Naughty kitty

My one-year-old neutered male cat wakes me up in the middle of the night to be let outside. I'm tired of getting up because I have a lot of trouble going back to sleep......he meows obnoxiously and rubs on my face. He will just meow loudly if I close the bedroom door.
Any advice on getting my cat to stop this annoying behaviour?
I use a throwing of one of my rubber flip-flops to decipline my cat during daytime hours and want to try this for the middle of the night problems.
Giving in only perpetuates the behaviour, as I've already found.

Originally Posted by budsandrea

I use a throwing of one of my rubber flip-flops to decipline my cat during daytime hours and want to try this for the middle of the night problems.

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That's really not going to help the situation because you can't dicipline cats, if anything it can make them scared and lose all trust in you.

If you must let him outside can you not install a cat flap on your door so he can come and go when he wants?.

I used to lock my old cat in the laundry at night with her litter box, bed, food & water. It was at the back of the house & it was hard to hear her if she scratched on the door to be let out. Eventually she learnt to settle down at night.
I know you probably like him to sleep with you, as I do with Blossom, but you have to weigh up what's the best option.

Not sure if you're set on letting kitty have access to your bedroom at night, but we keep the door closed because Cat would jump up on the bed at probably exactly 3am and jump up and down on us.

It was tough at first because she learned to meow at the bedroom door when she wanted food in the morning (she'd wait for the alarm to go off the first time then start meowing). So when she started meowing in the morning at the door, we'd wait for her to stop with the hollering before going out to feed her.

It's definitely true that if you just do what he wants, he'll keep bugging you to get you to let him out. I would probably close the bedroom door and try to get him used to the times that you will let him out. The cat flap idea is a great solution as well.