Jim,

I think it's a matter of patience. When I first adopted my now 3 yr. old
(adopted at 7 months), I thought that resetting the cat's clock was not
going to be easy, but others advised patience, and pretty soon my boy was
pretty well adjusted. I started by banning him to the back part of my
apartment when he brought his toys into my bedroom and started playing in
the middle of the night or morning or whatever. It isn't exactly torture
since he had lots of room, toys, bed, litterbox, water, etc. in the back
part of our apartment. He realized quite fast that I couldn't hear him back
there and he didn't like being banned. He still brings toys in from time to
time, but is much more circumspect about his behavior. For the most part he
watches me for the last hour I'm allowed to sleep and then if I make eye
contact, endless face licking and nipping begins. The good thing is that he
seems to really get the time. He might start his morning greetings early,
but if I say no, he makes disgruntled sounds and stops pestering me until
the proper time. That being said, there is always some compromise. There is
no sleeping-in, ever. If I try, he jumps up on the chest of drawers and then
jumps hard down on the bed a few times and then walks up and down my body
just for good measure. I always get up at that point. So far he and I are
about equally trained.

Tom
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Like many mammals, cats are nocturnal.