Does your cat get up (wake you up) super early?

I'm a newbie cat owner so I'm not all that familiar with cat behavior. Do all cats get up at the crack of dawn, or is this a kitten thing? We have a 8-9 month old kitten. He is so sweet and I adore him to pieces, but he drives me a little insane from about 5-7 am every morning. He gets up super early and meows very loudly throughout our upstairs. I gather he is hungry, so I've been rushing downstairs to feed him. I realize that's probably not the right answer because now he is expecting to be fed at that time. Sometimes it helps. He'll eat and stay downstairs for a while, but most the of time, he nibbles a little and comes back upstairs and meows loudly in front of my girls' bedrooms. It's kinda cute that he is looking for them, but he does wake them up early sometimes. We used to keep him in our spare bedroom at night, but he started throwing himself against the door and meowing, again, waking up the kids, so now we've been leaving him out at night. He does pretty well, except for 5 am. Will I ever sleep past 5:30 again? I'm really hoping he'll sleep a little later as he gets older, like our dog, who now doesn't get out of his bed until we do.

Message edited 3/19/2015 1:27:22 PM.

Does your cat get up (wake you up) super early?

Try giving him a little extra food before bed. If my boys have enough food and water when I go to sleep they are usually good until we are ready to wake up. But eventually, he will get used to what your schedule is and he will be ok.

Does your cat get up (wake you up) super early?

He's still young. He'll mellow out. My cats don't move until I get up usually.

Does your cat get up (wake you up) super early?

I wouldn't feed the kitty at that time, because as you said all you are doing is training kitty that it's food time and they will perpetually wake you up at the time.

My cat will do it sometimes, but I will call her up on the bed, and just pet her and that will calm her down and she will go back to sleep.

Re: Does your cat get up (wake you up) super early?

Thanks all. I know I have to break the early feeding habit. I guess we'll all just have to suffer through a few morning of "Meow it out" to get him adjusted to new time. He will come up in my bed to snuggle, but sometimes it's only for a few minutes before he hops down to meow in the hallway. I had been free feeding until very recently, but on vet's recommendation, I started feeding him on a schedule now. I will try giving him a little extra before bed.

Message edited 3/20/2015 12:24:29 PM.

Re: Does your cat get up (wake you up) super early?

Ignore him. He's playing you.
Feed him a bit more, tire him out by playing with him at night.

My 10 year old will wake somewhere between 4 and 5am (I get up at 5:30).
Sometimes she is good, but other times I am ready to strangle her because she RUNS thru the co-op like her tail is on fire. She jumps on me, then turns around and bolts to the living room, back and forth.
We hide her toys, keep the bathroom door closed to discourage her from making too much noise.
She just wants attention and to be petted. If I ignore her, she lays down with me again.

No matter what time we go to bed, she rarely sleeps thru the night.

Does your cat get up (wake you up) super early?

My cat is about 3. I don't think he ever sleeps thru the night. He's not much of a meower but he does jump on and off our bed during the night.
We have food dish that refills automatically so he can eat whenever he wants. Maybe that would help.

Re: Does your cat get up (wake you up) super early?

Oh Jeez...I don't think I've slept through the night since I got my Sophia 12 years ago. Every morning like clock work its a 3 am wake up launching onto my chest to sit there and stare at me, head butt me, paw at my face. No matter what I did, she never changed this behavior (and closing the door isn't an option for me). I've got it down to nudging her off and she'll curl up by my side and then sleep... but its never with out the 'Hi Mom' first.

Does your cat get up (wake you up) super early?

LOL, so I'm not the only crazy cat mom out there who can't sleep thru the night.

Re: Does your cat get up (wake you up) super early?

Of course this reminds me of Simon's Cat

Re: Does your cat get up (wake you up) super early?