignoring it and hope that they get bored and realise it doesn't work (only problem being that they come up with something else equally irritating when you're trying to sleep! )

Just a thought, do you feed him as soon as you get up in the morning? Is it the food that he's decided that he wants you to get up for?

Maybe if this is the case, you could change the routine slightly so that he knows that even once he's let out of the room he won't immediately get food, he might (just might!) stop hassling you for it?

I am trying this method at the moment!

I don't feed him immediately--I tend to my own needs first, and then I feed him. When he started his latest bit of creativity, I had slept longer than normal, so that probably confused him and his belly. I honestly think Odo may be a little senile--he tends to eat a bunch, walk away, and come back 5 minutes later to eat the rest--as though he forgot he just ate a whole bunch of food. I'm considering at some point getting one of those auto-feeders so that he can be fed a small amount in the middle of the night. Since he forgets he's already eaten, I can't just leave food out for him because he'll eat it right away.

Cindy is creative like that too - and it's because she wants to be fed. She has walked on me, tickled me with her tail, stared at me an inch from my face, I can't even remember all of her little tricks. I've found out it's easier to get up and feed her, then I can go back to sleep, because she won't give up.

Odo definitely wants me to feed him, but I refuse to give in. He seriously seems to forget when he just ate, so I'm not going to be bullied into waking up just to feed him.