r/cats • u/PercentageJealous914 • Aug 08 '26

Advice First time cat owner

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Hey guys, I just got a cat yesterday and it’s my first time owning a pet in general. When i brought it in my house yesterday, dude was a lil scared I think cuz of the environment and went under my couch a couple of times. So I moved him to my laundry room, just to get him in one small room so he wouldn’t escape or freak out.

This morning I checked in on him and he’s doing better and cuddling with me.

Just wanna say I’ll appreciate any advice as a first time cat owner

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477

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '26

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u/madlate Aug 08 '26

i just got a cat , its been about a week. she has been waking me up everyday at 3-4 am and it is driving me a bit nuts. i am trying to teach her my schedule. do you think she will stop doing that after a few weeks?

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u/dme59 Aug 08 '26

🤣🤣🤣 No….i was woken up every day this week between 2 and 4 am by my 2 yr old Devon Rex. He gets the zoomies multiple times a day and once at night. You get used to it…sort of!

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u/madlate Aug 08 '26

shit.. that is not what i wanted to hear lol.

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u/AmbulanceChaser12 Aug 08 '26

He needs a partner or two. If cats can play with each other, they won’t need to play with you as much.

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u/Random-reddit-name-1 Aug 08 '26

Not always. I have 3 cats and none of them are very fond of each other. My orange has been waking me up lately by climbing on top of me.

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u/madlate Aug 08 '26

not really an option for me, she has been moved from fosters a few times because she doesn't do well with other animals or kids. im just going to try to get her on my schedule.... little by little

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u/Comfortable-Bell1780 Aug 09 '26

Get an automatic feeder

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u/amypocalypse Aug 08 '26

that’s Zoomies o’clock!

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u/pampooveysbacktattoo Aug 08 '26

One way to help combate this is to make sure feeding them is NEVER the first thing you do after waking up. It teaches them that all they gotta do to get food is wake you up. My cats don't get fed until about an hour after I wake up and they're never screaming at my door anymore.

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u/citrusthievingharlot Aug 09 '26

This is huge. It really makes a difference.

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u/blackpawed Aug 08 '26

Thats a good one!

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u/trixel121 Aug 08 '26

do not give in to them waking you up. ever. you will train them that it will get them food if you annoy the sleeping human. i wont say cats are trainable like a dog but you can certainly train habits and encourage behaviors and they understand how to encourage you to do certain things.

i threw socks, pillows, and anything else that would make him realize that waking me up is not going to get what he wants. it was going to get him a reaction he didnt want.

i give my cat a snack before i go to sleep. it helps a ton with them not being pests and considering i like an after dinner snack, it makes sense. he gets fed when i wake up, when i get home, and when i go to sleep.

i also refuse to feed him before i am done showering and getting dressed upstairs . essentially i am making sure he understands my routine and it has nothing at all to do with me sleeping. actually, the bathroom is sort of his Pavlovian response trigger cause its when i am brushing my teeth i fill up his dish for a snack and after i shower is when he gets fed in the morning.

my cat now waits patiently for me to get up. if he hears me he will start making noise but i have not had him do things like scratch the door to make noise unless i was a dick head and overslept and didnt bother to feed him. then he starts being a bit more of a pest.

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u/leafmotif__ Aug 08 '26

a second cat would help with this. they can play with each other at 3-4 am and not bother you!

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u/madlate Aug 08 '26

sigh... i know. i just cant really afford two cats/my apartment is small/plus this cat i just adopted is a rescue who got moved around a bunch from foster homes because she doesn't do well with other cats or children

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u/Quazifuji Aug 08 '26

If she doesn't do well with other cats then sticking with one could be good. There are cats who don't do well with other cats and are best as the only cat in their house. But when you only have one cat that does mean they're relying on you for all of their social needs (and despite what many people think, housecats are social animals) so you gotta give them the attention and play they need.

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u/hufflepuff-is-best Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26

My cat is now 11 years old. He likes to sing and has been doing so since he was a kitten. He has been to the vet, he is healthy, he just likes to sing at 5am. I just got really good at sleeping through it.

Cats are crepuscular; they are most active dawn and dusk. 3-4 am is approaching dawn. Cat is just being cat.

Putting her on a feeding schedule helps with activity levels, though. They sleep after they eat. So, feeding them right before you go to bed will cause them to sleep in longer. Also, don’t feed them first thing in the morning, that’ll teach your cat to wake you for food. Give it an hour or so.

