Having a family member who works irregular hours creates havoc with catsipline! Henry used to ask for his food pretty much every morning at 7 o’clock, give or take a few minutes depending on the sunrise and weather. It took some effort to make him understand that patience is a virtue and that his humans are not appreciative of being woken at the crack of dawn but he had accepted this principle, more or less.

Since our son has started to work different shifts and on some days gets up at 5 am and on other days I am the first one up at 7.30 am, Henry has decided that if his humans practice anarchy then he will, too. He goes and comes as he pleases, sometimes at midnight, sometimes at 2 am, sometimes even later. And breakfast whenever he feels like it, basically anytime between 4.30 and 6.30am. And he is NOT taking no for an answer, making such a racket outside the bedroom door leading in the garden that is difficult to ignore. Or, if he is already inside, he knows exactly how to bump his head in my face that gets me awake and at the same time all gooey because I know it’s how cats express their love. He’s toying with me, and I still do what he wants me to do.