Okay, somebody tell me what THIS is ... my 4 mo. old male wakes me up every morning around 6 a.m. by getting right up in my face, followed by hard face nuzzling and numerous attempts at biting my nose. Of course, this amid loud purring. Rolling over in pretence of ignoring him is to no avail, he jumps over to that side. After about 15 minutes he curls up and goes to sleep. Is he going to outgrow this or what?

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2000

Answers

My Maine Coon is terrible about waking me up too. I posted a message here about this and basically got replies that said that I was lucky that he didn't wake me up earlier, because their cat gets them up at 4 or 5 AM!!! My cat usually is about 6 AM as well. He will meow, head butt, nip, and walk on my head until I get up. I think that Maine coons are just very sociable and love their people. I get the impression that my cat just can't wait any longer to get some attention. I wouldn't hold my breath that he'll outgrow it. I guess we'll just have to be glad that they are such loving sweethearts during the day too.

-- Anonymous, September 11, 2000

My cat Peanut is up with me every morning whether I get up for work at 4:20am or have a day off. It's just the days off when I want to sleep in!! She gets up on top of the tv set and is able to reach the window shutters and promptly paws them until they are opened!! She'll then jump on my bed and "walk" on my face, or go under the bed and start to tear the mattress apart under there till I get up. There is no sleep for the weary in my house!!!!

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2000

THIS IS A NORMAL, AFFECTIONATE BEHAVIOUR. WE HAVE A MAIN COON THAT DOES ABOUT THE SAME. SHE AWAITS ALL NIGHT LONG BY THE DOOR OF THE ROOM, WHEN WE ARE AWAKE AND OPEN THE DOOR OF THE ROOM SHE COMES IN AND GOES TO MY WIFE, LEAKING HER TOES, HER HAND, PLAYFULL AND HAPPY, BITES JEWELLERY, MEOAUS...ON AND ON. IF YOUR CAT BITES TOO HARD GENTLY SAY "NO" AND MOVE HER HEAD WITH YOUR HAND...SHE'LL GET IT IN ABOUT 5-6 ATTEMPTS. BE HAPPY IT IS OBVIOUS YOUR CAT LOVES YOU. SINCERELY, MIKE POPE / LOS ANGELES

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2000

Yes, jewelry too!!! She sees anything around my neck or on my arm and she starts to bite away!!! And, the noise, the talk!!!! Twirps and chirps all the time. I can't believe I was fortunate to be at the right place at the right time to have found her!! Can you believe someone had turned her in to the vet's when she was a baby and let her go?? I am ever so grateful to have found her!

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2000

Yupp. Us too. Peabody has even figured out how to walk across the alarm clock until he hits just the right button to set it off. He then sits on your chest (he's not yet 14 lbs) and stares at you til you pet him. The only thing that works for us if we're not in the mood for such a nice morning greeting is the most obvious, close the bedroom door. What do people without Maine Coons do in the morning?

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2000

They sleep!!! lolol

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2000

Closing the door isn't an option for our kitty. Caesar will meow and scratch at the door until you let him in. We adopted him (he was abandoned) at a shelter at around 2 months old...he still meows and wakes us in the same fashion. We have had him one year and 2 months now. Love him like crazy!! My hubby likes that Caesar doesn't like us to leave for work, he stands at the door trying to block it, then if you leave he paws at it. When we return you can hear him meowing on the inside for us, because he heard us coming. He is the best.

-- Anonymous, September 22, 2000

Yep. Our 6 month old kitten, Elaine, does this too. She wakes us up around 6:15, which is when my husband's alarm goes off for work. Shutting the door doesn't work either. She'll just claw at the door and stick her muzzle to the crack and meow as loud as she can. She just can't stand having a closed door in between her and us. This is especially ackward when my husband and I want to,um, cuddle... I'm glad to hear our Elaine isn't alone when she nips at our noses when she wants up. We use the constant feeding method with her dry food, so she isn't hungry in the morning. She just wants us to wake up!

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2001

My 3-year-old MC, Maya, is very sweet about letting me sleep for the most part--even through several bouts with the snooze alarm. But she is also an excellent watch cat--if I ever sleep through the alarm for an extended period without hitting snooze, she comes and touches my lips gently with her paws (I guess because that's where the sounds usually come from when I talk to her all the time?). This was really helpful when I was sleeping for scarily long stretches due to some kind of dreadful pain medication I took briefly after a neck injury. She's great.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2001