# Cats don't understand time changes. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 13, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726 "2016-11-13T00:06:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/1 "2016-11-13T00:06:51Z")
The little furballs are creatures of very accurate time keeping. Mine eat at 7:00. As it approaches dinner hour, the mob gets restless. It starts with them meandering close to me - one at a time, then in groups. It progresses to 8 eyeballs staring in unison from the dinner table. Then the little talking one waits by my side and looks up, “Errt”? It soon escalates to frustrated leaps from the chairs, often resulting in a tipped chair while they ponder a massed assault on the closed Cupboard Where The Goodies Reside. So. I carefully explained the time change to them. In simple cat terms. I used flash cards and asked multiple choice questions. To no avail. It starts around 5:15, which is still 6:15 to them. The quiet staring. I respond with, “Time change, remember, guys?” I shoo them away. It looks like it works for a few minutes. Un huh. It’s only 6:00 and chairs are dropping… Dennis ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/2 "2016-11-13T00:44:38Z")
They do understand, but they refuse to comply, and like to watch human try to accommodate it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/3 "2016-11-13T00:49:51Z")
Try distracting them by giving them some boxes to jump into. If it kills an hour, you’re golden. ---
**Author:** ![CerebrAl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@CerebrAl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CerebrAl)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/4 "2016-11-13T02:10:30Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19777300&postcount=23](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19777300&postcount=23) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/5 "2016-11-13T02:14:22Z")
Just feed them a few minutes later each day over the course of a week, rather than jumping an hour on one day? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/6 "2016-11-13T07:32:15Z")
> [@CerebrAl](#): > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19777300&postcount=23](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19777300&postcount=23) Good Og, he’s got at least two; are you trying to bury him in cats? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/7 "2016-11-13T09:47:49Z")
I’m dealing with the same thing on a canine level. Puppy supper time is 5. The sad eyes that say “I’m starving to death here!!!” begin shortly before 4. Tough love is tough. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/8 "2016-11-13T11:36:10Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Good Og, he’s got at least two; are you trying to bury him in cats? If he only has two, they must have four eyes apiece. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/9 "2016-11-13T13:19:00Z")
We had a cat that automatically adjusted to time changes immediately. She’d come into our bedroom at 7am each morning. Time change? That Sunday she’d come in at 7am for the new time. I always wondered if she learned to recognize the time on the cable box. That was the only big clock that auto-adjusted. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/10 "2016-11-13T13:54:57Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > If he only has two, they must have four eyes apiece. :eek: :smack:Mea culpa. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2016, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/11 "2016-11-14T00:36:24Z")
My Velcro has almost adjusted (it helps that he doesn’t get fed until I get home from work during the week, and that happens right around when I get home. It doesn’t help that I was at a conference the first week of November and the pet sitter fed him earlier that week.) kjkl;lk sfew (I stepped away for a moment. Clearly Velcro says hi) ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/12 "2016-11-14T00:51:38Z")
my cat who howls to eat early 4 days outta 7 howls the loudest this time of year …but if I give into her shell start mewling even earlier … When we started giving them the soft food I didn’t keep an schedule so they just got ancy if it looked like I was going to bed before feeding them … but someone had to have the cats on a schedule just like she trys with the rest of the universe …and at 8:30 she tries the lovable beggar approach rolling around looking cute and purring ect … then at 9 or after she gets hard and just out right howls … the vet says ignore the time and feed them the same hour so in summer feed then at 4 and at 5 in winter … ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dont-understand-time-changes/771726/13 "2016-11-14T00:57:04Z")
Dogs don’t understand it either. Neither do I, actually. This is typically my second-worst week of the year, right after the fall-back thing. (The worst is the week between xmas and New Year. So I’ve got that to look forward to la la la.) My cat does not give a fuck.