# How do you get a cat to stop meowing at 6 AM? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317 "2006-08-04T13:16:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/21 "2006-08-04T18:39:39Z")
You know, that’s funny, Aaron just asked at lunch how’s come that meme of throwing boots at cats has disappeared. 🙂 Really, it’s not like that - the guy can’t sleep with the cat yelling. He’s not trying to be a jerk, and he’s totally willing to work with me to come up with a solution for Dewey, he just can’t sleep with the cat yelling and once he’s awake, that’s it. He might get back to sleep but he’s tired for the rest of the day. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/22 "2006-08-04T20:01:26Z")
Sorry for sounding snarky. The only thing I can think of to do is ignore it. Anything you do is paying attention to him, which will just reinforce the behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/23 "2006-08-04T20:09:44Z")
I don’t have cats, so what do I know, but this is what I would try. Get a medium sized dog crate or something similar, and put it in a room where you can’t hear the cat. Put a small tray of litter and a bowl of water in it. Let the cat roam the house freely at night, until he starts making noise. As soon as the noise starts, put him in the crate and go back to bed. No fuss, don’t talk to him or anything. You could either let him out when the noise stops, or just wait until you usually get up. The problem will be if you can’t find the cat when he’s making the noise, or when the cat freaks out and claws the shit out of you when you try to crate him. But hey, no one said it would be easy, right? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/24 "2006-08-04T20:11:17Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] I think you’re supposed to throw a boot at it, or a tin can. [/QUOTE] That’s only if the cat is wailing from an outside trash can, with a fish skeleton in its mouth. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/25 "2006-08-04T20:28:23Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] That’s only if the cat is wailing from an outside trash can, with a fish skeleton in its mouth. [/QUOTE] Or on top of a wooden fence in an alley. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/26 "2006-08-04T20:29:33Z")
Speaking of which, when’s the last time you saw a whole fish skeleton? Don’t you usually take the head off when you’re cleaning it? Even if you’re filleting a fish, would it still have the head? Even if you did have the head, would it be a _bone_ head? ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/27 "2006-08-04T20:36:28Z")
Solution 1: go to bed an hour earlier so that waking up an hour earlier doesn’t deprive anyone of their precious sleep. Okay, so maybe I’m a little intolerant of people who whine that if they haven’t had exactly 8 (7, 6) hours of sleep each and every night they get sooooo tired… grow up! Perhaps because as a woman and mother I haven’t had a solid night’s sleep in oh, 24 years, but I really hate it when guys whine about this. Solution 2: Since the cat is sleeping with you, just pet the damn thing. My elderly cat comes in and mrows at me every morning, and one of two things happens…I ignore her, and she stops in a few minutes, or I scratch her ears and she shuts up and settles in for a snuggle. But the only way I keep her from that initial mrow is to start petting her the second she jumps on the bed. Like I said, woman, mother…wake up easily. Solution 3: Ignore the kitty for a few days and she might just get out of the habit. Be sure to have dry food out, but it’s not crucial. When I cat-sit for friends, they always apologize that their cats wake them up at 4 am to be fed. I said, “ain’t gonna happen” and it didn’t. Oh, they tried, on the first morning, and I ignored them. Second morning, they checked to see if it was still me in the bed, and didn’t make a peep. By the third morning they didn’t even bother. They didn’t starve to death or suffer any ill effects by waiting until I was darn good and ready to feed them…and they don’t eat dry. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/28 "2006-08-04T20:38:01Z")
oh, forgot Solution 4: make it worth the boyfrined’s while to wake up with you and the cat at 6 am. If you need more specific instructions, you are too young to have a sleep-over boyfriend. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/29 "2006-08-04T20:50:00Z")
[QUOTE=kittenblue] oh, forgot Solution 4: make it worth the boyfrined’s while to wake up with you and the cat at 6 am. If you need more specific instructions, you are too young to have a sleep-over boyfriend. [/QUOTE] At 6 AM?! Pervert. We’ve _been_ ignoring him. He doesn’t seem to care. Maybe he’s just talking to himself? He’s not even trying to get on the bed or anything, just meowing. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/30 "2006-08-04T20:51:38Z")
[QUOTE=kittenblue] oh, forgot Solution 4: make it worth the boyfrined’s while to wake up with you and the cat at 6 am. If you need more specific instructions, you are too young to have a sleep-over boyfriend. [/QUOTE] All good ideas, especially this last one! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/31 "2006-08-04T20:53:35Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] At 6 AM?! Pervert. We’ve _been_ ignoring him. He doesn’t seem to care. Maybe he’s just talking to himself? He’s not even trying to get on the bed or anything, just meowing. [/QUOTE] That’d be the cat, by the way, not the boyfriend. 🙂 Besides, how on earth could you have sex with your cat staring at you? Those eyes! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/32 "2006-08-04T20:57:49Z")
