How to stop the 6 am concert?

silverpersian

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Dec 16, 2013
Messages
342
Purraise
33
Location
Midwest - US
I read the other thread on this forum hoping to find relevant advice. It seems like our problems are quite different.

We have a rescue kitty who is food-obsessed. We had her spayed as soon as we found her. There are no stray cats or anything else around.

She starts howling at 6 am. We ignore her, because she does it to get us out of bed and in the kitchen to feed her.

Then she starts scratching up the sofa in our bedroom. I am 100% sure that she does it on purpose, because that is the only time she scratches anything other than her scratching posts.

We have been picking her up and giving her a timeout in the laundry room until 7:30 or so, when we are ready to feed her. Needless to say, it is annoying.

I know that the best reaction is no reaction, but she tears up the sofa unless we give her the time out. I am sure that she will scratch up something else to get our attention if we close the bedroom door. She's used to sleeping at the foot of our bed.

She starts howling at 6 pm too, but that's less annoying because we are awake and feed her around 6 pm anyway.

Any ideas for how to stop the morning performance? She is a very stubborn and smart cat. Our other cat is very well-behaved, so have no experience to rely on for her antics.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

silverpersian

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Dec 16, 2013
Messages
342
Purraise
33
Location
Midwest - US
Thanks for responding. She's raw fed, so the automatic feeder would be complicated to use without making a mess.
 

neely

May the purr be with you
Veteran
Joined
Dec 22, 2005
Messages
19,637
Purraise
47,805
I don't mean to joke but you're lucky she doesn't wake you up earlier. 
  I'm guessing it starts to get light out approx. at that time.  Our cat instinctively knows to wake us up when the slightest ray of daylight comes in or he hears the birds.  Since you said "we" in your post, would it be possible for the other person and you to alternate feeding her?  My husband and I do this most mornings.  I guess I'm a softie and just accept that feeding our persian will satisfy everyone. 
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

silverpersian

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Dec 16, 2013
Messages
342
Purraise
33
Location
Midwest - US
Haha! You are right! It could be worse!

I am NOT a morning person, to the extent that I plan to have that carved on my tombstone ;-)

My poor husband feeds the cats every morning.

You are confirming what I suspected: that the concert will stop only if the performer is fed :-)


I don't mean to joke but you're lucky she doesn't wake you up earlier. ;)   I'm guessing it starts to get light out approx. at that time.  Our cat instinctively knows to wake us up when the slightest ray of daylight comes in or he hears the birds.  Since you said "we" in your post, would it be possible for the other person and you to alternate feeding her?  My husband and I do this most mornings.  I guess I'm a softie and just accept that feeding our persian will satisfy everyone. :bigwink:
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

silverpersian

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Dec 16, 2013
Messages
342
Purraise
33
Location
Midwest - US
That is a great idea! I will look into freeze-dried raw. I guess a few treats might work as well.

I actually have students working on a feeder. We were originally planning to have it open only for a specific cat, but we can add the timer functionality as well.


What about a small automatically fed meal of freeze dried raw at like 5:30am?
 
Top