bad habit

Question
Hello,

I have 3 indoor only cats and 2 of them have special needs. One of the rooms in the house is designated as "the cat room"  and the door is shut at all times to keep the special needs cats from roaming the house (the cat room is setup specifically to be safe for them). The litter box is in that room along with water and this is also where the 3 of them are fed.

The one non-special needs cat (who I'll refer to as Cali) has free roam of the house. She has access to water outside of the cats room, but if she wants to go inside that room for whatever reason, she asks to be let in by staring at the door and meowing. When she's ready to come out of the room she meows and scratches at the inside of the door.

For over a year this arrangement worked fine, but now Cali has developed some very bad habits in regards to letting me know when she wants to be fed and go in/out of the cat room.

I normally feed the cats at 9am and again at 9pm. This worked well with my waking/sleeping schedule and the cats seemed content as well. Recently Cali has decided that she wants to eat at 7:30 AM. At first she'd let me know by sticking her nose in my face and meowing loudly. Since I don't wake up until right before 9, I'd push her away and cover my face with my pillow. Usually she'd give up and wait until I woke up. A few weeks ago she started reaching her paws under the edge of my blanket and she'll start digging/clawing at me. When she does this I yell "Ow!" and push at her while firmly telling her "No!". This doesn't seem to help as she'll come right back and do it over and over again until I give in and feed her.

I tried leaving her in the cat room overnight, but then she'd scratch/bang on the door and meow loudly at 7:30 AM and continue until I give in. The scratching and banging is just as distracting and annoying as is the clawing/digging, plus it ruined the wooden  door. Next, I tried leaving food out overnight in my room thinking that she wouldn't have to wake me up, but that didn't work. She'll eat the food and still claw at me to wake me up at 7:30 to let her in the cat room. I think she has to use the litter box after she eats, but it's not possible to have another one outside of the cat room, there just isn't space.

Now I have to feed her at 7:30 to get her to stop clawing me, then she'll ask to come out of the cat room when she's finished eating/using the litter, and you'd think all would be well and I could go back to sleep, but a few hours later she'll decide I've slept long enough and she'll do the clawing thing, but then she isn't interested in going in the cat room. This is when I would be waking up anyway, so maybe she thinks it's helpful.

I really don't know what to do about this. Whether she's in my room or the cat room, she'll do whatever she can to wake me up at 7:30. Can I break this bad habit somehow or do I have to change my schedule?

Answer
Susan,

Actually it would be easier to change your schedule, especially if it is a litterbox issue.

The way to stop the annoying behavior is to ignore her COMPLETELY! It is very difficult to do and annoying, but you can not acknowledge her actions in ANY way. she will EVENTUALLY stop when she doesns't get any reaction or attention from you. You HAVE to be consistant though. If you even react once to her, then it won't work and it will be worse because the cat will know if she does it long enough eventually you WILL react, so she will keep it up longer.

And keep her claws trimmed!

If it is your own home there is a kitty door that you can install on the door to the Cat Room that works only for the cat that has the infared or magnetic 'key' on it's collar. You can get them at PetSmart, Petco, etc. Then your cat can go in and out of the Cat Room but the other cat's can't get in or out.

Hope this helps.
Tabbi