4:30 every morning

I have had Twitch for 2 1/2 years. At first, he never bothered me in the middle of the night. He would sleep at the end of my bed and be terrific. When we moved in with my husband he started pawing at the mirror at about 2 a.m. to get attention and it got so bad we got a second cat to keep him company through the night.

For almost two years, we slept through the night with being woken up just a few times, usually just because they were extra rambunctious and knocked something over.

For the past 6 weeks though, Twitch has been scratching my husbands grandmothers rocking chair at 4:30 every morning. If we ignore him, he keeps going until our alarm goes off at 5. If we acknowledge it, he keeps doing it. His grandmother passed away over a year ago and that is when we got the chair, we haven't moved it. We still have the second cat. But when we move the chair into the bathroom and close the door, we sleep through the night.

What is going on?

I would guess maybe he doesn't like the chair. It smells strange to him so he keeps scratching it to mark it.

Since you've had the chair for over a year and this just started...it's probably not the chair itself. Hmm...Can you try putting a scratching post or one of those cardboard scratching pads next to the chair? Is the noise the problem? Maybe try putting it next to the chair at first and then, if he uses that and not the chair, slowly moving the new scratching item out of the room.

Do you think he's bored? Has anything else changed in the past 6 weeks?

First, Im trying to find the link on this site to post a question?? Any help? I saw your 4:30 title and I clicked the link knowing you are going thru exactly what I am some mornings. I have three boys. 4:30 - 5:00 and its scratching the walls, meowing, sitting on my head, pawing my face... You name it, they do it. Its their "hunting" time. Sometimes they sleep through it and other times they dont. Its just their play time. Sucks I know. I usually get up and give them their wet "treat" food and jump back into bed. But.....by the time Im leaving for work, they are all sound asleep. lol

My cat has a tendancy to wake me up about half hour before my alarm goes off or at the time my alarm is supposed to go off. He'll either scratch the wall next to the bed or actually sit by my face and bat my face or bite my arm to wake me up. Sometimes it's a pain, cuz on the weekends, he'll realize (somehow) that it's 6:30am and I'm not getting up, so he takes the liberty to wake me up on his own. How the heck do cats know what time it is? LOL

To solve the immediate problem of that chair specifically you could use double-sided tape for a while (until he realizes that scratching it is no longer enjoyable, heh) but if he's doing it to wake you up that won't really help... he'll just find another way. My cats are especially ingenious in regards to waking me up... they know that the fennec fox doesn't like them in her territory so if I don't wake up when they think I ought they go to the door of her kennel and place *one paw* on it. This results in the fox screaming bloody murder which I can't possibly ignore, and I'll come running around the corner just in time for one of the cats to pull their paw back and head-butt my leg. If it wasn't so darned brilliant and funny it would make me really cranky, heh. Shin-shin, on the other hand, isn't quite as creative... she just waits until I'm sleeping and pushes books and other things (once it was a lamp 0.o) off of the bookcase and onto my head. Also somewhat funny, because her expression is always like "I will now note the trajectory of -blank item- when propelling it toward the head..." =P

My male cat (18months old) is my alarm clock and it is 430-5am like clockwork, every single day. I have seriously stopped using my alarm clock because of him. He even adjusts to the time zone changes. I think it has something to do with the rotation of the earth.

He jumps on me and starts with a slow clawing motion, then if I dont respond he claws harder and gets up in my face and meows super loud. If that doesnt work he either bites my chin or jams his paw in my mouth and that usually gets me out of bed.

All I have to do is feed him and then I can go back to bed but during the week I just get ready for work. I used to be late to work and now thanks to him I am an hour early every day.

My cats have been great, they hunt all day until I bring them in about 10pm.