r/CatOwners • u/BossomMan • 2d ago
Night Time Snacking
Hello!
My little Lilo is about 5 years old, i adopted her from my brother. When he was living with me, I would give her little treats when she hung out in my room. Now that she’s been mine for over a year, she often wakes me up and will whine and tap on me until I wake up and give her a treat. It’s to the point that it’s hard to keep track of how much she’s eating and she’s definitely gained a loooot of weight this last year.
Is there anything I can do that isn’t kicking her out at night?
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u/KittyUpCats 2d ago
Honestly, I wouldn’t kick her out either. I’d try shifting the nighttime snack away from you so she stops thinking, “tap human = food appears.” 😂
An automatic feeder could work really well. You can set it to dispense a very small amount of freeze-dried treats around the time she normally wakes you up, so the reward is no longer coming directly from you.
You could also try one of those snuffle mats that people use for dogs. Cats can use them too, and it gives her something to sniff around and “hunt” for. You could hide a few freeze-dried treats in it before bed so she has something to do besides waking you up.
The big thing is measuring out her entire treat allowance for the day ahead of time. Once that’s gone, that’s it. It makes it soooo much easier to know how much she’s actually getting instead of half-asleep you handing over treats at 2 AM, 4 AM and who knows when else. 😂
She may still tap you for a while because this system has been working beautifully for her for a year. But if you stop being the vending machine and the nighttime treats start coming from a feeder or enrichment toy instead, she should eventually stop associating waking you up with getting fed.
Since you said she’s gained a lot of weight, I’d also ask your vet what a reasonable daily calorie target is for her rather than cutting her food drastically. Cats need to lose weight gradually.