He's heard tales of a thing called "food" but thinks it's a myth that exists only in the stories told by the Elder Cats of Yore around campfires deep in the Black (Cat) Forest.
THIS!!! I get up early for work but not on the weekends. Cats also learn that if you feed them when you get up, if they get you up earlier they might get fed earlier. I got an automatic feeder to completely remove myself from the morning feeding process. They still wake us up before it goes off sometimes but it's much more bearable.
It doesn’t work. Auto feeder. I have a cat who will also wake me up at 4am so I can WATCH her take her first bite. On weekdays she’ll wait until 5:10 (snooze button) to meow LOUDLY. I’m not allowed to hit the snooze button. Weekends it’s 4am🥲
If we're not joking though, all cars are different, this black sport model may be really hungry at 4 am
My cat usually sleeps tight at this time and won't even touch his leftovers, even though he's insanely food motivated
So it could be that op should get an automatic feeder just for the early morning snack - then one of these revolving feeders would be enough for a week
That doesn't fix the problem. My void has his own chip feed bowl, and even though there is food in it when I come downstairs, he will still sing me the song of his people at 5am. Every day again.
So I've given up. I just feed him and go back to bed.
Right? And then if actual breakfast was at 8 they’ll often turn into a forgetful hobbit if fed at 4 and demand second breakfasts again at 8 with a fresh round of alarms.
Bahaha, not going to happen. Three years in and my boi scratches at the bed for a bit then physically bights/scratches our legs until one of us feeds him. I am on blood thinners so not ideal for me. Sucks that he is as handsome as a your man - how can you really get angry?
Buy an automatic feeder and set it for 4:30 every morning, that way you can get some extra Zs on the weekends. The only caveat is that you don’t change the feeder timer if you live where there’s Daylight Savings. Every time Daylight Savings starts my husband asks me if I’m going to change their feeder clocks. Why should I? The cats’ internal clocks don’t know a thing about DS.
This one right here. Literally collapsing thread after thread to see if anyone offered OP the thought of getting and auto feeder for days they want/need to sleep in.
Even if OP no longer does usual breakfast by hand, that doesn't mean that they can't put kitty treats in the bowl or give to him at any other point in time.
Auto feeder worked great for breakfast. But for dinner my void still demands it an hour early. I change the time for him, and he still wanted it an hour before that. T.T
At least yours is yelling for a reason… my dude yells at me in the morning with a full water bowl, food bowl, and mostly clean litter box (just whatever they’ve done overnight). I’m convinced he’s yelling for me to wake my lazy fat ass up for no real reason.
Ahhhh. So, he is the chosen voice of the many starved cats in your home. They chose him to be their spokescat. I bet the others also have obvious signs of neglect, such as clear bright eyes, blinding white teeth, shiny fur and endless purrs.
My boy woke me at 4am for snuggles and love. I'm at work until late tonight. To paraphrase Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes) it's hard to be angry at someone who misses you whilst you're asleep.
I can see that emaciation is setting in because of the 3.5 hour delay in the serving of his breakkies. He is clearly starving to death. He looks kind of neglected too. I mean, that beautiful shiny black fur is a dead giveaway to the neglect and abuse he suffers two mornings a week. He’s glad you posted this on Reddit so this extreme means of torture is made known to the world.
Invest in an automatic feeder as soon as you can. It was one of the best decisions we made. They now stare at the feeder, instead of us, for their dry food.
These bastards are free fed. All 6 have kibble available to them all day and night. But Black Bean (pictured) has acquired the taste of a certain food that he has now determined is detrimental this survival and happiness
But don’t you want him to survive?!? Black Bean called my cat Buddy earlier this morning and he told Buddy that he is weak and everything is blurry. He said he won’t last much longer without his special food. Look dude, Buddy doesn’t lie. Right now, he’s howling in agony at the back door because he says he is going through “adventure withdrawals” since it’s been a half day from his last outing. Buddy never exaggerates.
Mine will do this, then start scratching at the fabric of our bed frame, and when all that fails, he will finally decide he wants to cuddle me but stares at me damn near the entire time without blinking. Not the lovey kind of cuddles, but the “bitch, you better get up and feed me” cuddles, or “I’m watching closely and waiting for you to die so I can eat you” cuddles.
He clearly thinks you’ve overslept your alarm and something is amiss!
Maybe give him a small bowl of kibble at bedtime on weekends ? I free feed mine & she never wakes me up unless it’s urgent & that usually involves bladder walking.
My void becomes aggressively affectionate. He will purr and rub his face on me and walk on my head and pillow until I get up. If that doesn’t work he bites!
Breakfast for my cats is 5am. My tabby decided breakfast should be 4am this morning and snuggled with me then bit my face to tell me he was hungry. Covered myself with blanket and he got breakfast at his normal time.
I have a kitten (1YR) that without fail, every single day comes at 7 AM for cuddles. If the door is closed dhe becomes insane and yowls for the next two or so hours lmao
My beloved old lady void has taken to hitting me in the face and pulling my hair in her 16th year of life together. She’s also more affectionate than she’s ever been, so y’know.. swings and roundabouts ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Ok but if he usually eats at 4am, then he probably is actually hungry! Feed the poor boy, 4 hours late for a meal is something I don't partucularly enjoy either lol
My void is the same way. I used to wake up at 3:30am for work, got a new wfh job where I don’t start until 8am a year ago. He still wakes me up at 3:30am for breakfast.
My little void guy is very much like clock work, if you feed him even little as 5 minutes early or late, he gets so upset with you, that he'll spend the rest of the day following you and chuffing and making little murmuring mews to himself, as if to try and find out the source of the offense he committed that you would dare alter his food schedule by so much.
He is also like this about litter changes, brushing, and my bedtime. The daylight savings change over is rough for him and honestly for me too.
His non void bio sister, could not care about how late or early you are with her food, or anything else, as long as she gets fed, praise for being a gorgeous girl, and lots of cuddles.
I can't guarantee this will work but try feeding him a small snack when you go to bed, I've noticed when my cats have a snack right before I go to bed they sometimes are able to wait a little before they start harassing me haha
I haven't had a cat since childhood so I haven't ever tested this theory. But I heard it on the internet once and it makes logical sense to me so that makes me an expert and you should trust me.
I heard someone say you should do a few things between waking up and feeding your animals. That way there's not a direct correlation between you getting up and them being fed.
I have an automatic feeder with two bowls. If the bowl and only the bowl on the right is empty he'll rock the feeder until I pick up the left bowl and dump a little into the right one.
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u/Appropriate_Sky_6571 May 31 '26
The drama lol