With the diabetes diagnosis for my cat, we got a whole new routine. I used to feed him his wet food at 6-7 am (basically whenever I got too annoyed by him trying to wake me) and then he would free feed dry food the rest of the day.
Now, he is on a much more controlled diet. He gets wet food and a bit of dry at 9 am and 9pm, when he also gets his insulin dose. They have to be at the same time because he needs to eat directly before the insulin, and I can't change the times I do the insulin as it has to be a 12 hour spacing and with my work schedule, 9pm is the earliest I can do it in the evening as that's literally a few minutes after I get home.
The thing is, this makes him...frustrating in the mornings. Now he wakes me up, and I have nothing I can give him to placate him so I can go back to sleep. I don't want to have to lock him out of my room, that's not the point here. I just want to figure out how I can make it clear that I am not getting up. I tried telling him no and putting him on the floor, I have tried spraying him with water, I have literally tried everything. I am hoping he will adjust eventually, but in the meantime I am kinda frustrated with the sleep I am losing.
How can I help both me and my cat adjust to our new reality?