Scratching on closet door at night

ashleynicole

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Recently Milo has begun to scratch and meow at the door in my bedroom, particularly at night. Nothing changed to start this behavior, it just appeared one night! It is not a possible option to leave the door open, b/c the closet is also extra storage that won't fit elsewhere in the apartment and isn't safe for kitties. I cannot shut the bedroom door at night, b/c all three kitties sleep in there at some point of the night and Milo will then just scratch at the bedroom door until let it. Any suggestions of how to stop this scratching?
 

carolpetunia

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Is there anything in that closet that might smell interesting to him? For example, you're not storing catfood or litter in there, by chance?

If not, then it's probably just standard feline curiosity. I would do three things:

1. Never open the door in his presence... once he's allowed inside, that closet will always be on his list of nightly "rounds." :-)

2. Don't respond in any way to his scratching... with luck, he may eventually give up.

3. If all else fails, have you ever tried Feliway? You might try the spray version on the door itself, or just plug in a Feliway "Comfort Zone" diffuser in the room at night. The Feliway pheromones may help soothe whatever anxiety your kitty is feeling.

Good luck!
Carol
 

persi & alley

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Originally Posted by AshleyNicole

Recently Milo has begun to scratch and meow at the door in my bedroom, particularly at night.
Nothing changed to start this behavior
, it just appeared one night! It is not a possible option to leave the door open, b/c the closet is also extra storage that won't fit elsewhere in the apartment and isn't safe for kitties. I cannot shut the bedroom door at night, b/c all three kitties sleep in there at some point of the night and Milo will then just scratch at the bedroom door until let it. Any suggestions of how to stop this scratching?
Nothing that you know of, but one thing has changed and that is his scratching so I would check the contents of this closet very closely because he seems to hear or sense something in there that you are not aware of. Of course it could be any kind of harmless noise but from your description it sounds new and that it happened suddenly. It might be a leak or something like that that only he can hear so it merits investigation. Persi was doing this for a while and we swore up and down that nothing had changed and that nothing was there, but there was an old candy wrapper stuck on the bottom of the door that we could not see and he was always clawing at it. I betchya can find something very simple that you will laugh about later...
 

strange_wings

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About a year ago Sho suddenly started staring at the cabinet under the kitchen sink. He wouldn't claw at it to get into the cabinet, just sit and stare for hours. I checked it one night and we had a mouse.

As was suggested, take a look around the closet and room. More often then not your kitty will know what they're doing, even if we'll never understand it.
 

sicycat

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I think cats are just weird. Saki was scratching frantically at one of my kitchen cupboards the other day and I finally let him in there and he just peeked in, sniffed around and left
 
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