Crying - new behavior

George, now 5.5 yrs old has just recently started "crying" in the morning. It's way more than just talking to try to get me to wake up. When I ignore him, he moves on to trying to open the hallway linen closet door by pawing it and what he actually does is bang the door over and over... This has only been going on for the past few weeks, starting around the holidays I think. He'll start this around 5am which I can usually hold him off until I actually get up during the work week. It's the weekends that are driving me crazy... Even after I get up and give him attention, he continues to cry for a while. Then he goes to take his morning nap!!!!

He's always been an "only" so even tho I've thought of getting him a friend I'm not sure how he'd actually react. And, at the moment, don't really have the time to try to introduce a new cat into the family.

Toys are always out for him, as is some dry food and water.

I think I'll go bother him while he's napping - just to "get back at him"...

I wonder if he isn't bored - having toys 'around' ain't much good if no one plays with him. I always leave my linen closet open, because one of my babies likes to nap there - would that be unacceptable to you?

Awww George is so cute! my Teddy looks exactly like him except a bit lighter. What breed is George? I have this same problem but my Teddy is only 3.5 mths old. Whenever I go in a different room (eg going to sleep) and shut the door, without fail, he cries for about 10-15 mins then goes off to do his own thing. Any pointers on how I can stop him crying for that first block of time? He always has toys, food, water etc and I play with him every waking moment of the day when im not at work. It's like he never sleeps! lol

Yeah, sounds like some one knows how to get your attention and wake you up......Maia is getting very good at this her self. She's only almost 2, but testing out the different ways to actually get me out of bed every time! I have found the best thing to do is to secure or remove things they like to focus on and make a lot of noise with before going to bed, definite good physical play time before bed, and an occasional pillow toss at her when she tries to start doing her routine!

George (he's part Maine Coon) let me sleep all night and didn't try to wake me up!!! I swear he knows what weekends are! We play before I go to bed - usually hide 'n seek so he gets to run around the house. The only thing I did differently last night was put him on my bed right as I was ready to crawl in. Of course, he didn't stay but figured he'd know for sure where I went. He does usually sleep on my bed and last night he was there most of the night. I am sooo happy that he let me sleep all night!

If there is a change in behavior, do you think maybe he's not feeling well? You can always do a quick vet check to make sure he's not complaining to you about a physical problem.

I thougth about calling the vet - but nothing else seems to be amiss... I'm hoping that tonight/tomorrow will go as well as this morning (my fingers are crossed). It could be that he was just mad that we're back to our "pre-holiday" routine - he was enjoying having someone at home with him during the day.

And he's ignored the linen closet today. It could be that he's hearing the furnace kick-in and he thinks that's where its coming from (it's actually kind of behind it). I do let him check out the closet but he's usually not too interested once I open the bottom door (the one he paws to get into).

It's almost bed time - we've already had a pretty good play session. Better make sure he is tired out before lights out!