Tuesdays Question of the day!

Covering for Lauren today

As I have been up and around since about 5 and feeling very energetic

Question is

Are you an early bird?

I go to sleep late anywhere between 1am and 2am and I'm up at 5 and once I'm up I'm up, once the suns up that's it theres no getting back to sleep, I never used to be as bad as this, I've always been a late getting to sleep sleeper but since I moved out I'm up sharp and not feeling the need for coffee that often either, very bizarre I used to really need that caffeine fix.

This is going to be long and, unfortunately, some of this is going to be a rant. I apologize in advance, but at this point, I've pretty much had it.

(RANT) Our 19-year-old cat, Bootser, has been screaming bloody murder now for years, early in the morning. She's to the point where she starts in now around 3:00. Every morning. It's been going on for years and the time is getting earlier and earlier. She's been to the vet; there's nothing wrong. She just wants breakfast. (Whisper, her Rainbow sister, did the exact same thing, FWIW) We've tried feeding her around 10 or so at night, so she doesn't have an empty tummy overnight, but all that did was make her expect her 10:00 food now. And she still screams. And screaming it is; this is not just a simply feed-me-meow. It awakens the other cats, and then the youngsters decide to play.....running back and forth the hallway, jumping on and off the bed, and so on. BooBoo is deaf, but all the commotion awakens him and then he starts yelling. Frankly? Mornings in this house are not pretty. Not peaceful. I dread mornings. I've yelled until I'm hoarse....and she continues to scream. I've ignored her, which does nothing. I've shut her out of the bedroom....she sits in the hallway and screams.

We can't free-feed because she will eat and eat and eat, then puke it all back up. And then eat it again. Trust me; we've tried it.

I manage to stay in bed until around 4:15 when I can't deal with it anymore. I get up, get dressed and start my treadmill walk....just for some peace and quiet. And I find that terribly sad, to be honest. That listening to music is quieter than dealing with that cat anymore. I used to turn on TWC while in bed to try to tune her out, but that awakens Rick, so that's not a good option. I've actually walked on the treadmill while I'm crying because I'm at my wits end with her. And I'm so tired.

Rick will get up and feed them breakfast, but he refuses to get out of bed earlier than 5:00. I don't blame him. But once I'm awake? I can't go back to sleep. Well, I can, but not much before about 7:00 or so. And I have to be to work at 8:00, so going back to sleep isn't an option during the week anyway. (The other morning, after the treadmill, I came upstairs and was sitting on the couch with TWC on tv. Rick left for work and I fell asleep. Woke up again around 7:30....I have to be to work at 8:00! How does one fall asleep sitting straight up on the couch???)

I'm tired. And sleepy. I fall asleep around 8:30 at night. If I don't walk over lunch on rainy days at work, I sleep. I've even fallen asleep during work. It's not a good situation anymore. And I can't deal with it anymore. (END of RANT)

I'm an early bird.

Yes I am on certain days. I am on the computer (facebook ) playing games til about 1;30am on some nights watching TV too. Then if my husband gets up early he is playing the radio and that wakes me up about 7.am. Dog the Bounty Hunter is on then so it's ok. Then about 1pm I'm napping.

For the most part, yes I am an early bird.

Not an early bird. I can stay up 'till early morning a lot easier than I can get up early in the morning.

Not an early bird. During the week, I stay up till after midnight, in case my brother needs weather information on the route he is driving at the time. I usually get up around 8 to 9. I take Ambien and if I don't get at least 6-7 hours of sleep, I feel like a zombie.

Wow Pam, I'm surprised to hear Bootser is still doing all that screaming.  I guess there isn't much you can do to stop it.  Don't have any suggestions for you since you've tried everything already.

I am not an early bird at all, I sleep till late morning altho I've been getting up earlier since I'm back from the hospital and rehab.  I had to call 911 on April 29th and spent a couple of days in the hospital and then 3 weeks in rehab, I couldn't walk.  I just came home on Friday the 24th but I still have some trouble walking.  I use a cane and sometimes a walker,  I cannot leave the house because of the stairs, not ready to tackle them yet.

Sorry, I'm rambling.
 

Pam- Have you tried a timed feeder? Maybe that will help the screaming?

I usually wake up around 7:30-8 am naturally (twice a week i get up at 4 am for my PT job). But I usually don't bound out of bed.. I like to lounge! When I do, the cats start to bother me, lol.

