Possible to change their internal clock?

[railntrailcwgrl]

Ughh, Storm is officially a year old now, when will she grow up? I have decided that with her opposable thumbs she must be part spider monkey! She woke up at 5:00AM this morning and literally started running hot laps around the house! I'm not sure what she was doing upstairs but she had something to bat around and make a racket with. Then she started playing with the baby gate that blocks off the stairwell for the dog, which is right outside our bedroom. Then I'm not sure what she got into but there was a very loud crash (but I didn't find anything out of place or broken

) This went on until nearly 11AM when she decided that it was time to take a nap on my leg. I try to play with her and wear her out at night before we go to bed, but it doesn't seem to be helping at all.

I've recently started giving her a snack at night before bed, I need her to gain some more weight, she just runs it right off. She isn't skinny but just a tad thinner than I would like her to be, should I be giving her lunch instead?

 

[strange_wings]

If you get up and feed her that early you'll just be setting the schedule for her to be up at that time - and you, too, every morning.

Many cats can adjust to their owners sleep and activity cycles. What can help is that you don't let her nap so much in the afternoon or evening (yeah... good luck on that.

). But other than that, it's live with it until the cat hopefully outgrows it. Mine have adjusted to our schedules, mostly, but I have older cats that the kittens follow around an emulate - so I get sleeping kittens in the morning.

And yeah, wearing a cat out may make them go to sleep, but it won't make them sleep for 8-10 hours straight like it does a human.

 

[linni]

I was going to post a new thread - but saw this one and decided to reply. I, too, have a cat who wakes us at 5 a.m. each and every morning!! Before we got 'Cappy' our mornings didn't have a 5 o'clock! But how can you resist a purring cat who comes up to your head and snuggles in the covers with you and kneads and purrs. And then when he's had enough cuddle time with me - he walks on top of my head until he gets to my husband, where he does the same thing.

And then the purring turns into standing on us, walking all over the bed, dashing to play if we happen to move our feet or arms under the covers to get more comfortable. He thinks it's play time. And then meowing. We have had our year and a half old cat for a couple of months now. At first I would get up, go out into the kitchen and fill his bowl. He would eat one bite and be back in bed with us. So, it's not food he wants, it's US! He wants us to get up and be with him in the kitchen where we all eat.

This morning, out of sheer desperation (It's Saturday after all!!), my husband took him out of our room and closed the door. Cappy kept pounding on the door. And then when we did get up, we noticed that he had peed outside of his litter box. Do you think he was just mad at us??

Does anyone have any suggestions??

Sleepless in Canada,

Lin

 

[strange_wings]

Originally Posted by Linni

This morning, out of sheer desperation (It's Saturday after all!!), my husband took him out of our room and closed the door. Cappy kept pounding on the door. And then when we did get up, we noticed that he had peed outside of his litter box. Do you think he was just mad at us??

Not mad, exactly. But he would have been confused and upset - stressed over being shut out. It sounds like he loves attention and really loves his people.

What happens if you grab him when he first starts nosing/pawing around you in the morning and you tuck him up beside you? Have you tried that? It's worked with a couple of mine, but they're snugglers.

 

[railntrailcwgrl]

Most nights we just lock Storm out of our bedroom, she sits there and knocks on the door for a while. Eventually she gives up and goes to play with a toy (or 5). I pick them up every evening and every morning they're strewn about the house again.

I do like that she'll entertain herself with her toys, my last cat wouldn't. Well she had this awful pink fuzzy lion head and the most hideous gray and yellow ram toy, lol.

She's gotten used to the routine. I go to bed and read for awhile and she snuggles and then when DH gets out of the shower and comes to bed out she goes and the door gets shut. At first she was relentless, but it's gotten to the point now that she really doesn't mind because she gets to come back to bed when DH gets up around 6:45. I NEVER get up and feed her when she starts to make a racket, nor do I for the dog. They know they have to wait for ME to get up and out of bed, haha. If I didn't they would wake me up earlier and earlier every morning.

I guess I'll keep up the play time before bed and try to keep her awake some more in the afternoons.

 

[linni]

But the problem with us is that we like sleeping with our cat! I would miss him and worry about him if he wasn't with us. I know, I know we are spoilers.

We're going to try to ignore him tomorrow. if he wakes us up at 5, we won't look at him, and if he gets insistent, we'll put him out and close the door and hope he eventually gets used to that routine.

Lin

 

[railntrailcwgrl]

Originally Posted by Linni

But the problem with us is that we like sleeping with our cat! I would miss him and worry about him if he wasn't with us. I know, I know we are spoilers.

We're going to try to ignore him tomorrow. if he wakes us up at 5, we won't look at him, and if he gets insistent, we'll put him out and close the door and hope he eventually gets used to that routine.

Lin

LOL, I like sleeping with the cat too, but the dog came first, and the dog is less fidgety, plus she doesn't attack and bite our feet under the covers. I don't know why but Storm seems to be a magnet to DH's head when he sleeps and he HATES that. He already get so hot, she's like a little thermal blanket. When DH isn't around and she sleeps with me she finds a spot and stays there all night. I don't mind sleeping with her then.

 

[merrytreecats]

5 AM is dawn, or around dawn, which is when your cat's internal clock is telling them it's time to get up and go hunting. Dawn and early evening are when they are naturally most active--you've probably noticed they sleep through midday. So technically cats aren't so much nocturnal as crepuscular.

It is therefore VERY hard to train them to be quiet and sleep around this time. Even if you leave food out for them all the time they will typically wake up and race around at these times.

1 year is still when many cats are very playful. If you have issues with her knocking over things, etc. I would try and pet proof your house to make sure that when she gets really rowdy she doesn't wind up hurting your valuables or worse, herself. no matter what you do, don't feed her at 5 AM, that will only encourage her to get up even earlier.

 

[railntrailcwgrl]

Thanks merrytreecats, she actually has been pretty good the past week. I moved one of the pet beds into our bedroom on top of the dog's crate and she's slept through until DH's alarm goes off at 6:45! Big improvement.

I most defiantly do not get up and feed her at 5AM I know that will just intensify her behavior. They usually get fed around 7AM when DH gets out of bed and ready for work. Some days if she's super annoying she has to wait until I get out of bed. Most of the time when that's the case she will lay back down with me and go to sleep again until I get up.

I've also noticed she does better if we leave the bed room door cracked so she can come and go. I think that part of her 'morning bed' problems were that she needed to go out to use the litter box. She really is improving, it's just been so long since I've had a kitten I forgot how much work they are, lol.

 

[phillygal]

I had to smile when I saw the title of this post. Would that were true! I just wish I could harness Buddy's energy level at 7:00 am! Unboundless!

 

[railntrailcwgrl]

Originally Posted by PhillyGal

I had to smile when I saw the title of this post. Would that were true! I just wish I could harness Buddy's energy level at 7:00 am! Unboundless!

I agree!

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

When Max was alive he would wake up every morning at 5 AM. We were so frustrated. Then we found out his previous owners had to get up early. Therefore Max learned to get up early. We were never able to break him of it. I think once cats learn something you can't change their behavior.

 

[lyrajean]

I firmly believe that cats given the oportunity will try to get you to change your schedule to accomodate them not the other way round.

I've found all my cats prefer to be active from 5am-9amish, nap from 9ish to 3 or 4pm, be active again from then until 9-11pm. It makes logical sense to me that small predators are actively hunting at dusk and dawn.

Some are more persistant about it than others and do more annoying things to try to get you to feed and pay attention to them during their prefered hours of activity (Aya likes to dig me out of bed at 5:30am).

If you give into them they will just be more persistant or expect you to get up earlier to feed them.