My kitty always jumps on me in the morning to wake me up by sniffing me or tugging my beard. Years ago I lived with dogs who would always raise a ruckus in the morning at the same time.
I can pass off the dogs wanting to wake everyone up in the morning because they would get breakfast but my kitty is never fed in the morning only at night. There’s nothing I do in the morning to make it worth her while to wake me up.
Is this common among pets? Could it be a form of altruism? Simply not wanting to break a pattern like letting someone sleep late? Am I just cursed to have animals as companions who think it’s a damned good idea to wake me up early in the morning?
Maybe she just likes you and thinks you’re more fun when you’re awake. Do you pet her when she wakes you, or talk to her, or reward her some other way? She probably just wants you to play.
I am cursed by two springer spaniels who are early risers, and since our bed is about six inches off the floor (futon pallet), they have absolutely no trouble walking all over us in the morning. We consider it a compliment.
Dogs (At least mine) get me up when they get rewarded. I used to let my pit mix out to run the neighborhood early in the morning and she would regularly wake me at 5:30 AM (To be let out). After a neighbor complained I quit doing this - it took a few weeks but now that she doesn’t get the reward of running loose for 1/2 hour or 45 minutes; well she usually sleeps in.
As others have alluded to, chances are you reward kitty in some way for waking you up, probably in some small way you aren’t even aware of. It could be something as small and seemingly insignificant as talking to kitty, or paying even a little bit of attention to kitty. Figure out what that might be, and you have a chance of training kitty out of this behavior.
At best I can only think of how I talk to her when I’m on the toilet in the morning saying the same thing over and over “I don’t bother you on the litterbox why do you bother me in here” and then I throw a towel on her so I can watch her back up.
Maybe try ignoring kitty in the mornings for a week or so. Of course if it’s merely your presence being up and about that’s the reward kitty is responding to, you’re pretty much out of luck.
My cat stopped behaving like an alarm clock the day I tried to change the batteries. Poor thing was up a tree for three days.
Here’s a fun way to wake up - it’s cold, it’s raining, and a darn horse is SCREAMING and banging around and demanding that you put on some shoes and walk down to the barn and let him out… at about six…
Get yourself a bird. Sun is up = bird is up, and looking for it’s flock (you) by screaming.
My dog wakes up at around 6:00 every morning and just sits there staring at me. When I move or open my eyes to look at her, I hear the whoosh-whoosh-whoosh of her tail wagging against the floor. She’ll look at me like that until I either pet her or let her lay near me at the foot of the bed.