My fucking cat

[Bernadine]

Wakes me up with his meowing every morning between 4 and 5. I'm about to lose my fucking mind. I'm exhausted, and I want to strangle him. I've tried ignoring him, yelling at him, and throwing socks at him. Please God, tell me how to stop this.

[mcmel]

What does he usually want?

Will he do it if you lock her up with her litterbox? Maybe he needs a tv left on? Maybe he needs another kitty friend? Maybe 2?

[Bernadine]

Nov 24, 2015 5:54:24 GMT -5 mcmel said:

What does she usually want?

Will she do it if you lock her up with her litterbox? Maybe she needs a tv left on? Maybe she needs another kitty friend? Maybe 2?

He wants food.  We feed him between 5:30/6.  If we put him in a room, he meows and scratches at the door all night.  I can try the tv.  We have another cat, but they don't get along.     We just got the meow-er in July, we're not open to getting another right now.

[mcmel]

Nov 24, 2015 5:58:51 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

Nov 24, 2015 5:54:24 GMT -5 mcmel said:

What does she usually want?

Will she do it if you lock her up with her litterbox? Maybe she needs a tv left on? Maybe she needs another kitty friend? Maybe 2?

He wants food.  We feed him between 5:30/6.  If we put him in a room, he meows and scratches at the door all night.  I can try the tv.  We have another cat, but they don't get along.     We just got the meow-er in July, we're not open to getting another right now.

Automatic feeder, girl! You don't have to live like this! Get a timed one if you don't want to free feed him.

m.target.com/p/aspen-pet-electronic-programmable-feeder-cat-bleached-linen/-/A-13966367?ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=13966367&ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Pets%2BShopping&adgroup=SC_Pets&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=m&location=9025745&gclid=CMWw4830qMkCFQMFaQodfQwBXA&gclsrc=aw.ds

[mrsukyankee]

Start feeding him as late as you can (right before going to work) especially if you are usually feeding him right after waking up - to him it means that I can eat when you wake up, so lets wake you up earlier. And a water gun. Use it.

[Bernadine]

He's on an all-wet food because he's diabetic, but I could maybe do a litttle dry in an automatic feeder, to tide him over?

And not feeding him as soon as I wake up is a good idea, too.

Thank you!

[verycontrary247]

Nov 24, 2015 6:36:07 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

Start feeding him as late as you can (right before going to work) especially if you are usually feeding him right after waking up - to him it means that I can eat when you wake up, so lets wake you up earlier. And a water gun. Use it.

This.

The cats used to do this when exH would feed them at like 5 in the morning. We switched and slowly started feeding them later and later until now- they don't get fed until 10:30 am right before I leave for work.

[cville]

Catballs did that every day for the last two years of her life. She was mostly deaf and a little senile so there was no stopping it. We felt for her, but it drove us so insane. I know how nutty it can make a person.

[alzi]

I have no solutions, I just wanted to say how awesome it is that you adopted a diabetic cat. It's a lot of work. You are good people:)

[Bernadine]

Nov 24, 2015 7:04:38 GMT -5 alzi said:

I have no solutions, I just wanted to say how awesome it is that you adopted a diabetic cat. It's a lot of work. You are good people:)

Tbh, we didn't know he was diabetic when we adopted him, lol. But we did make sure to adopt an older cat. He's between 8 and 10. So I guess we're like, half good. Lol.

[Bernadine]

Nov 24, 2015 6:47:04 GMT -5 cville said:

Catballs did that every day for the last two years of her life. She was mostly deaf and a little senile so there was no stopping it. We felt for her, but it drove us so insane. I know how nutty it can make a person.

He is older, but I don't *think* senile. He only meows like that in the morning and stops once we feed him.

[polarbearfans]

I find it helps to not feed first thing when you wake up or get home. The cats would be crazy in the morning wanting food if they saw any sign of life or when one of us would get home from work even if they just ate

[marcyiam]

I feel your pain. Ours free feeds but every morning would meow and meow until we followed him downstairs to watch him eat. Seriously just had to stand there and watch him eat and then he would come back up stairs and want to go to sleep.

Wtf.

We have temporarily solved it by having a 2nd set of food and water upstairs, but that doesn't sound like that'll work for yours.

I hope one of these suggestions works for you!

[Deleted]

We solved it by feeding him and going back to sleep. Kind of good prep for when we later had a baby waking us in the middle of the night

I pretended he was my back up alarm. I rarely overslept when he was around.

[Deleted]

Nov 24, 2015 8:14:22 GMT -5 marcyiam said:

I feel your pain. Ours free feeds but every morning would meow and meow until we followed him downstairs to watch him eat. Seriously just had to stand there and watch him eat and then he would come back up stairs and want to go to sleep.

Wtf.

We have temporarily solved it by having a 2nd set of food and water upstairs, but that doesn't sound like that'll work for yours.

I hope one of these suggestions works for you!

I kind of miss my old man now! I swear he just wanted to see more food go in. Or new food. Or assure himself I hadn't run out and was planning to continue feeding him.

[scottyderp]

Nothing to do unless you get an automatic feeder, but who knows if cat will catch on. My cat meows and licks my face. Scratched my face, bites my hair in the early a.m..

[Deleted]

My cat meows at me all through my shower, and especially when I get out. Like she thinks I am going to feed her right then.
Yes kitty, I am totally naked and in a towel, I will absolutely walk down two flights of stairs and go and get you food right.this.second.

