Does your cat wake you up in the middle of the night, every night? As cute and adorable as they are, it can be incredibly frustating when your furry friend wakes you up for no apparent reason.
But according to a cat behaviour specialist, there’s actually an important reason they do this, and there’s something you can do to prevent it happening. Shani, a certified feline training and behaviour specialist, claimed the reason they do this is because they are crepuscular beings.
In a TikTok to her @wildatheartcats page, she explained: “A lot of people assume that cats are nocturnal when they are actually what’s called crepuscular, which means that they are most active at dusk and dawn.
“So they aren’t waking you up at three or four in the morning because they’re jerks, they’re doing it because it’s their natural instincts.”
According to Shani, you shouldn’t get angry at your cat for their natural instincts. Instead, there’s something you can do to prevent them waking you up in the first place.
The cat behaviour expert explained you should be playing with your cat before you go to bed, and then feed them a meal. She added: “It’s not natural for cats to fast for over six hours, so you should be providing a meal overnight and at that time they normally wake you up”.
For this, Shani recommends using an auto feeder, which makes it “super, super easy for you to provide for your cats”.
It appeared many people could sympathise with their cats waking them up early in the morning, or in the middle of the night. One person wrote: “My cat does this every morning!!! 4-6 am until I’m up!!!”
Another commented: “This is genuinely the reason I don’t have a cat. I had fosters with auto feeders but no matter what I do they just do not sleep through the night. I personally really need sleep I function so badly.”
Some people already tried the feeding method, and found it worked. One person wrote: “I feed my cat at midnight and she sleeps through till 6am.”
Another shared: “I have four babies… one of them wakes me up between 3-4am. I get up, feed them, and go right back to sleep! I’m literally ‘awake’ for less than 5min. No biggie.”
Specific advice for cats can vary depending on your circumstances. If in doubt, speak to your vet.
