I know this is another "how do I get my cat to let me sleep" post but please bear with me as the situation is complicated because it relates to her health.
My fiancé and I have had to develop a specific feeding schedule for our senior blind cat Matilda (17 y.o) since last year. When she was younger and my parents' cat first, she was fed a small can of wet food once at 8am and once at 8pm with a full bowl of dry food as well to have throughout the day. Over time I stopped giving her dry food so she wouldn't waste her wet food as much and would stop letting it sit out. Since she's gotten older, I think she's become sensitive to eating her left-over wet food because last year she would eat and then vomit right after. We took her to the vet and he said if it happened again to take her to the emergency clinic. Well, it happened again a few months later and we did. The vet there said it could be a GI issue and said we'd need to do an ultrasound to confirm but she had no other symptoms and the visit itself was expensive so we opted out. In both visits she was just given fluids to re-hydrate her and she was fine and normal afterwards. This was happening to her after eating the normal same brand she's had for years. This was last summer. Since that emergency vet visit my fiancé and I re-adjusted how we feed her.
Now we feed her half a can of wet food in the morning, another half midday, and another half at night, all spread out between 6-8 hours. We brought the dry food back which has been okay but she doesn't eat it as often as she used to and won't eat it at all if it has sat out for a few hours and gone a little stale, so whenever we replace her dry food we just pour a small amount at a time to see how much of it she actually goes through. We just came back from a trip abroad, and our friend who was cat-sitting improperly stored the dry food and it may have all gone stale because now she hardly touches it.
Anyway, her new feeding schedule has worked a lot better because in the year that we've implemented this, she has not vomited nearly as much as she used to (it's only happened maybe 3-5 times the past year, mostly from eating too much too quickly). But here's the problem: Since I'm usually the one to feed her in the mornings, she sits by me in bed and meows at me and paws at my arm and face, and has been doing this earlier and earlier. Her claws get sharp quickly so she inadvertently scratches me up pretty badly. Because she can't see me, she gets my face and has come close to scratching my eye and lip. (Before she was my cat she was never groomed at home so I periodically take her to a groomer to get it done, and she is due soon so her claws will get clipped so they aren't as sharp). I will get so mad that I take her off the bed but she loudly meows and gets back up to do it again. One day recently I made her wait till 8 before I fed her. I'm trying to get her used to a 7:30-8am breakfast schedule but she will yell at me as early as 4-5am. She plays and goes to bed with us, so this is strictly a breakfast issue.
I started working full time and may get a second job soon, while my fiancé is on summer break from school so we are alternating having him feed her in the mornings more so she stops yelling at me. I already struggle with insomnia and an alternating work schedule, so I need my sleep but for the past 2 months I've only been getting 5-6 hours partly because of this. He is going on a study abroad program soon for about 2 months, so in that time I will try to not give in and get her used to having breakfast around 8am since she won't be able to bother him too.
I've considered giving her a full can for her last meal but we are hesitant to do that in case she starts vomiting from what is sitting out again. The obvious answer seems to be to get an automatic dry food feeder so she can hopefully become more inclined to eat dry food if its dispensed 'fresh' at certain times, but there's a chance it won't make a difference. Again, she is blind so she can't see what she has available to her, but she's adjusted pretty well (was not born blind, had eye complications over the years and had to have them removed a few years ago) and knows there's food available for her but still. Kicking her out of our room is not an option because she paws and meows at the door anyway. I've woken up from her doing this and ignored her until 7:30-8 to actually feed her but I don't know how much longer I need to do this for it to stick as it doesn't seem to make a difference, and its the waking us up in the first place that's a problem.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/c5oii2/senior_cat_with_sensitive_stomach_waking_me_up_by/
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