My Fat Man is driving me crazy in the early AM!!!!

Ok here is the scoop. My fat poly Tiger (6 years old) is being such a naughty nuisance in the morning and I dont know what to do to stop him. It seems he gets enjoyment out of keeping me from sleep. Between the hours of 4am - 6am EVERY day he meows non-stop and loudly, he goes and tries to attack Osiris under the door (they are seperated because they dont get along.... Osiris has his own room), he consistantly is scratching and banging on the closet doors and making any other loud noise he can think of. Every time I tell him to knock it off he does it again. I usually give him three chances and then I put him in the second bathroom until I wake up. As soon as I do this he is meowing up a storm and repeatedly making the door stopper go BOING. He will make the door stopper go boing about 5 times in a row. I hate doing this to him but I NEED the sleep. Im an insomniac already and on meds that disturb my sleeping ability. What can I do to get this bugger under control. If I close the door to the bedroom he starts scratching at that too. I live in apartment that bent the rules and let me have clawed kitties cuz I told them they are not destructive and here my fat man is tearing up the place. Im almost at the point where I want to try soft claws but his dad (his actual owner) wont let me...

I know he is hungry but he has been on a set schedule of getting fed at 6:15 am everyday and Im not bending the rules for him because the chunker cant wait. He acts like Im starving him or something. I dont want to give in and start feeding him earlier because then he'll start acting up even earlier in the AM. Crazy cat. What to do?

Does he not get any other food at all all day? Even if he's on a restricted calorie diet, there must be some way you can divvy it up to let him have a snack before bed, which might just help a little. Going 24 hrs with nothing (else) is hard!

I usually put food out once during the day and he usually doesnt finish his food till about 6pm. He kind of takes his time on that aspect, he gets more than enough food however it isnt split into two different feedings. So I guess he goes without food a max of twelve hours. I suppose I could give him a smaller portion in the day and the other half at night.

My guess....

Put food out for him right at bedtime. If it's dry food, put enough to carry him over to the next afternoon, so that he stops associating you waking up with him getting food.

Originally Posted by trixie23

Every time I tell him to knock it off he does it again.

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Which sounds like a logical reaction. But unfortunately by doing this you are actually reinforcing his behavior, because you are giving him the attention that he apparently craves (in addition to food). Sometimes with animals and children, negative attention is preferable to no attention at all. Sounds like that might be what is going on here.

Others may not agree, but personally I would put him in the second bathroom right off the bat, with enough food to carry him until the morning, water and a litter box. I know that you said that you have a set feeding schedule, but at least this way you can see how much of an impact a little bit of food will have on his behavior. If his inopportune disruptive behavior is largely food driven, this may very well solve the problem --- and then you wouldn't have to confine him in the second bathroom any longer.

I'm also a fan of a white noise machine for the bedroom, which will drown out loud meowing and the BOINGs.