Why your Devon Rex has set her alarm earlier than yours
A Devon Rex waking you at dawn is almost never being difficult; she is following a schedule that worked. Cats are naturally most alert in the low-light hours around dawn, and a Devon Rex adds two breed traits to that timing: she is intensely people-oriented, so your waking face is part of the reward, and she is quick to learn which cry, paw-pat or door-scratch produces results. If the sequence has ever run wake, complain, breakfast, the whole performance is now a rehearsed routine rather than hunger panic.
Move the last meal later instead of the first meal earlier
The most effective change for a dawn-waking Devon Rex is shifting food later at the other end of the day. Feed the final portion as late as you reasonably can, ideally as part of your own bedtime routine, so the overnight gap to morning is as short as possible. Then let a timed feeder, placed in the kitchen or hallway rather than your bedroom, deliver the morning portion at the hour you actually want the day to start. The feeder matters for this breed specifically: a Devon Rex who has decided you are the breakfast machine will work on you personally, with eye contact, chirping and climbing, while a machine that clicks open on its own schedule gives her nothing to negotiate with. Keep the total daily amount exactly the same; you are redistributing it, not adding a dawn bonus meal.
Burn off the dawn energy the night before
A Devon Rex left under-stimulated in the evening often saves her busiest hour for first light. Build a short, vigorous play session into the hour before bed: a wand toy worked in bursts that imitate hunting, ending while she is still interested, followed directly by that late meal. Hunt, catch, eat, groom, sleep is the sequence cats are wired for, and running it deliberately at night borrows the sleep phase for your hours instead of hers at dawn.
The first mornings: hold the line kindly
When the new routine starts, expect the dawn performance to get louder before it fades, because a behaviour that used to work is usually tried harder when it first stops paying. Do not get up, call out, or feed her early even once during this stretch; a single dawn surrender teaches her that persistence eventually wins and restarts the clock. If she is on the bed, stay still and boring until the feeder's set time. Most Devon Rexes re-set within about a week once the feeder, not the human, owns breakfast. Keep every person in the household on the identical response, since this clever, social breed will quickly identify and target whoever cracks first.
When dawn waking is not about breakfast at all
Treat new dawn waking in an older Devon Rex, or waking paired with other changes, as information rather than a training problem. Restlessness at night combined with increased appetite, weight loss despite eating well, drinking more, or unusually loud night-time vocalising in a senior cat are all reasons to book a vet visit rather than adjust feeders. Likewise, a cat suddenly waking you who never did before may be in discomfort, disoriented, or unsettled by a change in the household such as a new pet or altered work hours. Rule out the physical causes first, then retrain the routine once your vet is satisfied she is well.
Writing the late feed, the feeder time and the no-dawn-feeding rule into KinsLe's Care Teams turns this reset into assigned duties with timestamps, so the whole household can see the plan was followed and your Devon Rex stops auditioning each person separately.