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I wake mommy up super early every morning :
I wake my mommy up every morning starting at different times, and there's no stopping me 'til I get my food. My mommy tries to ignore me, but a lot of the things I do are a little destructive; such as chewing on noisy things like velcro and zippers or on paper or cardboard like posters and vinyl covers. (Not things my parents are very happy about, esp. daddy!!) I also like jumping on whatever I can to try and knock everything possible off of their places. What if I break something one day??
My mommy won't feed me unless I wake her up in a nicer way like jumping on the bed and maybe being a teensy vocal, and only if it's close to 6am. That still hasn't kept me from trying much much earlier yet, and I know mommy is really exhausted and not looking forward to dealing with this every morning for the rest of the time I'm around. Please help me fix my problem. I just don't know what to do with myself.
Oh and mommy and daddy don't have a door, just a curtain for their room.
Asked by
Beatrix
on Sep 15th 2011
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in Noisiness
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Answers
Each time you respond to her antics and get up early to feed her, you are reinforcing her behavior by rewarding her. If 6am is her morning mealtime, do not feed her sooner.
Is there a bathroom or another area of the house where she can be isolated with her essentials if necessary? Water, litter box, etc.?
Ralphie and Randy also sometimes try to wake us up early to play or get food. Mostly they jump on the bed or stand on our pillows, which we ignore and try not to move or open our eyes, and they usually curl back up or wander off to play by themselves. But occasionally they do things that they know will get a reaction, like clawing the carpet or trying to climb the blinds. If one of them does that, one of us will immediately pick up the offender and take him to his room for a "timeout", where he has to stay until we get up.
We still have to deal with their pre-dawn silliness once in a while, but it's becoming less and less frequent.
Ralphie & Randy
answered on 9/15/11.
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I pretty much solved the the problem of listening to arias my cats would sing from "Meowdama Butterfly" at 5AM when I began keeping the bowls filled all the time, making them "self-feeders". I know that some owners are concerned that their precious angels will grow to weigh 300 lbs. in no time, gorging themselves, etc., but I have no problem with any of my kitties being overweight. They know they will always have food in their bowls, so they truly don't over-eat. I also play with my cats about an hour before bedtime. Lizzie has made this much more fun as when I tried to play fetch with Izzie, he just looked at me and eventually I'd go get the mousie myself, which was a strange game. Now, he's afraid Liz will get his mousie so he tries to beat her to it. Delilah, the Divine Diva, wouldn't be caught dead playing fetchies, but she's no problem. It tires the kids out so they sleep, usually wedged between my feet, all night.
Izadore (Izzie)
answered on 9/17/11.
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