# Cat Scratching Door in the Morning



## violina (Jan 28, 2013)

Hey Everyone, it's been a while -- the kittens have turned one and overall they've been doing great. Lately, our little Snowshoe has developed a bad habit of scratching at the door. We've tried a lot of things and we just aren't sure what to do.

A bit of background: During the day they have full access to the house (also a huge scratching tree). At night, we take them into our room and close the door. They have a water bowl, food bowls, two small scratching posts, and litter boxes available to them. Both seem happy and healthy with no issues.

This started a few weeks ago and he would get behind our bed and scratch. We'd turn on a little nightlight back there and after a while he'd just stop. He then switched to scratching the door so we tried foil (he tore that down), and double sided tape on the door (he scratches anyway). We then realized that maybe he wanted a different type of food which caused some of the scratching to subside but now he's become a little warden. 

We can't sleep in on the weekends and he won't let us wake up normally for work either. Whether we give him food, pet him, play with him, basically give him what he might want, he'll come back and scratch on the door. And not just our bedroom door, but every door nearby. This morning after he checked every room in the house, he came back into our bedroom and scratched at the curtains (which he doesn't normally do).

Does anyone have any ideas of what we can do to stop this? Or rather, what can we do to make him comfortable and perhaps not rob us of our sleep?


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## 0ozma (Sep 22, 2012)

Well the only one that comes to mind here is just let him have free roam at night? Why does he need to be locked in or out of your room at night?


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

One story house or 2? We go through the same thing here. One of us will usually get up with the cats and give them their breakfast - usually around 5:30 or so, is when they get really active. Once breakfast is served, we close off a baby gate to the second story and go back to bed with the door closed. I was able to sleep until 7:30 which is heaven for me! 

You could try putting a Ssscat motion detector sprayer by the BR door, too. If the cat goes near it it emits a puff of air that almost sounds like a hiss. It works. Make sure you watch the video near the reviews. It's hilarious!

Amazon.com: SSSCAT Cat Training Aid: Pet Supplies


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

It sounds like they need their own room for the night (laundry room, bathroom, etc.) rather than sharing your room. I have had this problem before and the answer is they go to a separate room for the night. Set it up with a cat bed, preferably off the floor on a chair, table or counter, water, litter pan, and feed them their last meal of the day (or a small snack) just before you go to bed. I need an uninterrupted sleep to function well, and it's the only way I was able to get it without all the scratching at the door. My cats are allowed to come to bed if I'm having a rest or short nap, as they like to cuddle close to me and I like the cuddling too!


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## sophiam (Aug 1, 2012)

It's been over a year with my cat and at first I locked him in the bedroom with me at night because he was getting into places he shouldnt have while I slept. He would wake me at 5am every morning by coming up and nudging my face with his nose or whining in my ear. 

A few months back I let him out thinking that would stop the 5am wake up calls.It didn't I'm still up at 5am. Now Ive just accepted it. I get up talk to him for a few minutes and when he sees I'm awake he wanders off to sleep in another room. Then I can go back to sleep once he thinks I'm awake. I think he just gets lonely and wants some attention. 

I think I've made it a habit now and I don't think I can stop it. I've just grown to accept it. I'm just a roommate in his house. I don't make the rules anymore.


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## Heather72754 (Nov 1, 2013)

lolacola said:


> Then I can go back to sleep once he thinks I'm awake.


OMG I laughed so hard at this - partly because I can identify lol. I have a little 'chirper' who decides she just can't live without me for another minute at 5:00 a.m. (or 4 or 3:30), or so she would have me believe. Once I'm up, she's like, "Who are you again?" LOL


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## sophiam (Aug 1, 2012)

Heather72754 said:


> OMG I laughed so hard at this - partly because I can identify lol. I have a little 'chirper' who decides she just can't live without me for another minute at 5:00 a.m. (or 4 or 3:30), or so she would have me believe. Once I'm up, she's like, "Who are you again?" LOL


It's the exact same thing lol. You can't change it. You just have to live with it.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

This reminds me of a pet communicator I saw on TV years ago. A man was complaining about his two young Golden Retrievers. He would put up a baby gate in his doorway at night to keep them in the bedroom and EVERY morning he would find the gate down and the dogs sleeping on the couch.

