Ways that my cats wake me up in the morning for their breakfast

[untonuggan]

they get super creative:

• Chance licks me with increasing vigor in tender areas (eyelids, nose around nostrils, crease of elbow), then purrs when I make movements, then resumes licking when I try to sleep again. He apparently has a good grasp of behavior modification as well.
• Pooping in the bedroom litterbox and using the stink to motivate human consciousness.
• Crawling up my shoulder, breathing heavily in my ear, and then making lip-smacking noises. When I shift or show any signs of consciousness, sit in front of me or on my hip in "alert cat" mode. Lily sadly has not yet learned that if I then tell her it's time to eat, she does need to move so that *I* can move.
• (So far only happened on X-mas morning) Apply fuzzy cat nose directly into ear canal. Perhaps human startle reflex has deterred this one.
• Knead mom's stomach, then sit on top of chest and let full weight of cat descend. Alternate kneading and cat weight.
• Have kitty wrestling match on top of mom's legs. When mom "breaks it up", act as model and adorable kitties and try one of other wake-up methods.
• Stare at my time-keeping devices as though willing them to tell me to feed the cats. The adorable is actually very effective.
• Chirp repeatedly to announce that Chance figured out a new thing and he wamts to show you because he is proud. Usually this is jumping on something tall or opening a drawer.
• Cat mom 6th sense that it is too quiet or there is the sound of cats trying  to rip into plastic, etc
• Marching up and down body with uncanny ability to walk over bladder every time.
• Mewing sooooo sadly in face (Lily has mastered pity mew).
• Dragging favorite toy through house while going mraaaaw mraaaaaw.
• (On a day when I was very tired) gently but firmly holding my face down with one paw so I couldn't turn it while licking my eyelids and nose.
• Lily gets crungry, so sometimes if she's tried being "good" and Chance has had no luck she just goes nuts and starts wrestling the blanket or things under the blanket or Chance's tail. In this instance I usually give her something acceptable to wrestle, and also something "good" to do so I can reward her with food.
• Chance sometimes very gently pats me under the blanket, and my most amusing time was when he suddenly discovered humans have holes in their stomachs! (belly buttons) He was all MOM THERE IS A HOLE IN YOU. What is in the hooooole?
• Lily sometimes pats my arm; once at the beach house she as conflicted between patting my arm and watching some very intense waves outside so it was all, "pat pat pat...what the...wait, food. PAT PAT...whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat...no, FOOD. pat pat pat."

Like I said, creative. Probably wrestling cats and the poop trick are my least favorite/most discouraged methods. (I, uh, may make them wait longer or do more things before they can eat.)

We generally have a pretty good agreement of "breakfast only happens after sunrise", and they have been also good about giving me an extra hour if I went to bed super late (or maybe I just sleep through a lot?). Sunrise can be...*very*...early further north, though, so Boston should be interesting.

Comments

[tyger]

Such adorableness :x

[untonuggan]

XD

[tyger]

It's true!

[thamesynne]

I always let my cats graze on (premium) dry food, and was never too regular about feeding them wet food (when they were younger; in old age, they needed it more), so they didn't need to wake me up for food. But still, they would find ways to wake me when they decided that I'd been asleep long enough. At one point, Firstborn was delighted when he discovered I kept spare change on a bookshelf; when he thought it was time for me to get up, he'd push coins towards the edge of the shelf and then off. Usually only took a couple of coins before I was up... and then he'd stop and come for a fuss.

Little furry demons. ;-)

[untonuggan]

yeah we do not trust lily to free feed. she gained a pound in like six weeks (while Chance mysteriously lost a pound). I think it's from earlier food insecurity -- she was about 5.5 lbs when she went into rescue, and I think she is ideally around 7.5 lbs. so she is basically like the foster kid who hoards food under the floorboards or eats everything in sight because they're afraid there won't be any more food. she also eats bugs (dead, freshly killed and alive), which always upsets her stomach -- at least the live ones for sure.

also because we do cat training it does help to have them be food motivated. lily actually comes running from across the house when you call her name. or chance's name. or mention my name around a mealtime. or go to the kitchen. she is basically convinced that we are constantly on the brink of a food shortage.

(her nickname, one of them, is jean valjean and that is why the bread must stay in the breadbox.)

little furry demons indeed ;)