How to stop my new kitten from waking me up very early each morning?

You may want to try an automatic feeder. You can set the timer to feed in the night. He may be hungry and wakes you up to feed him. It will also distract him and give him something to do instead of waking you up. You can also play with him before bed and don’t let him sleep in the evening so he will sleep longer. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Prince Harold.

How frustrating! Unfortunately this is a common complaint. Cats are notorious for training their people to do all sorts of crazy things when it comes to their food. Right now Albert is requesting food early in the morning and you (reasonably) give him food/attention to quiet him, so he learns that meowing at ungodly hours is a successful strategy and keeps on doing it. What you need to do is change that dynamic. A couple ideas: 1) Ignore Albert until a certain time in the morning that you find acceptable. This is very hard at first and you'll sleep less, but he should get the idea after several days to a week. You must truly ignore him -- no positive or negative responses to his attempts to interact. 2) Switch to an automatic feeder that dispenses a set amount of food at certain intervals and then ignore all Albert's request for you to feed him. He'll learn bugging you doesn't results in food. You'll still need to ignore him in the early morning until he learns you're not available 3) Make sure you're giving him lots of attention and environmental enrichment during the day. The Indoor Pet Initiative (by Ohio State University) has some great ideas for this. If none of this work, consider talking with your vet or a veterinarian behaviorist. Good luck!

Try using an automatic feeder. You can set the times to feed Rufus and Rufus may start to disassociate you from the feeding. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Jordan. If she is crying for food, you can set an automatic cat feeder to go off at 6am to heopfully distract her and give you a bit more sleep. I hope this information helps!

She’s just a playful kitten. I recommend playing with her during the day so she sleeps at night. With a bitey kitten I play with a toy on a string, a ball for her to chase or a laser pointer. I wouldn’t discipline her for biting since that may result in more biting. Feed her a wet food meal just before bed and that will keep her full so she doesn’t wake you up to get food. Be patient, this is a phase she’ll outgrow soon. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Coco.

HI, thanks for using PetCoach! Sadly this is a very common complaint. It is normal for cats to be vocal early in the morning, especially around the times they know that people get up. Despite appearing to not want your attention there is probably comfort for her knowing you are around. It is likely due to loneliness or boredom. Since she is already confined, you should enrich her environment. Be sure there is an open window to look out, consider putting a bird feeder there so she can watch the birds, get a cat tree for her to climb, etc. You can also close your door and use a noise machine or box fan to drown out her crying. Since she has food and is already confined there is no easy solution to stop this behavior. https://indoorpet.osu.edu/cats I hope this helps and I wish you the best!

I have to admit, I chuckled a bit at Loki slapping your face to wake you up! Not that it's funny to you, but look up Simon's Cat. There's a cartoon about the cat doing exactly that. Anyway, he will calm down a bit with age, but you need to stop the biting now. That's hard to do when you are sleeping, but when he does it when you are awake, tell him no, and turn your back to him. Ignore him until he behaves appropriately, and then give him attention. By doing this, you are showing what is and isn't appropriate behavior. When he plays well, give him lots of praise and treats. Should he wake you up, immediately remove him from your room and shut the door so he can't get in. He will learn quickly that if he does this behavior to you to wake you up, he will be removed from the room and not get what he wants. I hope this helps!