SwampWitch said:

Not an early bird. I can stay up 'till early morning a lot easier than I can get up early in the morning.

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I love 2nd and 3rd shifts! Getting up early is sometimes painful for me.

SwampWitch said:

Not an early bird. I can stay up 'till early morning a lot easier than I can get up early in the morning.

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Exactly me. I can not rise before 9am at the earliest. I've made 9am the cats breakfast time and they will wake me up every morning. I usually get up and feed them, but end up going back to bed. lol. I also can't fall asleep early ever, even when I am really tired. I am usually up until around 3am or later. I will never teach or take an early morning class. I worked for years tending bar and have never been able to shake that sleep cycle. I've tried to work on it over the last year, but always fail.

I am an early bird.  From around 5:00 a.m. on I'm at my best and although I like coffee, I don't need it to feel like I could take on the world.  Since I'm not the best at being around people, I've found that being an early bird helps me because I can get up early and do things I need to do before most people even know it's morning, and then be back home before the late risers are out and about.  Also I think I would have to learn to be an early bird if I wasn't naturally because my cat believes he is my alarm clock. 

Am I an early bird?

Absolutely not!  

I hate getting up early.  The earliest I get up without it being a struggle is 8:00.  My Mom and step-dad always said I belonged on the night shift.  

If you don't have to get up at a certain time,I say stay asleep !   I have to have my house completely quiet so I can sleep but in the middle of the night the cats alarm goes off. The whineing., crying ,trying to talk thing  (whatever it is)I can't stand it. !

I'm not at all.

Early bird! I'm up anytime between 545/615am! It gives me a chance to enjoy the sunrise, appreciate the simple sounds of nature, reflect on gratitude and pray. During the hustle and bustle of each day, I really need to have that time. My cats usually will lay with me when they see that I am up and just purr which is so peaceful as well. I can not stay up until 1 am though. 11p is my latest but I'm usually catching Z's by 1030p. I'm past my bedtime now

LaRussa said:

Wow Pam, I'm surprised to hear Bootser is still doing all that screaming.  I guess there isn't much you can do to stop it.  Don't have any suggestions for you since you've tried everything already.

I am not an early bird at all, I sleep till late morning altho I've been getting up earlier since I'm back from the hospital and rehab.  I had to call 911 on April 29th and spent a couple of days in the hospital and then 3 weeks in rehab, I couldn't walk.  I just came home on Friday the 24th but I still have some trouble walking.  I use a cane and sometimes a walker,  I cannot leave the house because of the stairs, not ready to tackle them yet.

Sorry, I'm rambling.
 

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Hope you feel better, Carol. That must have been very scary for you!

Draco said:

Pam- Have you tried a timed feeder? Maybe that will help the screaming?

I usually wake up around 7:30-8 am naturally (twice a week i get up at 4 am for my PT job). But I usually don't bound out of bed.. I like to lounge! When I do, the cats start to bother me, lol.

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No, we've not tried the timed feeder, simply because there are seven cats in the house. Bootser wouldn't get any food anyway because the other cats would eat everything. (And please don't think our cats are starving; they are not! Not by a long shot! They're pretty much free-fed during the day when we're home to keep an eye on things. And they do get plenty to eat.)

I have tried ear plugs, white noise, keeping the tv on throughout the night. Can't keep the cats out of the bedroom because they throw themselves at the bedroom door. Mollipop will paw at the door (and the carpet), trying to get back inside....there's a huge hole in the carpet at the doorway now and she's working on making it bigger whenever she's shut out of the bedroom. Once the cats are awakened, they're up and ready to start their day. But Bootser awakens everybody. A lot of times, Mollipop will remain curled up on the pillow with me, but when Tabby and Muffin get started, her curiosity gets the best of her and she leaves, too. And then it can get really ugly sometimes.

As LaRussa can tell you, this has been going on for a long, long, long time! Years and years. And I'm tired of it. It used to be both Whisper and Bootser, although Bootser is always the instigator. Whisper went to the Bridge back in March.

This morning Bootser started in at 3:10. So I've been awake since 3:10. Makes for a very long day and I'm exhausted. I'm calling again today for yet another vet appt for her. I doubt the vet will find anything wrong with her, other than the fact that she's old. It may be her time to join her sister at the Bridge. I honestly don't know what else to do for her. She is obviously not happy here anymore and we've tried a lot of things with her, short of putting her in a cage in the basement by herself all night.....and I don't want to do that, no matter how much I threaten to do so. But this has been going on for quite a few years now and, honestly? It's really starting to affect my health and my relationships with the other cats. And it's actually starting to affect my relationship with Rick, too. I'm tired. He's tired. And we're getting beyond cranky, even with each other. It's no way to live.

By nature, I'm a night owl. I much prefer staying up than getting up. Even so, I don't mind awakening around 6:00 or so in the morning, even when I'm not working. It's early enough to start my day and get things done around the house and still have time to do other things. But 3:10 is an insane time to be awakening.

I'm sorry....I truly didn't mean to hijack this thread. It's just that....well, the question was asked about night owl vs early bird and I just took it and ran.

Thank you, AJ, for taking over the question yesterday and a good one at that!

I used to be an early bird - still am, but not as early as when I was working with the horses. I was always up by 5:00 a.m. almost seven days a week. Now I am awake by 6:00 a.m., mostly because of Presley and Pipsqueak annoyances but stay in bed till 6:45 or 7:00. I would say that I am still an early bird though. Even on the weekends, I can't stay in bed much past 7:30 a.m.

Pam - I used to be in your shoes with my Winky who lived till almost 20. The last four years of her life the howling went on and off all night long. I would be the same way as you just getting up early to tend to her and then would workout before work - sometimes crying too because I was SOOOOO tired and dreaded the next night and the next after that. Seems to me that when any of my pets get to old age, it is so much more work (and at time a disturbance) than when they were young and in need of training. Elderly pets = NO ......... Right now, with Wilbur, I never get a good night's sleep. I don't have any suggestions for you either but it certainly does help to come here and "rant". :lol3: :nod:

Nope, I've never been an early bird.  It really depends on when I go to bed usually. Most of the time I try to get to bed by 11, because I know Angel almost always wakes me up around 7, ready for his breakfast. Once & a while he will get the "crazies" around 5, or 5:30. I will hear  "Mow?" followed by a "galloping" around the apartment. I just giggle from bed, & call him a silly monkey.

If I get up for a bathroom trip around those times, he will go sit in the kitchen, waiting for food, I just look at him & say, "no, it's not time yet,.. still night, night." He will usually come settle back down

in his bed until it's time to get up.

Sorry about the heartbreaking elderly cat issues. I've been there too.

One cat I had was horrible about the bedroom door being shut and shredded carpet too. A redneck solution I came up with was to put my step aerobics step against the door on her side. It was just the right width for the door frame and it distanced her from the area of existing damage.

I don't know a lot about timed feeders, so forgive my ignorance, but can they be programmed to go off multiple times a night? If so, what if it only let out a few kernels of dry at a time? More of a repeated distraction rather than a meal? And although pricey, maybe having one more feeder than the number of cats would help?

Thanks, Lauren and everybody. I thought I'd get in big trouble here for even suggesting that it was time for her to be put down. And I'm seriously considering it. For the record, I don't believe in getting rid of any cat for convenience sake. But at what point is it an inconvenience and at what point does it really become a health issue? For us, that is?

I'm simply exhausted. And yes, I have walked that treadmill in tears, more than once. Way more than once. Just this morning, in fact.

And I'm wondering if that's part of my headache issues. I don't know that it is, but you can only go so long without sleep before it starts doing funky things to your body.

Last night, I was in bed and sound asleep by 7:30. That's just not right. I have things I have to do at night. But I grabbed a quick shower and went to bed to read for awhile, but I think I hit the pillow with Molli and we both crashed. Rick said he came to bed around 10:00 or so; he said I didn't even budge and Molli opened one eye to glare at him for disturbing her  and then she went right back to sleep. Woke up around midnight and turned off the tv and went out to the kitchen to give the cats (including Bootser) their bedtime snack. Took me an hour or so to get back to sleep. And by 3:10 I was wide awake, listening to the screaming. So was Rick....and he's working OT. By 4:15, I was in the basement on the treadmill. And crying.

I know there are more important things going on in people's lives. I know that. And compared to their problems, this is nothing. But I cannot deal with it anymore. I just can't.

She has (another) vet appt on Thursday night.