Well does the cat have plenty of food and water. Also, is she spayed? One
thing you can do is play with her before going to bed. Also make sure she
has plenty of toys as well.

The way advocated by  most cat books and websites seems to be -- ignore
puss and do not reward for making a fuss. From the cat's point of view,
she's training her owners to come and pay attention to her. Maybe it's
worth checking that nothing is *really* the matter, but then go back to
bed and ignore puss. When puss realises she will not get any more
attention or food, she will probably eventually give up.

Other things to try are, make sure you're feeding the cat regularly and
not on demand (i.e. if you have gone and fed the cat at 4 am to make her
stop making a noise, that's giving the wrong impression), and, if you
can persuade the cat to play (buy a catnip mouse or just toss rolled-up
bits of paper or drag things on strings), make sure there's a scheduled
cat-playtime late evening before you go to bed.

If you have a *very stubborn* cat who thinks *she's* training *you*, and
has already come to a conclusion that if she gets up at 4 am so will
you, it may not work, but cats can be habituated to the human diurnal
cycle if they realise that nothing interesting is likely to happen in
the early morning (5 am) when wild cats would naturally be hunting.

Can you set up a room with a litter box, bed food and water that when this
happens, you put kitty in until you wake up? She will get the idea soon,
that if she wants to stay out, she must wait until you are awake.

Karen

Grit your teeth and ignore it.  The first two weeks I had Jack, my sleep
routine was out of whack, and I would wake up about 4:00, unable to go back
to sleep.  Jack figured this was wake-up time.  When I did get back to
sleeping regularly, he got increasingly upset when I wouldn't get up at the
"regular": he would climb on the bed and yell in my ear.  After a few weeks
of frustration, I started ignoring him, and after four or five days, he
would leave me alone and go amuse himself until I did get up.

Another tip is to not feed your cat immediately after getting up, but
rather, wait until a set, later time.  That way, he or she won't directly
associate you getting up with feeding, and will be much less inclined to
cheat back your wake up call.

get another cat - problem solved.

-L.

My beautiful kitty, Leia, used to do this when I first got her (she was a stray
my brother's dog found in my his garage after her mum and 2 siblings abandoned
her [the dog is named Wicket - ok, so there's a story in there somewhere about
how she got her name] found her and she was about 4 months old at the time
according to the vet) I didn't get much sleep those first few weeks. I kept her
in the bathroom the first couple of nights with some food, her litterbox and
her kitty bed so she couldn't get into mischief. On the third night, at around
4am I awoke to this incessant meowing and a bang! I went in to see what had
happened but I couldn't find her anywhere despite her loudest meows to try and
give me some clues. I looked high and low but she'd hidden herself well.
Finally, in desperation, I opened one of the bathroom cabinet drawers and there
were two little eyes staring out at me. She'd managed to climb up the back of
the cabinet and make her way into the drawer and got stuck!  So at 4.30am in
the morning, I had to get down on my back under the cabinet and rescue her! She
never did that again (thank goodness) lol!

She still continued to wake me up around 4am with her nightly dash around the
house to make sure everything was secure (I let her sleep out of the bathroom
after that) but soon calmed down.

Now, as soon as I get into bed (this was less than 6 months later), she's up
onto the sheets (already purring) and waiting for her nightly cuddles (that
kitty bed hasn't been used since - except for a while to store her 'stash' of
toys under the cushion in the basket which I found (since then, they've been
'stashed' under the TV cabinet and then under the washing machine)  so now she
hides them somewhere else I'm yet to find). Once our cuddles are over, she'll
settle down on top of me to go to sleep (looking at me disdainfully, should I
dare to disturb her sleep and decide to turn over). After about an hour or so,
she'll shift and go down to sleep by my legs and won't wake up until I do in
the morning (if I sleep in, ie past 8am, I'll often get a bap on my nose to
wake me up so I can give her more cuddles).

I guess what I'm trying to say is, give your kitty time and it will soon learn
when it's time to sleep, ie it will learn to sleep when you do :)

Leia's Diary is at http://members.iinet.net.au/~sharon/

PS Before getting Leia I was definitely a doggie person and hated cats but Leia
has made me realise that cats are just as wonderful (if not more so) than dogs!

Wendell does this sometimes. I will get up and play with him for a bit, then
just go back to sleep regardless of whether or not he's crying. Most of the
time, when I wake up again, he is passed out right beside me. I think he
eventually gives up and goes back to bed.

Carli
"That's not a bee. That's a bear in a bee costume."

First off, unless you've been living on Neptune, you should know that
cats are nocturnal (nite creatures). They sleep all day while you work
and then they want to play all nite long when you're trying to sleep.
If you listen to any of these airheads in this group, they'll try to
tell you that you should try to adjust YOUR schedule around the cat. I
say NUTS.
Understand this..... you're never in a million years going to get this
cat to change to your way of living. The only thing you can do that
REALLY WORKS is to do as my wife and I have done. Put the cat in a
seperate room for the nite so you can get some sleep. I know that
these very same airheads here will tell you that this is somehow
cruel. But in order to understand this warped thinking, you have to
look at them a little closer. First, ask yourself this question: Why
would anyone consider this tactic cruel? It has NOTHING to do with
cruelty. It has EVERYTHING to do with the attitude "Do As Thou Will".
These people do not believe in the old fashioned principles of
discipline and sacrifice. To them, saying 'No' to a child (or a pet
for that matter) is the unpardonable sin. They are racked with mortal
doses of white liberal guilt. It's their type of thinking that has
launched this nation down the road from wince their is no return. But
that's another issue all together..
The bottom line here, Chamal, is... You have to help yourself. You
have turned to us here for that help, but it is you and you alone who
hold the power over this situation, and no other. You also have
COMPLETE power over your cat, too. Just remember that.
Do what we did... Put the cat in a vacant room until you arise. Make
sure it has plenty of food and water and the like. And then, go get
some sleep. Your cat will be FINE. Look at this situation with your
head instead of your heart. Trust IBen. I mean after all... why
wouldn't she be fine?

IBen Getiner