Why Your Cat Wakes up at the Same Time Every Day

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Some cat owners might have noticed their cats waking them up at the same time everyday. If so, they should know that this isn’t an uncommon occurrence, meaning that they have no cause to be concerned. Moreover, if they are unhappy with being woken up in said manner, they should be heartened to know that this isn’t necessarily an insurmountable problem.

Why Is Your Cat Waking Up At the Same Time Everyday?

For starters, there is a good chance that cats are awakening their cat owners on a regular basis because of simple pattern recognition on their own. Simply put, they notice that their cat owners are waking up at a particular time on a regular basis. As a result, cats will learn to give their cat owners a helping hand in this regard over time.

Unfortunately, there are times when this pattern recognition can backfire. For instance, cats don’t exactly have the best grasp of the difference between weekdays and weekends. As a result, if they notice that their cat owners get up at a particular time in the morning, it isn’t uncommon for them to help their cat owners get up at around that time even if said individuals were planning to sleep in because it is the weekend. With that said, this isn’t an unsolvable problem. Over time, it is possible for cats to notice that their cat owners will wake up at a particular time on certain days but at a different time on others, which is another example of their ability to recognize patterns.

With that said, there are a lot of other potential reasons why cats might choose to wake their cat owners at a particular time in the morning. For example, cats can get pretty hungry after a long night. As a result, if they are reliant on their cat owners to feed them, it is possible for their hunger to motivate them to wake up their cat owners so that they can get fed. Likewise, it is interesting to note that cats can tell when humans have entered the lightest stage of their sleep based on various factors such as heartbeat rates, respiration rates, and signs of activity. Due to this, when they notice that their cat owners have entered the lightest stage of their slumber, they won’t hesitate to wake up their cat owners.

On top of this, it should be mentioned that cats are actually crepuscular creatures. In other words, they aren’t most active during either the day or the night. Instead, they are most active during the dusk and the dawn. This is supported by their habits when they are out on their own in the wild as well as by a number of adaptations that can be found in them, with examples ranging from their eyesight to their stealth. Since cats are crepuscular by nature, it is no wonder that a lot of cats seek out attention in the morning.

Final Thoughts

Having said this, it is important for cat owners to distinguish between cats waking them in the morning when they were about to wake up anyways and cats waking them in the morning when it is completely and utterly inappropriate for them to do so. Simply put, getting a good night’s sleep is a critical component of human well-being, meaning that it is important for cat owners to be able to get their rest at night without being interrupted by their feline companions. As such, if their cats are waking them up at inappropriate times, they might want to look into ways to correct that kind of behavior.

Often, this means reinforcing proper behavior through positive encouragement as well as discouraging undesired behavior by either ignoring the cat when it is misbehaving or otherwise discouraging it as needed. There are a lot of resources out there available for people who are interested in retraining their cats for better behavior, meaning that they shouldn’t hesitate to check them out as needed. For that matter, if they are stuck, they might be able to get further assistance from a cat behaviorist or some other expert, who can point them in the right direction.