Tired CatMamaLover Needs Help!!!

[catmamalover]

Hello cat lover Mommies and Daddies...
This very tired Mommy needs some helpful loving advice! Forum mods, I hope I have posted this in an appropriate forum.  Please feel free to move it to a more appropriate 1 as you see fit.  I have 2 adorable sweet <3 cats who I love dearly, they are my babies, my best friends, and my sleep is very important to me and every morning like clockwork 6 times each morning, starting at dawn, they "drag" me out of bed to go feed them, whether it be scratching the wall and making noise to get my attention or playing with papers and things in my room to make noise to get my attention or better yet, sticking their nose in my eye lid or paw in my face with several very loud "meows" in my ear to wake me from a deep sleep with that strong "cat stare down" making direct eye contact with me, saying "hey, you, mommy, feed me/us NOW!!!" Wow, as exhausted as I feel, just describing this makes me laugh, but as cute as it is, it's stressing me out and I need help yesterday!!!  

They've had these habits for several years now so it's not going to be easy to get them to do something different, but I need to try something...Cali, my Calico kitty, insists on my pouring just a few teaspoons of fresh water into her dry food, not very wet, just a little gravy like or she won't eat it and Marble, her brofur, dark gray Tabby is usually easier to please, though he too is very finicky and rarely will eat his dry food without a few teaspoons of water added to it and I have to be careful because if they don't eat it immediately, it gets soggy and gross and I have to flush it...arg...I tried feeding them wet food once or twice, but they didn't like it much and I wound up having to throw it away, fortunately, it was 1 small can and it wasn't very wasteful...

I love them dearly, but I need my sleep and I need an auto-feeder or something...but I don't know which 1 is most effective and I need an affordable 1...is there such an auto-feeder that will work on a timer and only pour a few bites of food into their dish each time and then add a few drops of water and does anyone have positive experience with this and success? I know cats are finicky and creatures of habit and any change in their routine will take time for them to adjust and feel ok with it, but I need so do something and start somewhere asap!  Please help, thank you!!! <3 <3 <3

 

[red top rescue]

Just as we humans have to change our bodily time clocks when the government says turn your clocks ahead (or back) on this date, and we all do it, either losing an hour's sleep or having the darkness come an hour earlier at night than we are used to, I think you can probably change your cats' body clocks with a little patience and some good ear plugs.  Feed them a little later every morning regardless of when "dawn" comes.  Work the feeding later and later until they are on YOUR clock, not theirs.  And when the annoying behaviors start, you close them out of the bedroom, and you come out to feed them on YOUR schedule. 

I live with a house full of rescues.  They have all learned the rules, although a few have been stubborn about it for awhile.  They have learned that I am more stubborn.  As a result, nobody bothers me until I get up to use the bathroom.  If the sun is up, I will put some wet food on the plates (there is always dry food down at night and usually some left in the morning) and a bowl of dampened dry food down for the one who prefers it.  Then I go back to bed (usually) and have cuddle time with the ones who want cuddling.  If it's been a very late night and I don't get up for that bathroom trip until 10 AM, they still don't bother me because the bother was never rewarded.

Playing polo with things on the bureau gets one ejected from the bedroom and the door closed.  Everyone else can stay in & cuddle.  Scratching at the door gets ignored.  Mom puts in the earplugs.  Anyone in the room who is not in quiet cuddle mode also gets ejected from the bedroom.  The one that was stubborn used to get picked up and taken to the bathroom at the other end of the house and shut in there until I was ready to get up.  He's good now.  He's always ready for cuddle time.  Food can wait.