my cat has figured out the exact second my alarm is supposed to go off and now she shows up 4 minutes early

for context my alarm is set for 6:15 i use an old wind-up alarm clock because i refuse to let my phone sit next to my head all night, but thats a different rant... about two months ago she started hopping up on the nightstand right before it goes off. she just stares at me. then it went off and she acted all surprised and offended, like she wasnt expecting it fine. but now she's there at 6:11 every single morning, and if i dont move she starts batting at the clock. shes knocked it off twice. the second time the bell got bent and now it sounds sad ngl the weird part is she cant possibly know what time it is. no light change this early, i checked. and i havent changed anything in my routine. my neighbor says cats can hear the clock's gears shift before it rings, which sounds made up but i dont really have a better explanation

so now im basically on her schedule. does anyone else's pet do this or did i adopt a tiny supervisor... 🤦

wait you cant leave us on "then it went off and she" PurpleFencepost!! 😭 my guess is she hears the wind-up clock click right before it rings, so shes basically your backup alarm ALSO A WIND-UP CLOCK?? thats so charming i love it 💜 smart cat, cute owner 😏🚀

honestly lol PurpleFencepost really left us on a cliffhanger!! i NEED to know what she did... my old cat did this too but she was always 4 minutes early because i kept hitting snooze and she just gave up on me. 4 minutes is weirdly specific though... apparently cats can hear way higher pitches than we can, so maybe the clock makes some tiny gear noise before it rings that we cant even hear?? i'd look it up but i'd probably end up reading about Jupiter's moons again and forget why i opened the tab (Io has over 400 active volcanoes btw!! sorry...)

also a wind-up clock is such a vibe, very indie folk album cover... does it tick loud??

mine figured out that the coffee grinder means ME being awake, so now she screams at the grinder specifically. Not at me just the appliance, like it owes her money. tbh i think yours is just guessing early because 4 minutes early gets fed and 4 minutes late gets yelled at for being a disappointment. same strategy i use for doctor appointments

...me just the appliance, like it owes her money.... honestly

lol thats classical conditioning, grinder noise = you're up = food pavlov did the same thing with dogs and a bell, more or less https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning

mine's not guessing tho, she reacts to the switch clicking on my keyboard. swapped to silent tactile switches and she started showing up late lmao