The cat wants in to our closet!

I'm looking for suggestions on how to get my cat to stop clawing at our closet door. We have one of those closets with the two sliding doors. She tends to only claw when we're sleeping and while my wife can sleep through it, I can't Beside the scratching noise the doors bang into each other when she touches them. I should add she almost never does it during the day.

She doesn't claw to sharpen, she claws because she wants in. She has some weird closet/drawer/closed door fetish I think This morning I opened the closet to let her in thinking she'd just go in and lay down or atleast be quiet but that didn't work. So I shut her out of the bedroom (which I don't like doing because we like her to sleep on our bed) and that didn't work either. She just proceeded to try and get back into the bedroom, complete with paws peeking under the door (which was cute I'll admit).

I've tried telling her no and physically moving her away from the closet door, to using the spray bottle and it doesn't seem to work. Any ideas to get her to just give up on trying to get in to the closet?

Does she have an alternative place to hide?

Yes, quite a few. Under the bed, behind the night stand, under a bureau etc.. She's just naturally curious I think.

I don't know what it is, but most cats seem to think that behind every closed door is the world's greatest party and they can't believe they weren't invited! I can definitely understand your frustration especially since they so often want to play when we want to sleep!

I would suggest some good interactive toys for her. This is a good link: http://www.esmartcat.com. My cats especially like the peek-a-prize toy box. I stuff it with toys and a few treats and it keeps them well entertained.

Most cats hate closed doors for some reason. I guess they think they will miss out on something good or exciting.

I have 2 closets with sliding closet doors too and I leave one door open in each closet so that they can go in and sleep in the corner if they like, and one or the other will usually go there. Abby likes to hide in the hallway one and ambush Chynna when Chynna walks by. And Chynna likes to play "Peek" with me while I'm at the computer. She will go into the closet and peek around the door at me and then hide when I look at her, LOL

Closing my bathroom or bedroom doors is also another no-no.

Both of my cats are the same way about closed doors. They are now three years old and they have given up the clawing at the door but when I open a door they are right there and inside to investigate. Of course one of them got stuck in a closet for about four hours. That didn't stop her from investigating when a door is open.

Try leaving the closet doors open, see what that gives. Takes the thrill out of it, you see *grin*

On top of that, play with her before going to bed. Sit down on the floor, have her chase a string for 15 minutes, feed her, and then let her wash herself. This is the routine they follow in the wild that leads up to sleep.

And for the first couple of days: either sit it out, or buy some earplugs. Just do not, what ever you do, do not get up to yell, shout, ask, talk, give attention in any kind of way. Keep this up for about a month, and you should be fine

Well I'm still debating if I should just let her in the closet. We have a few shelves and she can get into things.

Last night was fine, but tonight she tried getting in again, and believe or not, she succeeded! The doors we have swing back and forth a bit so there are cheap plastic stopper things on each side. I heard her scratching and banging so I went into the bedroom...no kittie. I opened the door and there she was. She had pushed so hard the door swung over the stop. She did this twice!

I retightened the stops (which are hard because they're just cheap plastic and the screws are almost as deep as the carpet) so hopefully she can't get in again.

Ok that didn't work. She was able to push the doors open just enough past the stoppers in order to get in. I finally decided that I might as well compromise. As I said before, we have alot of shelves in the closet and didn't want her stepping on things and making a mess or getting hurt. I decided to just clear her a path and let her enjoy. If we REALLY need the space and can't give her the path and need to keep her out then I'll figure out a way to make sure the doors don't move other than side to side.

Anyway, this is what I found her doing just a few minutes ago. Note, the top shelf is probably only about 7 inches from the ceiling. She had to do an army crawl to get in and out of there.

Awww look at all her belly fur sticking through the bars!

They do love getting in small dark spaces, the fact she wasn't allowed in there probably made it all the more appealing, wondering what was in there that was so special that she wasn't allowed to have it.

Haha those pics are too funny!! I would just let her go in the closet. Seems to be the easiest way to solve the problem. Just make sure there is nothing too dangerous in there that she can get into.

Cats LOVE to do that army crawl thang.
Gizmo was constantly stuffing herself into a gap under a wooden shelf in the studio closet that was about three inches high. I put some books in there and she can't do it any more, but she is still hell bent on getting into the studio closet! The other closets, even the ones with her toys inside, do not exert the same fascination for her.

Then again, since Gizmo loves to play with animation pencils and flip paper, I should not wonder that she wants to get into a closet that contains rare interviews and films.
I've already asked her 'who are you, really?' She must be the reincarnation of some female animator.

I had the super fix all the closet doors so that they latched properly since Gizmo was expert at opening these huge solid wooden doors by hooking her paw beneath them! She's a strong little thing...

I gave up on keeping my cats out of the closet a long time ago. Meeker absolutely loves it, and Draco will go in there from time to time.

let the cat in the closet. and get some sleep

i love those cat stories AND the pic. Mine will slide into the smallest little space too and when she was smaller we had to check every drawer and door because she could slip in so quietly and quickly. now i just close doors whenever and if she is locked in she tells me. good thing she is a hiding cat, she always wants to be where the action is and , so far, always comes when i call her. (fingers crossed)

You could have mice. Does your cat also jump and paw at the wall and act "crazy" in general? Does it sleep in unusual places with its eyes open? Does it ever sniff the floor and give a reaction like it smelled something disgusting? It might be a mouse turd. 

swaggieyolo said:

 
You could have mice. Does your cat also jump and paw at the wall and act "crazy" in general? Does it sleep in unusual places with its eyes open? Does it ever sniff the floor and give a reaction like it smelled something disgusting? It might be a mouse turd. 

Click to expand...

Wow, this is old  

Actually I no longer have Reeses. My ex wife got her in my divorce a few years ago.

It actually wasn't mice. She had a penchant for opening cabinet doors, drawers etc.. so it was just her form of playing I eventually came to realize.