I am cats. Ask me Nothing

6kt7a3arysvg1.png
 
How can I stop cats scratching at a door at night?
They’re not allowed to sleep in the bedrooms because they’re a pain and bounce all over you all night and I’m sleep deprived as it is. But they SCRAAAAAATCH constantly all night and it makes such a noise. I have tried:
-tin foil on the door (Tin foil being shredded is even louder..)
-stuff in front of the door (disassembled loudly)
-lavender oil/cinnamon oil on door (ignored.)
-spray bottle of water used on cat when it scratches (look of great indignation, but no behavioural change.)
What can I do?
 
Otterly said:
How can I stop cats scratching at a door at night?
They’re not allowed to sleep in the bedrooms because they’re a pain and bounce all over you all night and I’m sleep deprived as it is. But they SCRAAAAAATCH constantly all night and it makes such a noise. I have tried:
-tin foil on the door (Tin foil being shredded is even louder..)
-stuff in front of the door (disassembled loudly)
-lavender oil/cinnamon oil on door (ignored.)
-spray bottle of water used on cat when it scratches (look of great indignation, but no behavioural change.)
What can I do?
Click to expand...
Let them sleep with you and spray them when they bounce around like crackheads.
 
Hey Johnny Bravo said:
Let them sleep with you and spray them when they bounce around like crackheads.
Click to expand...
Tried it. They are fairly young and they haven’t got the memo that nighttime is for human sleep. Their crepuscular nature is strong … letting them in results in being beaten awake at 04:00 screaming for food, after a night of them playing ‘jump on the human/bite human feet/eat human hair.’ If they just slept on rhe bed all night I’d be fine with them but they’re incompatible with sleep
 
Otterly said:
Tried it. They are fairly young and they haven’t got the memo that nighttime is for human sleep. Their crepuscular nature is strong … letting them in results in being beaten awake at 04:00 screaming for food, after a night of them playing ‘jump on the human/bite human feet/eat human hair.’ If they just slept on rhe bed all night I’d be fine with them but they’re incompatible with sleep
Click to expand...
Try playing with them as much as you can before bed to tucker them out. If they're young, well, that's what young kitties do.
 
Otterly said:
Tried it. They are fairly young and they haven’t got the memo that nighttime is for human sleep.
Click to expand...
Something that worked for me was tiring them out just before the bedtime, I'm talking about an hour of intense play, hunting for snacks, running after balls, etc. That was enough to get my wild bengal to sleep through the night. He got used to sleeping at night and now goes to bed with me and wakes up in the morning
 
Thanks! The usually sleep really deeply about 7-12 midnight so they don’t want to play then, I do try to tire them out when I can.
 
Otterly said:
Thanks! The usually sleep really deeply about 7-12 midnight so they don’t want to play then, I do try to tire them out when I can.
Click to expand...
Young dogs are the same. They have infinite energy and need to burn it off.
 
Taki Supremacy said:
This is Christmas when I got her on 12/20/25.

View attachment 8877462

This is her now:

(off-hand and forearm dox included don't tell anyone)

View attachment 8877518
Click to expand...

I like the other cat in the background making a face at the camera.

Otterly said:
How can I stop cats scratching at a door at night?
They’re not allowed to sleep in the bedrooms because they’re a pain and bounce all over you all night and I’m sleep deprived as it is. But they SCRAAAAAATCH constantly all night and it makes such a noise. I have tried:
-tin foil on the door (Tin foil being shredded is even louder..)
-stuff in front of the door (disassembled loudly)
-lavender oil/cinnamon oil on door (ignored.)
-spray bottle of water used on cat when it scratches (look of great indignation, but no behavioural change.)
What can I do?
Click to expand...

Is there anything you can put on the door that would prevent them from being able to make noise by scratching it, but would be resilient to cat nails? You'd something strong, resilient, with low friction (since the scratching is generated by the friction of the nail against the irregular surface of the door).

How you considered a sound generator? Think you and your husband can agree on a sound that you can both sleep with? It works for me. I find most cats can't stand certain non-looping noise.
 
Last edited:
You should get a cat diffuser if you haven't yet. It emits pheromones similar to momma cat and it calms them down (takes about a couple of weeks to take effect, mind you). There's different ones to combat fighting among cats, and other antsy stuff like scratching and spraying.
 
Otterly said:
How can I stop cats scratching at a door at night?
They’re not allowed to sleep in the bedrooms because they’re a pain and bounce all over you all night and I’m sleep deprived as it is. But they SCRAAAAAATCH constantly all night and it makes such a noise. I have tried:
-tin foil on the door (Tin foil being shredded is even louder..)
-stuff in front of the door (disassembled loudly)
-lavender oil/cinnamon oil on door (ignored.)
-spray bottle of water used on cat when it scratches (look of great indignation, but no behavioural change.)
What can I do?
Click to expand...
I had a cat that would do similar things. He more or less grew out of it on his own when he was around a year in age. Feeding him later in the morning after I'd already be awake for a couple hours made him less annoying in the morning specifically. You can affect when they are active by when you feed them. Feeding later in the evening is a good thing to try too so they don't take a massive nap right before human bed time.
 
Shiny Mountain Thing said:
I had a cat that would do similar things. He more or less grew out of it on his own when he was around a year in age. Feeding him later in the morning after I'd already be awake for a couple hours made him less annoying in the morning specifically. You can affect when they are active by when you feed them. Feeding later in the evening is a good thing to try too so they don't take a massive nap right before human bed time.
Click to expand...
This is good advice, feed your cat later on in the morning so it's not right at you for food as soon as you wake up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom