We have a 6 month old beautiful boy and he is wonderful in every way, except that he starts his morning at 4:30 with constant meowing until someone goes down to feed him.
He seems to be hungry all the time!!! Is there a way to get him to sleep/stay quiet an hour longer? I am up at 5:15 anyways most morning, so its just a small gap of time.

would also love to know how often and how much you are feeding your Bengals? Thor eats twice a day....hard and wet food. about a quarter cup of each. Is this too much? too Little??

Thanks in advance!!

If you ever go down to feed him, you're reinforcing the behavior. You need to power through and not give in to the crying. If it takes 10 minutes one night before you give in, he'll try for 11 the next. If you teach him that an hour of time is enough to get you out of bed, he'll learn that it usually takes at least an hour, so don't give up. The only way to stop this is to just never give in.

That said, six months is still a little baby, and twice a meal is probably too little. Kittens gobble up food, I feed Puck sometimes 3 times the amount that I fed my last adult cat. Puck is around 10 months old now and he's slowing down naturally. He'll probably eat about the same that my last adult cat ate, but while he's growing he needs more. What food are you feeding? Most bags will give you their feeding requirements, and most will say to at least double it for kittens. Three times a day is probably easier for a little guy too, think about how tiny their stomach is and how quickly they go through food.

Know that cats have their own alarm clock and it is NEVER what time yours is set at. Kittens require multiple feedings, so if you aren't feeding him before you go to bed, I recommend that. Also, you can leave dry food out for him to nibble on during the night. Mine has dry food out, but he still wakes me up! I have been woken up in the middle of the night from cats for over 50 years, so I am completely used to being sleep deprived.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to ignore a cat's cry, especially a bengal's yowl. They are like children -- you don't generally ignore your infant or child when they wake up during the night. Jackson Galaxy says it takes about two weeks to change the behavior. But ... when a cat is hungry, a cat is hungry, so I would make sure there is ample food and water available to him while you are trying to sleep.

If I want to be able to sleep in the next morning, I feed Oberon right before bed. I am probably a bad cat mom because I don't have regular times for feedings. But since I am retired, I can respond to mid day feeding requests. Or pull a blanket over my head and he asks too early.

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An alternative to free feeding dry food (if that doesn't work for your cat, some overeat) is to get one of the timed automatic feeders that can be filled with wet food in advance.

thank you for the info!! We have tried the late night feed of wet food just before we go to bed (10pm) and he still likes to get us up bright and early!!! I try and ignore him but then he goes in and licks my daughters face till she is up....she is only 6 and doesnt like to have her door closed at night. I think this is going to be an ongoing battle to find something that works for everyone.
We love our guy so much and dont mind the wake up....but it would be nice if he could just give me another hour and a bit....5am isnt so bad.

Has anyone bought the 'hunting' mice that you fill with food and then hide around the house so that they can hunt overnight? Not sure if this is something that they would like or not...but wondered if anyone else had experience with it? thanks again!!

LOL. I don't know that I'd want a cat doing any "hunting" during the night. It won't be a quiet hunt, I'm sure. Ha ha. I would love to be woken up with kitty kisses, but mine head butts me or just cries in my face. I have NEVER EVER had a cat that would sleep until I opened my eyes in the morning. That's just not a cat! And, if this is the worst thing your baby EVER does, consider yourself lucky. Yes, I would kill to have a full night's sleep, which does happen every once in a blue moon, but normally, it's 3 a.m. for my bengal to cry in my face. And most times, he returns back to bed and falls back asleep.

I am not on here very often, as I joined the Facebook groups on bengals (thanks to Sherry :) ). When I read all these postings, I was actually smiling in sympathy with everyone. It brought back memories of my Diablo, who would jump on my night table at 5 a.m. and throw down my water bottle, my phone, my glasses. I realized that my getting up to feed him, was just encouraging him to continue this behaviour.

So, I would play with him a couple of hours before going to bed, in order to wear him out, then feed him one last time. Eventually, he stopped doing it.

Jacqueline, so happy to see you back on here.

You're so sweet, Sherry.

Yea, I wouldn't put any stock in how much other people are feeding or what it says on labels. You've got a male, adolescent bengal, so he's going to eat a lot more than most cats. I'd err on the side of potentially too much right now, understanding that in 6 months or so you might have to adjust down.

But as for the early morning wakeup, yea, what other people said. The good news is that cats are such creatures of habit that once you've got him on the "right" schedule for both of you, you'll be totally set. The bad news is getting him there, as it seems you've taught him that 4:30 is the time he should start screaming in order to earn his breakfast oh oh.... it'll take some effort to correct that now.

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The little monsters 3