OP here. It's great to hear other people also have crazy, early morning pets they still love.
For awhile, I did try one of those automatic feeding things for my furry vultures. The only problem was, they were still up at 5:30am, wandering around, poking me, and walking all over the place. They seemed to have a special affinity for walking ON the alarm clock, changing the time or turning off the alarm. The third time I startled awake, thinking it was 3pm and I had missed the day and nearly killing myself getting ready in a panic (only to discover it was actually only 8:30am), I ended the auto feedings and gave in to the Kitty Alarm System.
I haven't overslept since.