We also turn it off if we know we’re going to stay out late and miss the alarm or if we’re going on vacation and have a catsitter over- you can extinguish the conditioning if you consistently have the alarm go off without feeding. They also get super pissed with Daylight Savings.
Warning: this may still make weekends difficult if you have a tendency to sleep in either make sure to change the alarm to account for the later time you wake up, or start having a regular schedule even on the weekends. It’s actually quite fun to watch them sit and then barrel towards the kitchen once the alarm sounds. Our cats are now acutely trained and sit attentively for the alarm to go off, only sometimes getting meow-y within 30 minutes before the alarm. We set the alarms for after we’ve gotten ready for the day and well before we go to bed, so that it’s clear that the alarm clock is the major cue for food not getting up, not showering, not brushing our teeth etc. We feed our cats twice a day, so we got two identical alarm clocks. (I say mostly because if my partner is over, all Wheatley wants to do is have the opportunity to cuddle him, which complicates things further. I’ve taken to locking my cat outside of my room at night and only opening the door to feed him at six and to let him in to watch the sunrise at my window, and it mostly helps. If you can, try not to give them any attention at all when they start their meowing because that will only reinforce the behaviour. Pick a time and stick to it, and don’t cave in to whining - no matter how loud and obnoxious kitty may get. If your schedule is more stable than mine, you should be able to combat this more easily. Variable schedules are notoriously difficult to get rid of (there should be some videos on Youtube about Skinner and pigeons, if you’re interested), so I hope you have a more regular schedule. Now my schedule is a bit different with school, work, and transit times so sometimes he gets fed half an hour or an hour later than usual. No whining, just lots of excitement when he knew it was feeding time. The schedule used to be perfect: up at six for kitty and human breakfast, then dinner at six that night. I’m still in university, which means my schedule (and therefore Wheatley’s) is a little bit wonky on a day to day basis. My cat does the same thing, and it has been especially difficult to get him to stop because he is now on a variable feeding schedule. Definitely give them enough attention to make them okay with their alone-time in the crate. My cat used to sleep with me for half the night (before going off to attack all the other cats), so she was pretty upset that she’d lost that time with me. She also associated the crate with good things like treats! Definitely do not give in if the cat meows consistently to get out wait until she’s calm to let her out, always, unless she only gets up when you come in to check on her.įinally, make sure to give them a lot of attention when they’re not in the crate. She would usually smell them and go right in to eat them. Then we would throw treats onto her bed in the way back of the crate before trying to put her in. Definitely also provide a small bowl of water (small enough that if she knocks it over being upset at being crated at first it’s not a problem). We put a tiny litter box in the crate (because she peed in the crate no matter what) and a bed with her scent on it already in the opposite corner. I know you asked Wendi, but I thought I would respond too. We’ve talked getting a cat to stop yowling if you can’t let it out, but what about when your cat is a super-annoying early riser?Ĭat peoples: Give up your secret cat whisperings! But I would love, LOVE, to not have us all awake in the wee hours of the morning every single frickin’ day. Right now when she starts up, I jump out of bed and give her a smidge of food (she’s always been on a breakfast/dinner feeding schedule), then she gets less at actual breakfast time (so I guess now she’s on breakfast/dinner/early morning snack). But now she starts at 5, or 3, or 1 effing 30 in the morning, picking at whatever might be lying around, and singing the song of her people. She used to wake me up around six for breakfast (read: she would meow, then sit on me and meow, then sit on my head and meow, then start biting my hair - I’m a heavy sleeper) which was fine, because that was about when I would wake up anyway. That other hour, though, I want to chuck her across my bedroom and accompany her flight with a loud string of expletives.
I have had my cat, Maya, for five years, and I love her to pieces… 23 hours a day.
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