They get bored quickly. You just have to watch out, if they are the kind of cat that likes to swat dangly things. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/33 "2006-08-04T21:10:05Z")
I should also make it perfectly clear that it isn’t just the boyfriend who doesn’t like waking up at dawn - the cat is the only morning person in my house. The majority rules in this case. Aaron just can’t sleep through it like I can. (Also, he was no big fan of the penny can solution. Which didn’t work anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/34 "2006-08-05T03:18:36Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] … and he insisted on sitting in my lap and not being get-riddable!) [/QUOTE] I call that being ‘be-catted’. As in, “I can’t get up off the couch, I’m be-catted.” My Pipsqueak has been getting me up @6:30 am, so I feel your pain. And locking them out just makes them tear up the carpet under the door trying to get in. And I’m one of those people who’s up and moving once she’s awake, no falling back to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/35 "2006-08-05T11:17:54Z")
How about getting a second cat, so they can play together? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/36 "2006-08-05T15:03:19Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] How about getting a second cat, so they can play together? [/QUOTE] I’ve actually considered that, but at the moment my dog is desperately trying to kill the cat whenever he sees it, so I’d like to get that situation fixed before I consider another cat. (I’ve been switching out their bedding, getting him used to the smell - tried letting him see the cat again yesterday, tightly leashed and with the cat in a carrier, and it was a little better - he only barked and whined, didn’t growl like a mad thing.) I can’t risk having _three_ animals who can’t be together. (Well, four - did I mention my boyfriend can’t be around the dog either? The dog has this thing against young men. Can’t be trusted with 'em.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/37 "2006-08-05T16:36:16Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] I’ve actually considered that, but at the moment my dog is desperately trying to kill the cat whenever he sees it. [/QUOTE] Well, there you go. Just let the dog in at 5 and tell the cat that dogs find their prey by sound. (It’s not true, but the cat doesn’t need to know that.) ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/38 "2006-08-05T18:23:42Z")
I had the same problem with my cat, so I tried leaving out dry food at all times for her to graze on. The problem with this arrangement is that some cats will become obese by this method of feeding, and she was one of them. The only person who truly benefitted from this situation was my chiropractor, who quickly took to supplying me with free cat food.\* So the cat went on a diet\*\*, and we arranged a compromise: I feed her a large meal at midnight, and a few small snacks during the day. In exchange, she lets me sleep in as long as I like. She does tend to get cranky by 11pm, but not nearly as cranky as I get when she wakes me up at 5am, which means that I don’t have to run around the bedroom picking up pillows at 8am. As always, YMMV. \*Certain parts of this story may have been slightly embellished. \*\* BTW, [Strict dieting can be deadly to obese cats.](http://www.dtguide.com/weight/Feline_Obesity.html) ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/39 "2006-08-05T20:14:01Z")
From my personal experience: On the days I work, I am up at 5:30–and so are my cats. I usually feed them breakfast at that time, then get ready for work. On my days off, naturally, there they are, on the bed and meowing for their breakfast right on time. Dry food in bowl at all times, BTW–breakfast is canned. I don’t recall if your cat’s wakeup call is food-related or not, but in any case, here are 2 solutions. 1. Get up and feed them and then _go back to bed_ . This is what I do on my days off. I can usually get a couple more hours of sleep with a minimal interruption. 2. Ignore them. Some mornings, if I’m extra-tired, I don’t get up till 8 or so. After the initial call, they generally go away until I get up. And a message to your boyfriend, **Zsofia** --tell him to get over it! When Mrs. Know moved in with me, she hadn’t had a pet in years and she managed to adjust to the routine very nicely, thank you. My cats are my family and one has to put up with idiosyncrasies in any family. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317/40 "2006-08-05T22:00:51Z")
Well, the boyfriend does predate the cat. I tried filling his bowl when I went to bed last night, and still we had plaintive meows. It isn’t food related. Ignoring does no good. I’ll have to find some other place to put the litter box and see if shutting the cat out of the bedroom works. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-get-a-cat-to-stop-meowing-at-6-am/367317.md?page=3)