hello,
I have a beautiful 5 year old male Bengal cat that we have had since he was a kitten. He is a very sweet and affectionate cat that loves our company. He is in very good health but the vet did say he has a slight heart murmur which doesn't seem to be a problem at this stage. He is full of energy and gets into everything and loves to have fun even if at times he is up to mischief.
Just lately its been like he has a built in alarm clock and he wakes up around 5am. Once he is awake he thinks one of us should be up to and he meows rather loudly until someone gets up. I just don't understand what the problem is because this has only started in the last week or two but nothing has changed in the house so things have been normal.
One of us can get up and go sleep in the single bed and often he goes back to sleep.
I just don't understand why he wakes up at this time or what he wants.
Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions about this?

Thank you

Welcome to our forum. I am genuinely surprised that you've had several years of your baby sleeping through the night and he is just now starting to wake you up. Mine gets me up at least twice during the night every single night. I would love for him to at least wait until 5:30 a.m.

First of all, let me tell you that heart murmurs are very common in bengals, due to the heavy imbreeding that continues to go on to this day. I have researched over 50,000 cats and am amazed at the number of parents that are also the grandparents. A low-grade heart murmur is not really anything to worry about. Mine has a grade 3 and is fine.

As to what you can do to keep your boy sleeping longer? Does he get to eat before you go to bed? Mine is a grazer and eats about every two hours. He isn't into dry food, which is out 24/7 for our other cat, so I do have to get up and make sure he gets some wet food to satisfy him.

You might try playing heavily with him before you go to bed and tire him out a little more. If nothing has changed in his environment, then it may be the fact that the days are getting shorter (unless you are in Australia or New Zealand) and when the sun comes up -- the cat wakes up.

You'll never be able to control when a cat wakes up. Mine come and go throughout the night, and do whatever in the morning. I think the temperature and time when the sun rises are two big factors. But regardless, it's outside my control. What is under my control though is whether I give them the expectation that they will get play or attention or food before my wakeup time. That's really the key. Once they suspect that I *might* give them an early breakfast if they come pester me, then they'll be pestering me every morning.

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The little monsters 3

I need to get a new mindset for Raiden! He just won't go several hours without eating. He has no teeth, his stomach is tiny at this point. I don't want him losing any more weight, so the more food he eats, the better. We see a vet specialist on Monday. That's not going to change Raiden from waking me up at least twice during the night -- he has rarely slept through the night since we've had him.