I personally don't think there is a "tortie" personality; have seen a
lot of torties that didn't fit. To me, it's a color pattern. It sounds
like there are a lot of other factors involved here. I don't know what
the answer is -- have you tried interactive toys like a laser light or
something like Da Bird? That way, you can tire her out (and vice versa).
As for the 5:30 a.m., that's not bad. Mine's usually been 4:00 a.m.; my
old tortie used to gently sniff my mouth and then try to lick up my
nose. That'll wake you up, too. :)

At one point, my cat switched from reaching up high to scratch to reaching
down low.  Fortunately, my scratching posts had both high and low sections
(pole and base).  Scratching the base was the same posture as scratching a
carpet.

Kathy

No matter what you do, you probably are not going to change her getting
you out of bed at 5:30.  If you get another kitty - both of them will
get you up at 5:30.  I fell into the trap of thinking my single kitty
needed a friend.  Since yours has been single for some time, I don't
think a friend will help.

This is just her personality.

That's a tough one. I have trouble getting cats to wake up later, too!
We adopted a 10 year old that was a barn cat all of his life and he
decided to get us up at dawn every day. We wouldn't get up. We petted
him and tried to get him to lay down on the bed. It took a long time (a
year at least,) but he doesn't very often try to get us up any more.
Sometimes he does come to bed in the early morning now (over 3 years
later) and lay down with us. At least he doesn't sit on us and walk all
over like he used to. He had to learn that his tactics weren't going to
work.

Some of our other cats -- I've threatened to keep them up all day so
they sleep all night! If one wakes me up in the middle of the night,
then the next morning she's sleeping peacefully all day, I've already
taken a toy or talked loudly "Get up! Get up!" Revenge is sweet.

Rhonda

Well done for rescuing an unwanted cat. It might not be for that reason ,
cats mark their territroy by scratching as a visual sign and to leave the
scent from their paws.

It sounds like you are giving her lots of stimulation and she has outside
access so I'm sure she's not boreed but cats tend to be more active between
dusk and dawn. Itsa cat thing and very common for catowners to woken up in
the same manner .
Here's some advice  on how to get your cat to sleep at night by expert cat
behaviourist Pam Johnson- Bennet who wrote Think like a cat and other
books.

*It's natural for a cat to be on alert at various times throughout the
night or in the wee hours of the morning. Some cats will stay patiently on
the bed until that magic hour of either 4am or 5am and then they just can't
sit still another second. That prey-drive kicks in and can't be controlled.
Some cats patrol the house, looking for any opportunity to pounce on
something. Also, for some cats, they start getting active several hours
before they know a meal will be arriving. In the wild, this would be a
natural behavior because they have to go through the physical hunt before
they get to feast on the prey. For an indoor kitty, even though he may not
have to hunt for food, his instincts still tell him to start warming up the
engine.

You may be able to address some of this behavior by satisfying the
prey-drive in your cats at night. To help a kitty's internal clock you need
to understand what I call the "cycle of four". This is based on the natural
cycle of hunting, feasting, grooming and sleeping. This is the order that
cats go through during a typical day and most especially, at night.
In the wild, a cat would stand the best chance of hunting between dusk and
dawn because that's when prey is most available. Your kitty has probably
spent most of the daylight hours napping and is ready for some serious
hunting. Even if you play with both of your cats in the evening, if it's
done too early, the internal clock won't be affected in the positive way
you want.
Training, if based on the cycle of four is very easy and effective. Right
before you go to bed, conduct an interactive play session. They key is to
do the session as close to bedtime as possible. For us, the evening
represents the end of our day and we're getting relaxed but for the cat,
the evening means activity. If you do a playtime with your cats when you
get home from work, do another one right before bed. Use a fishing pole toy
so you can more realistically imitate actual prey. Here's a post from the
archives with specifics on interactive playtime... (see seperate post
headed Interactive Play posted by Kimthecat)

Make the game as close to a real hunt as possible in terms of how you move
the toy. This will let a kitty have mental activity as well as physical.
Cats don't chase prey to exhaustion, but rather, they hide behind things
and get closer and closer until they reach that "ambush" distance and then
they pounce. This is the *hunt* part of the cycle of four. To address the
*feast* part, offer your kitty a treat after the game. You can also feed a
portion of dinner at this time. If you feed on a schedule, divide up the
day's normal ration so you can save a little bit to offer right before bed.
If you leave food down free-choice, take it up early in the evening so you
can make a big production out of putting it back down after that final play
session (it helps to refresh the food at that time as well).
The third part of the cycle of four involves *grooming*. After hunting and
devouring prey, the cat grooms himself to remove all traces of scent. Hhe
then moves into the fourth stage which is *sleep*. With a satisfied
prey-drive and a full tummy, your cat will look forward to sleeping through
the night and probably will wake up later in the morning. He'll probably be
less likely to roam the house in the dark, but even if he does, he'll most
likely be in a more relaxed mood.
It's also a good idea to conduct at least one other playtime during the day
to keep your kitty's prey-drive satisfied. You can do this playtime before
you go to work in the morning or when you come home at night. Since a cat
is a predator, it's important to offer several opportunities during the day
to satisfy that prey-drive.*

HTH Alison

You say "I lock the catflap at night (with her inside)
because I'm terrified she will get squished by a car - she is very
difficult to see in daylight, never mind at night." and "she is an
incredible hunter (she brought us a *magpie* once) and the constant
stream of maimed and bleeding animals and birds was very upsetting for
us."

So, why do you continue to let her outside?

As for getting another cat, it all depends on the personality of the
chat you have now. Some cats prefer to be the only one, others will
accept a newcomer with little fuss, and others will cause havoc with
any new addition.  My experiences varied. My current combo took about
14 months to co-exist. To this day, the cat who came first continues to
chase around the one who came later. I have to separate them for
periods of time 'til the first one calms down. You have to judge
whether your cat will want the company of another cat. If you decide to
go forth with it, you MUST be around to supervise all encounters for a
month or more. I would not leave the cats together until it's sure that
one cat won't hurt the other. Good luck.