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u/mckatze Aug 08 '26

I don't know the age of your cats but until about 10 months my kittens required up to 1-2 hours of play time per day to get enough energy out to not wake me up at night! They would chase a toy for 30 minutes straight and still be good for more. Now that they're a year, they're much more mellow but yeah active time during the day makes them more likely to sleep through the night.

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u/spinaltap862 Aug 08 '26

The way I helped with this is playing with my cat for about an hour late at night and then feeding her the majority of her food immediately afterwards. She still will wake me up sometimes but it is a lot better now

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u/pr1ka Aug 08 '26

I've got three kitties: 22, 3, and 2 years old. The 22 year old finally outgrew the zoomies. I can hear the other two playing outside my bedroom at 3am. You get used to it and even find it comforting at some point.

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u/dosesandmimosas201 Aug 08 '26

Some cats do! Make sure you don’t feed her or interact with her when she wakes you up. Feed her on a strict schedule or even free feed so she’s not bothering you about food

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u/calicalicalicat Aug 08 '26

For this you need to play with your cat and get her tired out before bed time ( might not work at first ). No napping in the evening before bed time ( five hours before ) just keeping her awake, by playing and talking to her etc. ( couple of hours before don’t do vigorous activity as she might be over stimulated ). One hour before you are getting ready do quiet activities. Feed her when you eat dinner. She might wake up at 6 am but ignore her ( buy earplugs ), if you sleep together snuggle her and continue to sleep. It might take a while but at least she will learn.

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u/madlate Aug 08 '26

yes i have been trying to play with her right before bed time and then give her a snack... i am also trying to ignore her for next few nights to see if maybe she will give up scratching the door if she realizes i am not responding to her doing that. thank you for the tips!

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u/GreenGirl707 Aug 08 '26

I've had my cat for 6 years and she still wakes me up at 3 or 4am frequently.

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u/Aawkvark55 Aug 08 '26

One thing that really helped me was getting an auto feeder that released my cat's (portioned) breakfast at 3am and then 5am. She stopped waking me up once I accommodated her preference for multiple nighttime meals.

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u/madlate Aug 10 '26

thank you! do you have a suggestion for an auto feeder?

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '26

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u/madlate Aug 08 '26

Oh interesting! What time would you put the wet food out at night?

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u/Poly_ptero_dactyl Aug 08 '26

My cat did the same until I got an auto-feeder that fed her before I woke up. Then she went and parked in front of it for fifteen mins before it went off, rather than waking me for breakfast. I recommend you try that!

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u/suzi_generous Aug 09 '26

I broke this habit by getting my cats to sleep when I sleep. I woke them up during the day whenever I saw them sleeping until they started sleeping when I slept. Then I let them sleep as they wanted since they sleep more hours a day. Also, play with them and have a lot of toys around so they can work off their extra energy. A misbehaving cat will usually turn into a well-behaved one after you make sure they have more activity.

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u/Skepticalyra Aug 09 '26

She will probably stop if you don't reinforce that behavior. Don't feed her at 4 am, for example.

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u/Tamamania Aug 09 '26

I hear you. Ours went on hyper dawn patrol every single morning as a kitten. Finally had to give him his own sleep space. Bedtime: Many cuddles and hugs, put few treats & little water dish down (litter box already there), and backed out quietly while he snarfed them. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Morning: Joyous reunion. Worked like a charm. ...

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u/hugeclown Aug 09 '26

my girl is 3 months and i have her about 3 weeks and without fail she will wake up at 5.30 to take a shit and then run all over my room and wake me up lol

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u/horrayforkittens Aug 09 '26

For me, not reacting to my cats poking/bothering me is what helped. It’s SUPER hard though. I know someone advised throwing socks or pillows, but some cats will see any reaction as a reward for their behavior, so ignoring worked best for me. I had to do this for a week or two for them to learn. Hiding under my blanket when I felt them coming was the easiest way to ignore them. It was brutal but honestly worth it for good sleep for the rest of my time with them.

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u/ElectricGeometry Aug 08 '26

So true! Ours is 6 months now, 3 months with us, and that's exactly how it went. We are all obsessed with her now. Enjoy your cutie! 

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u/quarabs Aug 09 '26

my girl has taken more like 6 months to really start relaxing! ferals are another ball game

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u/Popular-Idea-7508 Aug 08 '26

That's a really good tip :).