Separating non-related cats

My cat scratches and bangs on the door to be let out of my bedroom at night so he can play with my housemate's cat. During the day I leave the door opened so he can enter and leave as he pleases but at night I keep my bedroom door closed for privacy since I live with other people. Also, the rules are to leave cat in rooms at night to prevent noise
(the cats make a lot of noise when they play together).

The noise of the scratching and banging wakes up the other housemates so I cannot ignore it. I tried to tell no and used the squirt bottle. He does not like to be squirted but instead of stopping the behavior he runs when he hears the bottle or even when he hears me wake-up. I also tried to play with him more during the day so that he is tired at night but that does not work. I put sticky tape on the door but he only uses his claw to try to open the door so it does not stick to the tape.

I have no idea what to do. No one in the house can get sleep at night since my cat is hitting and scratching on the door. Please help.

Cats don't connect their behaviour with 'good' or 'bad', so spraying them or anything else negative doesn't work (which doesn't mean I have a better answer, but I know for sure that one can backfire). Are the two cats (for the half hour they meet up at night before chilling to sleep themselves) THAT much noisier than your cat doing his thing for longer? Do you know what I mean? And once they're more grown up, that behaviour will settle down, even if they chase each other a couple of times - a short gallop or two shouldn't keep everyone awake all night after all.

What do you mean by "the half hour they meet up at night"? You must of misunderstood because the door is open during the day.

They are free to roam in and out the rooms from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Midnight. Then the cats go into their respective bedrooms. It is about 6:00 AM that my cat decides he needs to escape.

No, there is no way that they can play after midnight (they make a LOT of noise together) out of respect for the non-cat people. When I lived alone I trained my cat without any problems but knowing there is another cat in the house makes him want to play all the time. The other cat is in his room at that time so they cannot play anyway.

The owner of the house says he cannot stay if he continues to make noise so I need to think of a solution fast. I was thinking of putting a citronella soaked towel under the door at night. In the mean time I will just put a heavy barrier in front of the door until he learns that a shut door means he cannot open it. We will see how that goes.

They are each 6 years old male cats.

Why not put them both in the same room at night, preferable one where the person sleeping is not too disturbed by play?

Originally Posted by Momofmany

Why not put them both in the same room at night, preferable one where the person sleeping is not too disturbed by play?

Click to expand...

Thanks. I wish it were that easy.

Each of our cats like to be near their human caretakers and vice versa. Each will try to get out (my cat has been accidently locked in the other room and cried to be near me). While my cat is a scratcher and bangs on the door the other cat howls when he wants to be let in and out. Also, it is best not to disrupt the other cat's routine (has had for 2 years).

It is better to train my cat that a door closed means he cannot scratch and bang at the door.

Sorry, I was hoping that the mutual noise time was short, leading to sleep time, but I guess I was wrong.