Conference misery::feline

    Carol...I would recommend giving the kitty a little bit of wet
    food before you go to bed at night.   That way her belly will be
    full and she should be able to wait until morning for her next
    feeding.
    
    Don't start getting up and feeding her at 3:00AM...because she will
    then start to expect her feeding at that time...all the time!!
    
    Sandy

    Just a thought, could the cat be having problems with her teeth which
    makes it painful to eat dry cat food?  If her gums are red around the
    tooth area, that could be the problem.

    You: "Doctor - it hurts when I do this." 
    
    Doctor: "Don't do that anymore."
    
    Sounds like you have a pretty smart cat there - you have been well 
    trained. Sorry to be so glib. Actually I have no experience with this.
    Up until about six weeks ago I had the worlds best cat. But he is gone
    now (after 18 years) and I have been reading a lot in preparation for
    getting a couple of kittens. The book "Good Owners, Great Cats" by 
    Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson has some advice on this problem.
    
    From page 63: "Feline blackmail is rampant worldwide. Early morning
    yowling, the cat version of a gun to your head, has trained millions of 
    owners...to get up to feed that kitty!...All this can be
    avoided...Don't feed your cat first thing in the morning. Instead, make 
    it a ritual to feed him just before you leave for work. Let him 
    associate your getting your keys with being fed. Not only will 
    this prevent early morning blackmail but it will give your cat a 
    pleasant association with your leaving..."
    
    Also see pages 70-71, 182, and 209.
    
    Good luck,
    Roy

    What is even worse is if you have an indoor/outdoor cat that starts
    up anytime between 5am forward.  You lock him out of the bedroom
    and the chattering that goes on!  He wants to be let out.  I have
    been locking him out, but I feel like that is so mean since he
    used to sleep with me.  I just cant take the early morning rising.
    Hopefully the meowing will stop soon

    Rascal has a version of this. He wakes up when the sun comes up and
    wants everyone else up too! It's not bad in the winter, in fact he
    sleeps later than we do.... but in the spring it can get tiring.
    
    Whatever you do, don't give in and feed him. It only makes things
    worse! 
    
    We've tried to make a point of never getting up out of bed when they
    cry for something like food, so that they don't get us "trained". In
    our previous house, we realized we had been trained to let them outside
    whenever they scratched at the sofa/chair. We found they would reach a
    paw up, tug a little at the furniture (watching us the whole time) and
    then run to the door.... sly little bugs that they are!
    
    anyway - for Rascal's early morning wakeups - yelling doesn't work. He
    knows you can't possibly be yelling to him :^)  Ignoring him just makes
    him cry more frequently and/or loudly.  I found a variety of methods
    that do work, but "your milage may vary". If I'm awake enough and in a
    good mood, I get out of bed, pick him up and bring him back to bed with
    me and make him lie there. He purrs, I sleep and it works out ok.
    However since most of the time I am less then thrilled at being
    awakened and don't want to get out of bed.... I have a few other ways.
    At this point in our lives, for some reason if I glare and point my
    index finger at him and say "no" he stops (must be the morning
    hair/face that shuts him up). When he was younger a rolled up sock
    lobbed his way or sliding a magazine at him (in case a sock wasn't
    available) did the trick. Nothing hard and not hitting him (my aims not
    good when I'm awake, when sleepy I'd be lucky to hit a wall). 
    
    After 7 years, he's still not completely broken of the habit, but it's
    at a point where we can all sleep/live through it. Good luck!
    
    janetb.
    owned by one early rising kitty and another sleep-in kitty

    
    My two Burmese play the same game with me every morning...I've found
    that pleading helps.  8^)
    
    At 5am I'm awakened by Monty's chirping and Blue's yowling.  This I can
    usually stop with a single word like 'no' or 'shhhhh'.  All is silent
    for the time it takes for them to leap from whatever vantage point in
    the bedroom to the bed.  Here they affectionately roll themselves
    around my head and PURR VERY LOUDLY.  At this point I plead for one
    more hour, wrap an arm around them, pull them under the covers and fall
    back to sleep.
                                            
    Flip
     

    Well, I haven't really done much about Shadows rude awakenings in the
    morning.  I can't really yell at her, because she is deaf (has been
    since she was a baby, now 2 yrs. old).  She has gotten a little
    better, though.  I have tried ignoring her in the morning and she just
    gets mad and makes a little voice at me.  She seems to do this all the
    time now.  She has this thing she does every morning after my 
    boyfriend and I ignore her she jumps up on top of my boyfriends bureau
    and starts throwing things off of it, one by one until finally one of
    us gets out of bed.  It is cute, I can laugh about it.  It just proves
    that she is smarter than I give her credit for.
    
    I did change her hard food to tender vittles she seems to like it,
    alot.  I also did start feeding her canned, wet food in the morning and
    at night when we are getting ready to eat supper.  But, everytime I
    open up the refrigerator now she is right there, then runs to her dish,
    with her little voice screaming at me. 
    
    Got to love 'em.
    
    Thanks for the replies!!
    
    Carol