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As Time Purrs By
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The time change in March got me to thinking about the little internal clocks that felines seem to have. I feed my cats early in the morning and again around 4pm. They of course start to stir just before those times knowing that their feeding is coming up. But it's the other times that seem uncanny.
My cats can sense that something is not right if things are not going according to schedule. If, for instance, I approach them at a different time of the day, perhaps to pick them up and bring them out in the hall to put them in a carrier to go to the vet, they know it. They know that I would not normally pay so much attention to them at that time of the day.
I am an early riser, up by 5am most days. You other early risers will know that around here it is still dark at 5am a good part of the year. At approximately 4:45, my cats Major and Rambler will be in my bedroom attempting to wake me up. Major will lie on my pillow and attempt to lick my face or hair, whichever he has access to. Rambler will walk back and forth over me and purr, telling me it's now time to get up. I have not set an alarm clock in so many years that I don't even know if it works anymore!
The oddest thing is when it is necessary to get up during the night. If it's say 3:30 am and I get up for a few minutes they all know it's not 5am and will just look at me without any reaction. Even though it is still as dark then as it will be at 5am, they just know it's not time to get up. Everything will go back to normal until a little before 5, and that's when the wake up antics will begin. Another of our volunteers that worked an evening shift told me that her cats are in tune with her schedule and they wake her around 10am.
The time change twice a year is sometimes hard for people to get used to with their sleep patterns. I know it takes me a couple days to fully adjust to it. The cats of course don't know that we humans have been fiddling with the clock, so for a few weeks at least my morning feline alarm in the Springtime changes to 6am! They also adjust and soon it is back to 5am even after things start to get light. In June, it's light at 4am (just to let you late risers know that!) but even then the cats adjust and wait until 5am to wake me.
I have never seen a cat with a wristwatch, but they can somehow tell time as well as if they had one!
If you would like to find a feline alarm clock of your own you can stop by Kingdom Animal Shelter and find one or you can visit our website at www.kingdomanimalshelter.com.
--Rod Lauman
My cats can sense that something is not right if things are not going according to schedule. If, for instance, I approach them at a different time of the day, perhaps to pick them up and bring them out in the hall to put them in a carrier to go to the vet, they know it. They know that I would not normally pay so much attention to them at that time of the day.
I am an early riser, up by 5am most days. You other early risers will know that around here it is still dark at 5am a good part of the year. At approximately 4:45, my cats Major and Rambler will be in my bedroom attempting to wake me up. Major will lie on my pillow and attempt to lick my face or hair, whichever he has access to. Rambler will walk back and forth over me and purr, telling me it's now time to get up. I have not set an alarm clock in so many years that I don't even know if it works anymore!
The oddest thing is when it is necessary to get up during the night. If it's say 3:30 am and I get up for a few minutes they all know it's not 5am and will just look at me without any reaction. Even though it is still as dark then as it will be at 5am, they just know it's not time to get up. Everything will go back to normal until a little before 5, and that's when the wake up antics will begin. Another of our volunteers that worked an evening shift told me that her cats are in tune with her schedule and they wake her around 10am.
The time change twice a year is sometimes hard for people to get used to with their sleep patterns. I know it takes me a couple days to fully adjust to it. The cats of course don't know that we humans have been fiddling with the clock, so for a few weeks at least my morning feline alarm in the Springtime changes to 6am! They also adjust and soon it is back to 5am even after things start to get light. In June, it's light at 4am (just to let you late risers know that!) but even then the cats adjust and wait until 5am to wake me.
I have never seen a cat with a wristwatch, but they can somehow tell time as well as if they had one!
If you would like to find a feline alarm clock of your own you can stop by Kingdom Animal Shelter and find one or you can visit our website at www.kingdomanimalshelter.com.
--Rod Lauman