Angel's Antics (without photos)

I'm so sorry, I don't have any new photos of Angel. 
I sneaked up on him yesterday with the camera and he actually slashed at me to go away.
I swear he frowned. Guess he really wanted that nap.

So I'll tell you about his morning routine instead.

It starts about 3am, while I'm still deeply asleep, buried in the quilt, and gradually become aware there is now a cat stretched across my pillow and onto my chest. 
Purring loudly.
The purring escalates into mrr? mrr?, and yes it does have a questioning tone, which soon becomes a demanding mrrow! while he moves from pillow to floor and back again. And licks my hands. Unless I pat and scratch him, then he'll settle for just purring and maybe, if I'm lucky, going back to sleep for a while.

Not too long though, he wants his breakfast. At 3.05am?? No way!!

So 4am rolls around and I'm deeply asleep again, (yes, I am able to fall back to sleep almost immediately), and the purring, patting routine is repeated until one or both of us drifts back into dreamland. 
Early morning half asleep dreams are pretty interesting! Weird, but interesting. 

By 4.30 though, Angel is getting pretty insistent and by 4.45 I've usually had enough. 
I say, "come on then" and he bounds off the bed and into the kitchen in about two leaps while I follow more slowly, pulling on slippers, grumbling and stomping crossly, muttering at him the whole way.

So I open the tin of cat food, ooh! savoury salmon today, and dump it into his bowl, then I break it up a bit while he winds himself around my ankles with more of the mrr? mrr?
I put it down on his placemat and tell him I'm going back to bed and he'd be wise to let me go back to sleep.

Doesn't happen of course. 
Once he's finished eating there's a lot more of the jumping on and off the bed and mrrow! until I throw back the quilt and slam my feet on the floor, at which point he takes off like a rocket.
I stomp back into the kitchen and put the kettle on while he streaks around like something has spooked him, (probably me), and finally comes to rest at the top of his 2m scratching post. 

He sits up there watching me as I try to stay awake and sip my coffee. By the time the coffee is half gone, I'm awake and reading, no chance now of going back to sleep.

So what does Angel do? 
Jumps down onto the couch, curls up and goes to sleep.
Rotten little stinker!
And he will stay there sleeping as long as I'm sitting in my chair. 
Dare to get up and he is right behind me. Or in front tripping me up.
Whatcha doing? Whereya going? Can I come too?  Grumble grumble.

The few days when I do get to sleep in until 5am before Angel wakes me up are cause for rejoicing, I get up in a much happier mood.
Because of this ridiculously early rising routine, I find myself I find myself going to bed earlier, usually by 10pm and sometimes at 9.30pm. Just to get enough sleep.

Comments

  1. Our dear old Nick was an early riser/breakfaster as well...you just gotta go with it.

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  2. Cats have driven me totally under the covers, all night. They go wake someone else in the house. I guess you can't pass him off.

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  3. Angel is the boss! None of my pets could come into my bedroom. Don 't you have some dried cat food out all the time?

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  4. He seems to have you trained pretty well!!

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  5. Oh yes. Very, very familiar.
    Except at the moment insomnia has me firmly in its grip and I wake up before the cats. And am tempted to wake them as pay back for other very early mornings...

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  6. Hahahahaha! It didn't take Angel very long to climb to the top of the ladder and become boss!

    Remy is my alarm clock.

    Fortunately, he doesn't get up as early as Angel. Remy starts the "nudge, nudge..chirp, chirp...miaow, miaow" while sitting up close and personal staring into my face around dawn. Shama lets him do all the work...she just watches on.

    I ignore his requests/demands as long as I can, patting and chatting with him; and then I let them out for their early morning run. Shortly thereafter they're both back inside again...until same time, same place the following morning. He's pretty good actually...he knows I won't relent immediately to his demands, and now I think along with his desire to go outside, he also likes the attention after a night of not receiving any.

    Both Remy and Shama sleep with me...I wouldn't have it any other way....neither would they! God! I'd hate to even try! lol

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  7. Angel, Angel, Angel. What a little tyrant she has become. No solutions from me.

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  8. Found this very interesting piece on YouTube the other day about petting cats. You might find it interesting...
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Si-yk1KxYX0

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  9. Delores; I let him get away with early breakfast while he was tiny and new, hoping he'd adjust as he grew, but that hasn't been the case. Now and again we make it to 5am. I'd prefer 6am but don't think that will ever happen.

    Joanne; nope, no one to pass him off to :(

    mm; I do have dried food out in hopes that he will help himself in the wee hours, but he's ready for wet food since his dinner is at 5pm the night before. The bedroom door needs to stay open so he can get to his litter tray.

    fishducky; yeah, it was supposed to be the other way around...

    Elephant's Child; sorry to hear you have insomnia visiting, but I agree you shouldn't wake the cats just for payback. Jazz could start plotting revenge!

    Lee; he became boss in the first week and I should have put my foot down then! I ignore him as long as I can, but I worry that his miaowing will disturb the neighbours, probably I'm worrying for nothing. If I had a fenced yard I could let him out and get another hour of sleep.

    Susan Kane; Angel is a boy. and like you said, a tyrant, but only when he is hungry or ready to play. And he thinks playtime is as soon as I turn on the computer.

    Vicki; I'll have a look.

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  10. Ah! Maybe you should feed him dinner at 6 pm, then he will get hungry 1 hour later.

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  11. mm; I've tried that, it didn't work. I'll give it another go though. Maybe a snack at 5pm then dinner at 7pm.

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  12. Oh...River...I'm exactly like you re letting Angel out when you don't have fencing. I'd be worried, too.

    My two are a lot older than Angel so I've had more time to "train" them...to get them into the habit of not wandering far and long when I let them out each morning.

    Even though I'm not in a built-up area....I don't have any neighbours close by (and this property is only partly fenced...and then the fencing that is is very open), and the roadway/lane-way isn't a highly trafficked area, I still don't relax until they're back inside again.

    So, I understand completely how you feel. I'm the worst "Helicopter Mum" when these two are out in the big world for their brief appearances. :)

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  13. Lee; I followed that link from Vicki's comment and learned the way to retrain angel is to ignore all bad or unwanted behaviour. Last night I ignored Angel from his first Mrr? at 3am until 4.39am. In that time he went away and stayed quiet for a while 3 times. I think this could work. I expected him to get really anxious and he did, but not until 4.30am.
    I have no fencing at all and the communal driveway is right next to me, just a few metres further is the road which is a lot busier than I thought a side road would be, but it is used as a short cut by many drivers between Glen Osmond Road and Fullarton Road, that way they miss the lights at the intersection. And it is used as extra parking when something is on at the Arkaba Hotel.

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  14. My daughter's cat does just the same. When I stayed at her house over Christmas, sleeping in her usual bed, the cat was sitting on my chest as dawn came up, obviously puzzled about who I was, but content anyway.

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  15. Oh my god, that's early! Have you tried shutting him out of your bedroom after that early feed? And wearing earmuffs against the piteous meowing that would follow!

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  16. You are a more tolerant cat owner than I am. My cat firmly believes 3 am is the time to get up - but as a result, he is banished from my bedroom. I need more sleep than that!

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  17. That type of routine would be the end of me. Phil and I go to bed very late and read sometimes well past midnight. Fortunately Candy waits until we are about to get into bed and then leaps on Phil's bed and goes to sleep. She does get up occasionally during the night without disturbing either of us and will then stay on Phil's bed until we get up. We had a very late night recently and didn't wake till 11am, yes I did write 11am, and would you believe Candy was still on Phil's bed just patiently waiting for us to get up. I couldn't ask for a better behaved cat than she is, bless her.

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