I opened the door once one morning for my cat who was meowing. Big mistake! He started doing in on a regular basis of course. Ignoring him didn't work, so I started getting up and closing him in the basement until I got up a few hours later. After a few days of this, I'd open my door and he'd walk to the basement so I could shut him in. It took about 2 months, but he eventually quit the meowing.
New rule: never, ever, open a door when a cat meows. If I'm ready to get up and my cats hear me rustling around and start meowing, I wait until they have stopped meowing for 15 minutes before opening the door.
My kid's cat - I've taken care of since they've left for college - started scratching at the bedroom door earlier and earlier in the morning - because that's when it was fed.
Now, it's fed at bedtime so it doesn't care what time I get up.
Yeah our cat's big meal is in the morning , I randomly change around when in my morning routine I feed them so they don't assume that just cos I'm up and about they'll be getting fed. It helped with them making noises at the door as soon as my alarm goes off in the morning (we kick them out if they're annoying at night).
Otherwise they'd assume every time I open the door to go to the toilet or whatever is meal time.
New rule: never, ever, open a door when a cat meows. If I'm ready to get up and my cats hear me rustling around and start meowing, I wait until they have stopped meowing for 15 minutes before opening the door.