My Maine Coon cat wakes me up every morning at 5:30 and is a pest until I get up at my normal time at 6:30. We shut the door, but he makes chirping noises, meows, and jumps on the doorknob. He is extremely persistant. Part of the problem is that he has to eat canned food because he has an ulcer in his mouth and he does get fed in the morning. I try to wait until I've been up about 45 minutes. This is just a temporary thing until he gets better, but he started waking me up at 5:30 before all this with the canned food. He just wasn't as persistant. Any suggestions?

-- Anonymous, June 07, 2000

Answers

Congratulations Jennifer, you get to sleep in. I have a one year old Shaded Silver male (17 lbs. last week at the vets) who thinks I should be up and feeding him at 4:30 - 5:00a.m. It used to be 3:30 a.m. but I'd put a pillow over my head and he'd eventually leave me alone for a bit.

We now have a ritual. He lays over my head at about 4:30 (Where do they get their clocks)? Then he'll move down on the pillow (facing me and start touching my face with his BIG paw.) I start laughing and he's all excited; he knows Im awake. We get up at 5:00 am (Shadow's choice not mine) and I have to have my morning coffee, FIRST. After pouring a cup of coffee, he runs ahead of me to the bathroom and lays in front of the toilet. When I sit down with my coffee he rolls onto his back and likes his belly rubbed. If I'm not done when he thinks I should be, he starts biting my anckles, inner thighs and even by behind. When I'm done, he jumps onto the sink. I (we) wash my face. He starts doing head buts to my arm and face wanting to be kissed. He grabs the wash cloth while I'm trying to wash and is purring the whole time. I think he knows it's closer to breakfast. When I turn off the water, he runs to the kitchen where he is finally fed. He calms down after he's eaten. No more biting but he usually comes into the bathroom while I'm showering. My Shadow! I couldn't have picked a more perfect name for him. He always has to be with me.

I go to bed around 8:30 or 9:00 pm. I have a baby so I get up early.

Linda

P.S. This goes for the weekends too. He doesn't change his clock.

-- Anonymous, June 07, 2000

Jennifer, I'm beginning to think that this is just a trait of the MC, our Victor must "wake up with the chickens" at about 5:00 every morning. The minute we make a move, or sometimes don't, there he is with his little meow and purring that sounds like popcorn popping! He loves to also lay across our heads and wrap his tail around our faces. I usually give him a gentle pat then he will butt his head into my hand a few times, then I let my hand go real limp and usually he will go back down to the end of the bed and leave us alone while we sleep in a little longer. He loves to crawl all over my husband and myself in the morning. Drives us crazy sometimes...but what a sweet kitty!! Vicotr won't eat canned cat food, so I usually have dry food out for him and leave the bedroom door open for him to come and go as he pleases, this probably helps our situation somewhat with early wake up calls. Best of luck!! Bonnie

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

I read somewhere that the need to be up that early in the morning is an instinct that they developed when they were wild and needed to hunt for food. The early bird gets the worm but the earliest Coon gets the bird. I have two precious babies and they take turns waking me up. Chilli, our little boy, climbs onto my pillow and makes fists with his paws in my hair and against my scalp. He is not declawed, so this maneuver gets my attention pretty quickly. Izzy, our little girl, goes into the bathroom and shakes the doors of our shower stall by scratching at the space between the two doors. I tried shutting my bedroom door all the way once, but Izzy gave herself a wound on her nose trying to get the door open. I've even tried leaving their dry food out all night, but have had no luck in getting the two to let me sleep past 5:30. Getting up that early wouldn't bother me so much if it wasn't for the fact that they are asleep by 8:00 and I'm wide awake.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2000

I can't believe you're able to get him to wait until 6:30 a.m! I have two Main Coons, brother and sister, one year apart in age. They start waking us at 5:00 by walking all over us. Hunter, the big (20 lbs.) brother sits on the rail behind our bed, (our master bedroom is in a loft above our living room) and launches his body onto our backs or stomachs until we move. He also likes to chew and pull my hair. If I hide my head under a pillow or pull covers over my head he thinks I'm playing a game. Anything that moves gets attacked. Maggie, his sister goes to the litter box, sits outside the box but with one paw in the litter, scrapes and scratches until the noise makes us move. She also unwinds all the toilet paper and leaves it trailing all over the bedroom and bathroom floor. If we close the bathroom door both cats paw and meow to have it opened. Who could sleep through all this? If I refuse to get up even after all this, Hunter curls himself around my head and I nearly suffocate in all that hair and sweat in the heat of his body.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

First, we need to remember, that cats are creatures of habit, they learn very well how to condition us! I have a part MC cat (my boy). He wakes me up every morning at about 4:30. He wakes me up by either plahing with the phone cord (the phone is on the night stand) I try to cover it with a pillow, but he always finds it. He chirps several times very loud. If that doesn't get me up, he plays with the door stop (that boingy thing on the wall). He always gets me up. The only thing I try to do is when I get up in the middle of the night, sometimes around 3:30 I add some dry food to the dish. Keep in mind, I have three cats, so they all feel the need to snack and of course I have to watch overeating (especially with the Boy). Good luck.

-- Anonymous, October 20, 2000