# Cats meowing in the early hours



## southlondonmeow (Jun 6, 2012)

Hi all,

We're having problems with our two cats meowing in the early hours when they wake up. They're both rescue cats, had them for 3 months now and are indoor only cats. 
They're called Lassard and Mahoney, are both ginger tabbies and the rehoming centre think they're both aged between 1 and 3. Mahoney was out playing with us the first night we had her and seems to have settled in nicely. Lassard took a little longer before she was out playing, probably between 1 and 2 weeks. Both seem settled together now.

Both cats have always been quite vocal, but recently in the last two weeks they've suddenly become much more vocal in the early hours of the morning around 4am and 5am when they wake up, especially Lassard. We previously had the bedroom door closed to them and they've always waited outside the door till we wake up to feed them. However, two weeks ago they started meowing loudly outside the door and waking us up so we decided to leave the door open so they could come in as we thought they just wanted to sleep in the same room as us. Now they come in meow loudly then run around the room jumping on us and wanting us to play with them. We've tried using a water spray with sends them running, but all they do is run round the living room and meow again after a period of silence. 
I'm pretty certain that they want us to play as they keep bringing their toys in with them or leaving them at the door.

We play with them as much as we can, my girlfriend is at home more then me so spends more time with them, I tend to play with them in the evenings. They get fed wet and dry food in the morning when we get up and again at night before we have dinner. There is always dry food leftover so they always have food through the night. They are quite fussy eaters and tend to prefer wet to dry food (although Lassard is more then happy eating the dry). They tend to go to sleep when we do, but do sleep during the day quite a lot.

Can someone please advise how we can stop this behaviour as I haven't slept properly in two weeks!

Thanks


----------



## Lel (Mar 21, 2012)

It sounds to me like they want the attention and they are getting it. Sometimes cats are like naughty children; they don't care what reaction they get so long as they get one. Can you close your bedroom door to them or shut them downstairs if they disturb you early?

I believe it is normal for cats to wake early but my cat has learned that if he disturbs us too early all he gets is the door closed until we are ready to get up. If he starts to scrabble on the door then he goes downstairs.

I think the key is consistency, hopefully with a bit of time they will settle into a morning routine that's a bit more in tune with yours!


----------



## southlondonmeow (Jun 6, 2012)

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately we don't have a downstairs and we're limited in where we can shut them in so they'll probably still end up at the door if we shut them out of the bedroom. I think we'll just have to shut them out and wear ear plugs for a few weeks!



Lel said:


> It sounds to me like they want the attention and they are getting it. Sometimes cats are like naughty children; they don't care what reaction they get so long as they get one. Can you close your bedroom door to them or shut them downstairs if they disturb you early?
> 
> I believe it is normal for cats to wake early but my cat has learned that if he disturbs us too early all he gets is the door closed until we are ready to get up. If he starts to scrabble on the door then he goes downstairs.
> 
> I think the key is consistency, hopefully with a bit of time they will settle into a morning routine that's a bit more in tune with yours!


----------



## Munchkyns (May 11, 2012)

southlondonmeow said:


> I think we'll just have to shut them out and wear ear plugs for a few weeks!


Good idea. 

Perhaps they saw the recently opened bedroom door as encouragement to come and play?
If they are just shut out and ignored I'm sure they'll learn in time to wait patiently. It's probably just a matter of holding out & not giving in before they do.


----------



## southlondonmeow (Jun 6, 2012)

I thought it might be that we opened the door, but we only did that in the last few days and they've been disruptive for the last two weeks.



Munchkyns said:


> Good idea.
> 
> Perhaps they saw the recently opened bedroom door as encouragement to come and play?
> If they are just shut out and ignored I'm sure they'll learn in time to wait patiently. It's probably just a matter of holding out & not giving in before they do.


----------



## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

They are probably wakeful and playful because they are hungry for their brekkie. The mornings are light early now, so they probably think it is is later than it actually is. 

I understand you leave dry food for them overnight, but you also say they prefer wet food. I would suggest one of you either gets up and feeds them a fresh dishful of tasty wet food in the early hours. Or if you don't want to get out of bed then, instead buy one of those timer dishes, with 2 compartments, fill it with wet food and set it for 4.30 am or so.

Having done that, keep your bedroom door shut  The cats will tuck into the food and then snooze afterwards until you get up.


----------



## Lel (Mar 21, 2012)

I don't use one, but maybe having an automatic feeder with a small handful of biscuits could help, you could set it to open at say 5am and maybe that might keep them busy til you wake up?


----------



## southlondonmeow (Jun 6, 2012)

Thanks, I hadn't thought about the automatic feeders. I'll have a look into one. Any ideas which brand or product is good?

Cheers



Lel said:


> I don't use one, but maybe having an automatic feeder with a small handful of biscuits could help, you could set it to open at say 5am and maybe that might keep them busy til you wake up?





chillminx said:


> They are probably wakeful and playful because they are hungry for their brekkie. The mornings are light early now, so they probably think it is is later than it actually is.
> 
> I understand you leave dry food for them overnight, but you also say they prefer wet food. I would suggest one of you either gets up and feeds them a fresh dishful of tasty wet food in the early hours. Or if you don't want to get out of bed then, instead buy one of those timer dishes, with 2 compartments, fill it with wet food and set it for 4.30 am or so.
> 
> Having done that, keep your bedroom door shut  The cats will tuck into the food and then snooze afterwards until you get up.


----------



## oggers86 (Nov 14, 2011)

southlondonmeow said:


> Thanks, I hadn't thought about the automatic feeders. I'll have a look into one. Any ideas which brand or product is good?
> 
> Cheers


I now have one and no more early morning starts for me. I cant recommend them enough!!!!

Another bonus which I didnt think of was that if we are away from early morning/late night I can set the feeder so that the food doesnt dry out and the cats still get their food.


----------



## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Very pleased to hear you have resolved the problem satsfactorily 

Chill Minx


----------



## sharon7 (Apr 9, 2012)

oggers86 said:


> I now have one and no more early morning starts for me. I cant recommend them enough!!!!
> 
> Another bonus which I didnt think of was that if we are away from early morning/late night I can set the feeder so that the food doesnt dry out and the cats still get their food.


What feeder do you have? Thanks


----------



## southlondonmeow (Jun 6, 2012)

Hi all, thanks for your responses. I've had so many suggestions which is great. For now, I'm going to try playing with them then feeding them just before bed and shutting the bedroom door so they can't get in. Most importantly i'm going to wear earplugs. Hopefully in time they'll learn that their meowing won't come to anything and stop!


----------



## oggers86 (Nov 14, 2011)

sharon7 said:


> What feeder do you have? Thanks


Its the Catmate from Amazon.


----------

