Conference misery::feline

    I think they do.  When my brother was staying with me he told me that
    everyday at 5:20 p.m. the kitties would all go over to the door and
    wait for me.  I usually get home between 5:30 - 5:45.  At night I feed
    them around 10:30 p.m. and if I'm late both Hoover and Sid remind me
    what time it is.
    
    It could be argued that they know it's almost time for me to arrive by
    the amount of daylight (or lack of this time of year) and that hunger
    drives them to start poking me if I forget to feed them right at 10:30
    but I still believe they have some concept of the amount of time
    passing.
    
    Have a great vacation.
    
    T
    

    My alarm goes off at 6:10.  If I'm not up by 6:15 (if my alarm doesn't
    go off), my Rico jumps all over me, howling.
    
    We do NOT feed them in the morning...we do that last thing at night.
    He does NOT do this on weekends...only on weekdays.
    
    How's THAT for a concept of time?  :^)
    
    K.C.

    My boys definitely have a concept of time, or at least know my routine
    like the back of their paw!
    
    If I am not awake by 6:30 a.m., their feeding time, they will begin to
    do things to capture my attention.  Kelsey is the "spokescat", that is,
    he is the one to jump on the bed meowing in my face.  If that doesn't
    work, he will jump onto the nightstand and try to knock over my cup of
    water.  This never fails to get my attention.  Herbie picks at the
    carpet, knowing it irritates me, and Taja will start chasing Kelsey
    around, knowing he will throw a hissy fit and wake me up.  This happens
    on the weekends, too, when the alarm isn't even set.
    
    When I get home from work at night, either Kelsey or Taja is sitting up
    in the window of the bedroom watching the outdoors and Herbie is
    looking out the window near the front door.  Never fails.  They seem to
    know my schedule like clockwork!
    
    Oh, and K.C., I have tried feeding them last thing at night but it
    doesn't work.  They still insist on a morning feeding too.  Brats!
    
    
    -Roberta
    

    Thanks for all the feedback folks.  My concern is my being away for 
    9 days, and my Tabs wondering what the heck is going on!?  I plan
    on having a long talk with him the morning I leave, and explain to
    him that I will be back, and that I'm gonna miss him while I'm away.
    Then hugs and kisses, that's when my eyes will begin to get a little
    misty!  Heck, they already are!!

    Well, I know that my girls can tell time. That's for sure. I think
    that they have a pretty good concept of time for some things, but when
    it comes to other things, they really don't. For instance...WHen I 
    leave my house in the AM, my girls say good bye to me at the door, love
    me up, try to stop me from leaving etc. (Really, Callie plops her
    chubby little body RIGHT in front of the door) but when I'm just
    leaving for a second (to run down to the car or to the store) they
    just hang loose, knowing I'm not going to be gone for any length of
    time. It's for this reason that I have a ritual that we practice each
    time I'm going to leave for a long time. Then they know if I'm going to
    be gone all day & they can get their loving in before I leave.
    
    On the other hand. I think that while you're gone, your cat will wonder
    where you are, and when you'll be back. He'll be very happy to see you,
    but after the fact, I don't think he'll remember how long you were
    gone, or how long it's been since he last saw you.
    
    Mine know when I'm supposed to get up, but I notice that instead of 
    waking me at a specific time, they wake me up about 8 hours after I
    go to sleep. So If I go to bed late, and sleep late, they won't wake
    me til I've been asleep for 8 hours! Having an alarm clock is always
    nice. Realizing for the first time that my kittenhood terrorization
    nights are over is nice too! I almost forgot what it was like when they 
    were full fledged kittens!! I thought I'd never get a nights sleep 
    again!!
    
    
    Bonnie

Bonnie --> You mean kittenhood terrorization nights end????   Really????

	You mean no more 1, 2, 3, and 4 am wakeup pounces?  No more middle
	of the night grooming for mom's hair?   No more "if I can climb far
	enough down under the covers and crawl back up through mom's nightshirt,
	I can poke my head out the same hole she has hers sticking out of?"
	No more "if I can wake the dog up we can play tag across mom and 
	dad until one of them wakes up?"     

	Could this be possible???

    Lisa-Marie,
    
    I does get better eventually.  Onxy is now waiting until 6:45am to 
    drop the nerf golf ball on my throat in the morning (this is the 
    signal to stop sleeping and start playing fetch).  He was doing this
    between 4:30 and 6:00am prior to this.  I guess he's finally figured
    out that I'm much willing to throw the darned thing when I wake up
    closer to my normal time.  Also, his little toys started disappearing
    under the covers.  He'd drop them on me and I'd confiscate them.  Was 
    making the bed properly one morning (use the quicky method when I'm 
    in a hurry) and found 2 golf balls, 1 formerly catnip-stuffed mouse, 
    1 gold and 1 red mangled/shredded Christmas bow.

    Yeah, and Callie only comes into my bed & crawls under w/ me when it's
    almost time for me to wake up. She's REALLY getting a lot better. I had
    nights like Lisa Marie for two years!! First a year w/ Tabitha and then
    we went & adopted Callie! Thank goodness things are calming down!
    
    If I ever adopt another cat, I think we'll go w/ an adult!
    
    Bon

While Thor ("the maniac") likes to sleep as late as Mom and Dad do, 
Loki ("the lovecat") insists on arising each morning at 6:45... precisely.
And of course, once he is up, it is time for us to be up and feeding him!

In a slight digression, this topic reminds me of a cartoon I saw recently.
The caption read "HOW CATS TELL TIME";  it showed a person, lying in bed
with a cat on their chest,  shouting "It's three o'clock in the morning!
What the h*ll do you want?!!!"   

    Snoopy's usually a pretty good alarm clock; she starts playing with her
    toys about the time I should get up (and walking up and down the bed
    saying, "MEOW!  MEOW!  MEOW!"), but only on weekdays.  But I think the
    reason for this is that she knows the clock-radio going off means she
    will be fed very soon if I get out of bed.  Food seems to trigger
    everything for her.
    
    Lisa Dean and Snoopy (Alarm Clock Cat)

    My dear little Alex has exhibited yet another "concept of time" this
    morning...
    
    Every morning, after I do my "morning stuff" and before I wake up my
    hub, I sit in the kitchen, listen to the radio and read.  I get up to
    put the water on for coffee/tea any time between 6:50 and 6:55. 
    Usually during my time of sitting, Alex is curled up in my lap, and I
    have to lift her off when I get up.  As an added note, the time I get
    up is in direct correlation with the time the radio news starts.
    
    This morning, and in hindsight, last Thursday and Friday, she got off
    of my lap, WITHOUT any coaxing, right at 6:50...even before the news
    came on!
    
    K.C.