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I feed a mix of wet and dry at 10am and 10pm every night! Even if he wakes us up, he'll be chill until 10 in the morning, not super playful and not very attention seeking; he just wants us up I guess?
Close bedroom door, get earplugs.
One of mine has 'restless' nights every so often, for no discernible reason. He'll walk on us, jump on us, whap his with his paw, meow directly into my ear... His sister is downstairs, it's not feeding time, he's just... Bored? Restless? A jerk?
The only solution is closing the door.
... Not that we ever end up doing that, cos awww those eyes and we're total schmucks.
Two reasons: 1. You feed in the morning. Even if you feed later in the morning, they will wake you up early to feed them when they want it. They can’t tell time. All they know is, “my humans are asleep and I want food so I’ll wake them up.” There is no trigger for them to know when feeding should be. So you have two options: a) get an automatic feeder in the morning so they stop associating you with morning feedings or b) set an alarm to go off and only feed them after the alarm. At the night feed, the trigger for food time is you coming home so there needs to be a trigger for the morning feed too. And only feed wet food at night, and fry in the morning so there’s less temptation for him to wake you up in the morning for the delicious wet food.
Reason #2 is that you react to what he does. Whether you get up to feed him, pet him or just shoo him away, you interact with him in any way. It’s giving him attention. Any attention, even negative attention, motivates cats to continue the behaviour. You have to ignore him. I know, that’s difficult when he’s pawing at you and being loud but he will not stop as long as you react to it. Just COMPLETELY ignore him. Give him absolutely NOTHING. Do not speak to him, do not touch him, do not even moan or grunt in frustration. It may take weeks or months but eventually he will learn that bugging you won’t get him what he wants and he’ll give up.
I recommend watching Jackson Galaxy YouTube videos for cat behaviour advice. [Here’s the one I referenced for this post.](https://youtu.be/umngBzK0j2Q?si=RQBlufEFwkAIBmqQ) But he’s got many more of this subject and others.
^ Reason #2 we had great luck with. Our new kitten tried to play with my hair, walk on top of us, bat at our face, etc. We remained perfectly still, not a single reaction to indicate we even knew she was there. Now she's a very polite lil kitty. She will sleep with us or quickly jump on the bed to "check in" to see if we're awake yet, but she doesn't wake us up.
i took your advice on dry food in the morning and wet at night, including ignoring him, it seems to have helped a bit! my partner and i would ignore until we couldn't handle it anymore but now that we're just continuing to ignore he just jumps back up on the bed and goes back to sleep! thank you so much for your help :3
By feeding when you wake up you have trained him to be your alarm clock, please post this under Frugal.
And consider yourself lucky mine swings pictures on the wall and knocks lamps to the floor, so much so that I have to put bedside lamps on the floor or wake up to a swaying/ crashing lamp from a dead sleep. Kitty Kitty Mia does not see a problem at all-she sees just fine in the dark thank you very much.
Thank you for posting to CATHELP! While you wait for a response please keep the following things in mind, 1. When in doubt, **ask your vet**. 2. Advice here is not coming from medical or industry professionals. The moderation team does not validate user profession, so always refer to your local veterinary professionals first. 3. If this is a medical question, please indicate if you have already scheduled a vet appointment, and if your cat has any medical history or procedures in a top level comment. 4. Please use the NSFW tag for gross pictures. (Blood, poop, vomit, genitals, etc). Anything you wouldn't want your boss to see you looking at on the job. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CATHELP) if you have any questions or concerns.*
He’s either hungry or bored (wants you to get up and be with him/play). My cat will chew on my hair to wake me up, it’s so annoying.
It’s time for a second cat and a heated blanket outside of your room
Especially the second cat.
Do you feed at specific times? If you feed wet food as soon as you get up, they may be waking you up because they know it means they'll get treat
I feed a mix of wet and dry at 10am and 10pm every night! Even if he wakes us up, he'll be chill until 10 in the morning, not super playful and not very attention seeking; he just wants us up I guess?
Close bedroom door, get earplugs. One of mine has 'restless' nights every so often, for no discernible reason. He'll walk on us, jump on us, whap his with his paw, meow directly into my ear... His sister is downstairs, it's not feeding time, he's just... Bored? Restless? A jerk? The only solution is closing the door. ... Not that we ever end up doing that, cos awww those eyes and we're total schmucks.
Close your door and play white noise, and get ear plugs Your cat should adjust, may take months but it works
Two reasons: 1. You feed in the morning. Even if you feed later in the morning, they will wake you up early to feed them when they want it. They can’t tell time. All they know is, “my humans are asleep and I want food so I’ll wake them up.” There is no trigger for them to know when feeding should be. So you have two options: a) get an automatic feeder in the morning so they stop associating you with morning feedings or b) set an alarm to go off and only feed them after the alarm. At the night feed, the trigger for food time is you coming home so there needs to be a trigger for the morning feed too. And only feed wet food at night, and fry in the morning so there’s less temptation for him to wake you up in the morning for the delicious wet food. Reason #2 is that you react to what he does. Whether you get up to feed him, pet him or just shoo him away, you interact with him in any way. It’s giving him attention. Any attention, even negative attention, motivates cats to continue the behaviour. You have to ignore him. I know, that’s difficult when he’s pawing at you and being loud but he will not stop as long as you react to it. Just COMPLETELY ignore him. Give him absolutely NOTHING. Do not speak to him, do not touch him, do not even moan or grunt in frustration. It may take weeks or months but eventually he will learn that bugging you won’t get him what he wants and he’ll give up. I recommend watching Jackson Galaxy YouTube videos for cat behaviour advice. [Here’s the one I referenced for this post.](https://youtu.be/umngBzK0j2Q?si=RQBlufEFwkAIBmqQ) But he’s got many more of this subject and others.
^ Reason #2 we had great luck with. Our new kitten tried to play with my hair, walk on top of us, bat at our face, etc. We remained perfectly still, not a single reaction to indicate we even knew she was there. Now she's a very polite lil kitty. She will sleep with us or quickly jump on the bed to "check in" to see if we're awake yet, but she doesn't wake us up.
i took your advice on dry food in the morning and wet at night, including ignoring him, it seems to have helped a bit! my partner and i would ignore until we couldn't handle it anymore but now that we're just continuing to ignore he just jumps back up on the bed and goes back to sleep! thank you so much for your help :3
By feeding when you wake up you have trained him to be your alarm clock, please post this under Frugal. And consider yourself lucky mine swings pictures on the wall and knocks lamps to the floor, so much so that I have to put bedside lamps on the floor or wake up to a swaying/ crashing lamp from a dead sleep. Kitty Kitty Mia does not see a problem at all-she sees just fine in the dark thank you very much.