When the communicator asked them why, the older Retriever told him that the man had TERRIBLE gas at night and they couldn't stand sleeping in the room with him so they would knock the gate down and sleep on the couch...where it smelled better.

They came to the agreement that the dogs could sleep wherever they wanted, so long as they didn't destroy anything during the night.

Not a huge help, but I agree they need their own bedroom.


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## Heather72754 (Nov 1, 2013)

That's funny - can't say I put much stock in that type of thing though. Although it has to be easy money - after all, who is going to prove that the animal didn't 'say' a particular thing? Seems like a classic case of interpreting animal behavior in human terms, when the truth is we have no idea a lot of times. Besides, dogs routinely roll in the most foul-smelling substances ever - dead fish, etc, etc. So why would they find a case of gas that off-putting? Nope, definitely human...:roll:


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## violina (Jan 28, 2013)

0ozma said:


> Well the only one that comes to mind here is just let him have free roam at night? Why does he need to be locked in or out of your room at night?


It's a two story house and his vision isn't great at night (or in general). We keep a nightlight for them so they can navigate around our room at night but he generally sleeps the moment he hits the bed and won't wake up till we're ready to head out for work. 

While we've considered just keeping the door open, it is not the best option at this time. We have two other roommates so there's privacy and keeping the warm in the room (it seems the house has bad insulation. What we've noticed though is that even when he's free to come and go from the room, he will still continue to scratch at the doors. In total, for the 2 levels of the house, there are approximately 10 doors and he will scratch at all of them.


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## BigLittleSmall (Dec 9, 2013)

What about a small cat tree in your bedroom?


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## violina (Jan 28, 2013)

BigLittleSmall said:


> What about a small cat tree in your bedroom?


We have a small cat tree and a small scratching post as well... We also keep a few toys in there to entertain him. We're baffled about his strict sleeping rules suddenly.


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## BigLittleSmall (Dec 9, 2013)

Well that makes a difference .. he's got himself a routine.

Maybe try playing with him before he eats (like with a feather teaser) and get him good and worn out, so after he eats he will want to go take a nap?

Might take a few days, but you can break a routine.


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## violina (Jan 28, 2013)

BigLittleSmall said:


> Well that makes a difference .. he's got himself a routine.
> 
> Maybe try playing with him before he eats (like with a feather teaser) and get him good and worn out, so after he eats he will want to go take a nap?
> 
> Might take a few days, but you can break a routine.


We'll definitely give that a shot because we're getting worn out. Yesterday after we gave him food and let him out we tried to go back to sleep but instead he patrolled the house and "checked" all doors. This ended up waking up a few of our guests that were staying over. Luckily we found it amusing that he was waking everyone up.


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## violina (Jan 28, 2013)

Marcia said:


> One story house or 2? We go through the same thing here. One of us will usually get up with the cats and give them their breakfast - usually around 5:30 or so, is when they get really active. Once breakfast is served, we close off a baby gate to the second story and go back to bed with the door closed. I was able to sleep until 7:30 which is heaven for me!
> 
> You could try putting a Ssscat motion detector sprayer by the BR door, too. If the cat goes near it it emits a puff of air that almost sounds like a hiss. It works. Make sure you watch the video near the reviews. It's hilarious!
> 
> Amazon.com: SSSCAT Cat Training Aid: Pet Supplies


We've kept this as our backup plan just in case he starts bothering our other roommates too much. We're both hesitant to use it because he's normally well behaved.


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## bobbycos (Aug 5, 2013)

lolacola said:


> It's the exact same thing lol. You can't change it. You just have to live with it.


6:10 am for us and they have food water and all the toys they want including a few gallon sized gatorade bottlecaps (washed out) for the occasional game of floor hockey


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## MyBabiesDaddy (Jan 1, 2013)

Violina, I installed a cat door in my old bedroom door so I could keep the door closed and still allow the cat to come in And out as needed. That might help with keeping the room warm and still allowing the cat to move around. 

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Cathole-Chwm-Door-Removeable-Brush/dp/B000AU64PK/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1388085572&sr=8-6&keywords=Cat+door[/ame]

He also enjoyed simply running through the small opening when he was playing 

Maybe you can place some carpet on the bottom portion of the door so you can't hear his scratching.


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