She then tries to trip me at the top of each flight of stairs.

She's 13 and still going strong.

[prettyinpearls]

H's cat is an asshole and will start batting at our wood blinds or knocking shit off the dresser when he wants me to get up to feed them. (Notice I say me, because H can sleep through our house being bulldozed down). The best is in the summer when he'll actually manage to use his paws to turn off the light switch, thus turning off our ceiling fan. Asshole. I keep a spray bottle on my nightstand that I'll spray at him and he usually knocks that shit off.

My dog is worse; she'll start shaking her head to make her ears flap (she's part hound, they're droopy) or start banging her tail against the walls/doors in the hallyway. It's like she knows that if she can get one of my kids to wake up I'll have to get up and feed her.

Pets, man.

[notsocreepylurker]

My cat wakes me up at various times throughout the night because he wants loving. I've created a monster because I will pet him when he does this. But he gets all purry and lovey and I can't help it.

[VeryViolet]

My mom's cat did this. He was an orange tabby but I swear he was part siamese because his meow sounded just like that. He is lucky he survived my visits home from college. He never did it when he was younger but in his older years he got weird and would do it if he was locked out of my parent's room.

[cville]

Nov 24, 2015 9:14:25 GMT -5 poundcake said:

Nov 24, 2015 6:47:04 GMT -5 cville said:

Catballs did that every day for the last two years of her life. She was mostly deaf and a little senile so there was no stopping it. We felt for her, but it drove us so insane. I know how nutty it can make a person.

This is mine.  He urinates outside the litter box so he was put on prozac. Then he started meowing most of the night on and off. She upped the prozac and now its mostly early morning meowing. The vet said he's starting a bit of senility. 

Yeah, Catballs was pretty old so it wasn't unexpected. She couldn't go on Prozac because of a potential interaction with the drugs she was on for cancer. So we just had to deal with it. I miss her every day, but I do not miss the meowing.

[whitemerlot]

I have a 14-year-old Siamese and I have started filling her bowl up before I go to bed. She still howls a lot in general, and is pretty overweight. I'm just trying to make it through without killing her. She's always been loud, and has a friend, but she's an annoying animal.

[emoflamingo]

My cat does the same thing. She was a stray and I have had her for 16 years. She was diagnosed with kidney failure 3 years ago AND has teeth issues so she is on expensive ass wet food with no dry food option. H feeds her before he leaves for work but she is still up meowing at 4am. Godspeed!

[lovesherheels]

Our kitty that had kidney issues did this for a while when we transitioned him to wet food. We kept out our gravity feeder with dry food which he had access to all day and we did as others have suggested: pushed back the time he ate. We had to do it gradually, but eventually it worked. Now, it didn't stop him from meowing about wanting food in the mornings, but it did get him to wait until later in the mornings to start begging.

Good luck. Cats would be easier if they could just use words instead of meow at 4 a.m.

[tacosforlife]

I am no help because we've been trying to figure this out for 7 years now.

Fatty is just a needy motherfucker who gets very upset once we've ignored him for 6 solid hours. Then he's like, "Hey, assholes, pet me while I eat your hair! MEOW MEOW MEOW! MEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOW!"

[Deleted]

I'm very tempted to build such a thing.

[kellykapowski]

Our cat does this too. Except she scratches at the bedroom door in addition to the meowing. She just wants to be let in so she can sit at the foot of the bed. No other damn reason besides that!

We have tried leaving the door open throughout the night so she can come and go as she pleases, but one of her favorite things is to scratch at our sliding glass door for funsies. It's, like, a game for her. So we either let her in the room and have her scratching the glass door at 2 in the morning, or lock her out and have her scratching at the door at 5:30 in the morning. We chose 5:30.

Fucking cats. Those cuddly assholes.

[marcyiam]

Nov 24, 2015 9:14:46 GMT -5 @randomcdn said:

Nov 24, 2015 8:14:22 GMT -5 marcyiam said:

I feel your pain. Ours free feeds but every morning would meow and meow until we followed him downstairs to watch him eat. Seriously just had to stand there and watch him eat and then he would come back up stairs and want to go to sleep.

Wtf.

We have temporarily solved it by having a 2nd set of food and water upstairs, but that doesn't sound like that'll work for yours.

I hope one of these suggestions works for you!

I kind of miss my old man now! I swear he just wanted to see more food go in. Or new food. Or assure himself I hadn't run out and was planning to continue feeding him.

Would you like mine?  

He is also fond of peeing on anything you leave on the floor.  Especially toy bins.  Or in any closet you may accidentally leave the door open to.  Good times.

[blackcat]

We started giving our two cats a nighttime "snack" around 10pm because of two reasons: one, to cut down on the super early morning wake-up attempts, and two, because my older cat was throwing up bile in the middle of the night, so now they have something in their stomachs and it's helped both issues tremendously. I give them each about a tbsp of grain free kibble.

[Deleted]

Nov 24, 2015 13:20:29 GMT -5 marcyiam said:

Nov 24, 2015 9:14:46 GMT -5 @randomcdn said:

I kind of miss my old man now! I swear he just wanted to see more food go in. Or new food. Or assure himself I hadn't run out and was planning to continue feeding him.

Would you like mine?  

He is also fond of peeing on anything you leave on the floor.  Especially toy bins.  Or in any closet you may accidentally leave the door open to.  Good times.

Oh darn! That moment has passed. Also, I've determined most cats are assholes only their mom can love. He's your baby