How do your kitties wake you up in the morning?

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of my Gus's adoption! He came to me as a timid stray with beat up ears and only half a tail! And now... he has basically converted my household into a dictatorship where sleeping in is no longer a luxury that he will allow me to enjoy.

Around 7:00am, his initial attempts are gentle... he'll curl up on the pillow next to my face, purring like a jet engine, and will lightly tap my face with his paw. 

Still not awake? Maybe an exfoliating facial will do the trick! He will lick my face, my lips, my nose, my eyelids, and groom my eyebrows ferociously. Usually at this point, I'm in pain so I cover my face or flip him over so that his back is towards me. 

Now that he's lost his patience with me, his next plan of attack is ripping my hair out of my ponytail. He will grab a chunk of hair on the top of my head and yank on it until its completely loose from the elastic! 

So at this point I have two options: 

1) Wake up and give him cuddles and breakfast

2) Cover my entire body with the duvet so that no part of my person is exposed for him to nip and swat at. 

I usually decide upon option 1.. I mean, who wouldn't want to wake up and cuddle this handsome little gent!?

Happy anniversary!!!!   What an adorable little guy.  Funny about the exfoliating facial.      Welcome to the club--being ruled by our cats is a fact of life for most of us here....  

Happy Gotcha Day Gus!

Mooch and Noodles are relatively well behaved when it comes to the morning waking.  DH usually gets up before me anyway.   But if he does sleep in Noodles will sometimes meow or paw at our bedroom door.  They aren't allowed in our room because of DH's allergies.  If he shoos her away she generally listens for a bit.  I can usually sleep through this.   Every once in a while I'll stumble to the kitchen and dish out some food and then stumble back to bed.  But that's rare. 

When I was growing up I had a cat that would scratch at the carpet to come in and out up to 3 times a night.  I got so I could let her in and out without hardly waking up.  We had various tricks to try to get her to stop; but she never really did.  Actually; her best "wake up" trick was just rubbing on my nose while purring.  She had terrible breath.  Knowing what I know now; she probably needed most or all of her teeth pulled.  It was really bad!  If the fur and purr didn't wake me; the smell would.  Poor kitty.  I still miss her. 

Yay! Happy anniversary! What a handsome fellow! And such a good friend!

My cat will also lick me. He will bite any exposed limbs (gently, it just tickles) and he will also walk across my chest! If I pull the blanket over my head to keep him from licking my face, he will walk across my head! I always get up when he wants me to, lol!

Thank you for his anniversary wishes!  Funny the things that we exclusively tolerate from our furbabies.... but watch out if my boyfriend tries to wake me up before I'm ready, I'll be seeing red! lol. 

That's unconditional love for you... bad breath and all! 

With my older cat, MP, from 7 AM onward, I have a heavy furry lump laying on my chest who will nuzzle under my chin and knead on the blankets. But she's really good about it and won't actively try to wake me up until 1 or 2 in the afternoon where I end up getting bapped on the nose and walked all across under the pretense of her 'shifting her position', but I've played possum before when she'd do this, and she'll get up, walk around in circles, pause to glance back at me, and if there's no response, she'll just do it again.

If it's a hyper afternoon, though, I will get pounced and my hair chewed on.

Mama doesn't wake me up in the morning... she wakes me up in the middle of the night -_- She will wander around the house, doing what I can only describe as calling for me. She makes this verrry loud "BRRRR-OW! BRRR-OW!" sound until I wake up and call her. Then she comes and jumps on my bed. I can't believe such a loud noise can come out of such a small kitty. I can hear her from my bedroom when she's in the living room. I don't know what she expects night after night, I'm always in the same place! 

Congrats on your anniversary with your affectionate boy! I've had Mama for just over 10 weeks now and I really hope by our anniversary she'll have dropped the night-time calling routine. 

I had a roommate with a cat who would do something very similar -- except replace the "licking your face" stage with excessive kneading.

We had a system which I referred to as "mandatory cuddles," where I would pull him close and hug him (gently but firmly) to my chest until he struggled himself free. Then he would leave me alone for a few more hours!

Lol! Funny stories...

Good tactic, Minnaloushe! Force them into a cuddle and then they'll gladly leave you alone.

If I try to disturb my Gus while he's sleeping, he will only be tolerant for so long before he makes the deliberate/insulting gesture of getting up and moving about two feet away from me to resettle himself out of my reach. The little twerp...

