Since domesticated cats depend on their people to eat, a cat that normally eats at 7 a.m. is going to start getting very concerned if 7:05 rolls around and the food bowl is empty, Hall said.
Instead, Hall and Reimers recommend using behavioral routines and phrases to indicate that food is coming. And make sure that feeding isnât the first thing you do in the morning, or else you will have a feline friend pestering you every time you get up in the night, Reimers added.
Hall always plays with her cats for a few minutes before feeding, and now they know not to panic for food if playtime hasnât come yet. Reimers asks her cats âsomething to eat?â and that phrase means they can get excited for breakfast.
In the wild, cats typically hunt at dusk and dawn, so that is likely when they will be the most active. If you donât want to be woken up by a playful cat at dawn, Hall recommends putting toys and enrichment activities around the house before going to bed at night so your pet has something to do before you wake up. Similarly, cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy suggests that the chance for a peaceful night's sleep is increased by respecting a cat's natural rhythm in the wild, the phases of "hunt, catch, eat, sleep." Galaxy recommends before you climb into bed that you play with your cat with an interactive toy, then allow your cat to catch the toy at the end of play followed by a treat or a small portion of the cat's dinner reserved from earlier, thus mimicking the cat's typical activity in the wild. Then, both you and Tabby can put that "extra" hour to good use - sleeping! | 
