My cats have settled in well since I rescued them 4 weeks ago and have really become vocal. When my alarm goes off at 5am, they must hear it and know I'll be getting up, as they start crying and scratching my bedroom door. Why do you think this is? Am I not feeding them enough at night? They each get a sachet of food and a treat before I go to bed around 11pm. I guess it could also be because the litter trays need doing. Or do they just get lonely and enjoy cuddles before I have to tear myself away and go to work? Any insights into cat psychology would be welcome!

It's because they know you will be awake and want your company. They have been left alone without you for 6 hours so most probably have missed you.

My cats do that if I have to close the bedroom door as they like know where I am all the time (even when I'm in the bathroom having a wee!)

I used to have a cat that used to sit on the loo when I was having a shower and talk to me, if I shut him out he would sing the house down!

I live in a small one bed flat with my two cats, so small that there's no point shutting them out of the bedroom, cos if they started yelling I'd still hear them

They usually start fidgeting about half 5, but they've learnt that mummy doesn't get up until the alarm goes off. I usually end up with one of them led next to me on the bed, and the other will sit millimetres from my face purring until I let her under the duvet

They're most active at dawn and dusk, so they're wide awake and want you to be too, I ignore mine though, and they've learnt that no matter how much noise they make, mummy is not going to give them attention until mummy is ready. About 75% of the time now, they don't yell, as they know it won't get anywhere. Just persevere and they will soon learn your routine, I make sure their biscuits are topped up before bed, so I know they won't go hungry

I tend to agree with above, I have been amazed how intuitive my 2 new cats are. As soon as the lights are off for bed they calm down more or less straight away and know that its sleep time! This is regardless of what time I go to bed then in the morning I sometimes hear them up and about or going outside, but they don't come into me until the light goes on and they know I'm awake and available

My two do not tolerate any closed doors - I too have one that likes to chat while I shower , will then insist on washing the water off my feet ... I love my little oddball !! They get antsy when its time to get up .. One sleeps on my feet but the other is a great believer in waking the human up .. Often by nonchalantly strolling across my head .. Occasionally she'll stop & thoughtfully wash my nose for me ....

Leaves OH alone funnily enough

As soon as my alarm goes off, my two girls are jumping about on top of me, shouting for me to get up. They dont bother my OH either!

I'd agree they want to see you, though breakfast will be on their mind too - but don't fall into the trap of overfeeding them! Maybe spread the meals out - a timed feeder may help.
I've had my rescue cat for 4 weeks too - she's quite good about sleeping in my room though she tends to get up and wander off a bit before I wake - but she then seems to forget where I am and starts yelling, eventually she turns up in my room and is wanting attention. Apparently she used to live in a house with 9 cats so I've a theory she may be calling for them or for her kitttens who were rehomed seperately. Or perhaps shes just very vocal

All cats do this. They see you as their parent.

Our cat scratches at the door at 6:00am and i'll have to open it or she''ll start yowling and meowing. She always does this unless she's very tried and can't be bothered and sometimes she comes too early and I open the door and let her in. she'll sometimes jump on the bed when I tell her it's not time to wake up. She gets lonely which is why she comes to, cats love company and hate being alone. She'll wait for me outside the bathroom and happily run down the stairs in front of me following me wherever I go.

It's normal cat behaviour.

The Beast won't tolerate closed doors when he thinks he has a right to been on the other side (ie the comfy bed)

If he is randomly 'locked out' we get the full feline version of Les Miserables.

He also finds his crying voice if I occasionally have to get up for work at silly o'clock, and he thinks it's early breakfast time.

I'm stumbling around, trying to find some pants, quietly so the OH doesn't wake up, and there is this mobile fire alarm that decides it food time.

And I get the wrath, usually along the lines of "For $%~@$ sake give that "£$$%@@ cat something to eat or I will throw the little "£$%^& out the window

She loves the Beast really, but is not a morning person

You could make a mint by selling tickets

Mine yowls not just for food, when I go to bed at night and I turn all the lights off she starts, first thing in the morning after she has had breakfast, in the evenings she will walk into the bedroom and look at the wardrobe and yowls(she has a thing for my partners shoes), when she uses the litter tray she yowls, when she is needing her bed she yowls. My partner was playing xbox a few days ago and she was yowling and someone thought it was a baby crying, he has been outside and has heard her yowling before. She never used to yowl but since we have got our own place and she has become an only cat (and rather spoilt) she yowls a lot.

In the mornings when she wants breakfast or in the afternoons/evenings and she wants food she meows like a normal cat.

- I'd love to be a fly on your wall for a day or two.

Hehe your stay would be short-lived, I think.

Of my four, only one is a cryer, and I know I'm very lucky in that. We've got an old torty (16) who only shouts at us now when we inconsiderately try to move her from a warm spot (usually the seat I'm trying to return to after nipping to the loo or something).

The next youngest is a tuxedo girlie (5), who only shouts at me when she needs the back door opening. When she isn't out on the tiles she'll try to lie across me, pin my hands down and give them a good wash.

The tuxy is mum to my other two tabby 'babies' (nearly 3 - how fast time goes!). One of them is a proper little princess, haughty, not a bit demanding, and her sister's the cryer. Geez. She cries to get on my knee, to get off, to join in the cooking/brewing up/loo visit/sleeping. She's scared of her own shadow, her own tail (she startles if her tail moves to the corner of her eye), of daylight (she'll attempt a 2-minute trip into the back garden if it's dark but only if I go too), carrier bags, my son's feet going upstairs. If she's on my lap and I cough, she leaps higher than my head. She's a little sod, but I'd never part with her.

Lastly, I daren't close a door, ever. It'd be ripped to bits within an hour with my lot. They just mither to have it opened, and once it is they just walk away, tails in the air. That's me told, I expect.

^ Milian knows cats.

Ha! I've lost count of the times my cats have chittered and chattered over a fly or spider over the years!

Cats are great at teaching you what they want you to know/do, and they're damn persistent with it. Hurley, if you don't want your cats in your bedroom (not everyone does), it'll take a while but they'll learn eventually. Even if you just open the door a little bit to say "Oy you two, go away, I'm trying to sleep", they'll think "YAY we won!".

I'm a total slave to mine, which I don't mind, anyway.

Cats see a closed door and want to be the other side of it. If the door was open they wouldn't want to come in.