My two boys, Sammy and Bam Bam, have a full proof-never-fail method--they stand, walk, and/or sit on my full morning bladder! They each weigh 15+ pounds---much more than my 63 year old bladder can tolerate.

Zoocat said:

My two boys, Sammy and Bam Bam, have a full proof-never-fail method--they stand, walk, and/or sit on my full morning bladder! They each weigh 15+ pounds---much more than my 63 year old bladder can tolerate.

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That's funny.

Zoocat said:

My two boys, Sammy and Bam Bam, have a full proof-never-fail method--they stand, walk, and/or sit on my full morning bladder! They each weigh 15+ pounds---much more than my 63 year old bladder can tolerate.

Click to expand...

LOL. That's great 

l'm lucky with two of mine - they're crazy by day and comatose by night. l literally have to peel the two of them off the bed in the morning and they hang in my hands like rubber chickens until l plop them on the floor.

The youngest one however is a different story. He's up early whether it's a work day or not. l had to remove all crinkle toys from my room because the sound is magnified a hundred fold before 5 am. He loves to get on my desk and knock things on the floor to see if they'll make a noise. Again.

She will sit at the corner watching me when she knows I usually get up and if I move to look at my clock she's right there poking her cold nose at my face. That doesn't work then she stands over me and meows and if that doesn't work she walks on me and goes right for my toes biting at them. If it's not too early then I'll get up and feed her go back to bed but sometimes it's WAY too early and I'll - try - to feign sleep.

Sometimes for a little fun when she's trying to sleep I'll gently nibble her toes back which she does not like.

Oh my goodness. My tuxedo cat, Ms. Kitty, is so much like yours. She sleeps with me and insists that I face her at all times. If I roll over she first gently raps my shoulder When that doesn't work she will pull my hair. If I still ignore her she will sometimes give a large " I give up" sort of sigh before she throws herself down against my back. It's sort of a kitty temper tantrum.

I love to sleep late now that I have retired. She is really patient with me. She stays in bed until I wake up and we get up together.

I wouldn't trade her for the world. I brought her in as a stray when she was just a couple of months old. She was as wild as a puma. It took a long time for her to sleep with me. I treasure it every day.

Happy adoptaversary to you and Gus!

My kitty wakes me by either pressing her nose to my nose or swatting me on the nose with her paw. But she sleeps peacefully at my feet most of the night. I really can't sleep without her there.

I'm quite a heavy sleeper so the only way they wake me up is my jumping on my face (Which happens more regularly than I'd like! lol). Sophie is still on cage rest (She's allowed out when she's not running around and things though) because of breaking her leg around 7 weeks ago, but before her accident she'd always climb up the curtains which are just behind my bed and then land on my face. Chloe does it too sometimes, but not as much now she's getting a bit bigger (They're both around 7 - 8 months old now) so hopefully it wont go on much longer! The amount of times I've been woken by a cat landing on my face and scratching it is unbelievable! lol

Haha, that's so cute! Kismet doesn't wake me up, but her inquisitive little murrrs might make me stir sometimes. She's very quiet and polite, whereas Mo (who sleeps at the end of the bed with us) will take note of the general time, get up and start pacing the apartment meowing and yowling because his breakfast is late. Once in a while, he'll lick my boyfriend's arm or shoulder if it's exposed. Better him than me - I'm way too ticklish and would be afraid of accidentally kicking him.

Jasper wakes me up by rubbing his head against my face, purring and smearing his cold wet nose all over my face. I've learnt to close my mouth real quick, lol. He also pats or taps my face which is adorable but not so good when a claw goes up your nose. All of that generally fails to get me up and so he bites me, and not little love bites either but sharp pinches that really hurt. He bites my pyjamas and shakes his head like he's killing prey. That's when I get up to feed him and thus he learns that it's effective. This routine can happen any time from 3 am to 8 am, repeatedly. Then he sleeps all day - little jerk!

I don't mean to, but I'll kick or hit things that bother me when I'm sleeping.  That trained the cats to let me sleep, really quick!  Of course, I apologized profusely when I finished waking up and realized I wasn't actually fighting off zombies, but the cats still learned not to try to wake me.  Walking on me, sleeping on me, and stealing my covers and pillow are all fine, though.

Foley weighs over 13 pounds so his ritual is jumping on my stomach or back or chest. that means he just wants to cuddle, but if he meows non stop that means he wants his fancy feast. and yeah is around 7am that he does that. no chance of sleeping late on the weekends.