As the title says, my cat is waking me and my mum up between 4am and 6am. Some background, we took in our cat after he was abandoned and neglected by our neighbour. He was used to sleeping and going to the bathroom outside before we started letting him sleep in the house during cold and wet nights.

I usually go to bed around 1am, and my cat would be sleeping on the sofa. Between 4am and 6am, he would come up the stairs and come into whichever bedroom door we leave open, whether it be mine or my mum's and jump up on the bed, waking us up. If we close our doors, he stands on the landing scratching the doors and meowing.

It's starting to negatively affect our sleep, and while I understand why he's doing it, I'm unsure as to how to stop it. As I fear that if I shut him in the kitchen, he would meow non-stop until we respond. We got him a cat flap and a litter box but he rarely uses them.

Does anyone have any advice as to how we can best manage this? I love my cat and wouldn't dream of getting rid of him.