Midnight won't let me sleep

Midnight constantly scratches the door between 1-6am. He always wakes me up and 2-3 times a night and I end up staying up for a few hours and when I finally pass out he does it again. I've tried playing with him to tire him out, but he still does it. I've flicked water in his face which seemed to be working. He would run and hide in the closet. A few hours later the scratching continues. He has another kitty to play with, food and water, clean litter box. When he's roaming around during the day, he sometimes scratches the closet
door where we keep the towels.

I can't keep losing sleep over this. He never did it at my apt, but at the house all the time. He did like to do it to the bathroom mirror and the tv from time to time. What can I do?

Have you recently moved & changed residence? Do you use feliway(either plug-in or spray)? Do you know if he sleeps during a day?
One thing you could do for this kitty is, to play with him a lot during a day time while he supposed to be sleeping so you'd completely tire him out by the time you go to sleep. Good luck

Originally Posted by KKH

Have you recently moved & changed residence? Do you use feliway(either plug-in or spray)? Do you know if he sleeps during a day?
One thing you could do for this kitty is, to play with him a lot during a day time while he supposed to be sleeping so you'd completely tire him out by the time you go to sleep. Good luck

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He was fine at first. But he does it now and has for weeks. I don't use feliway. I work during the day so I'm not sure of his habits. I know by the time I get home he's up and about. I already said I try to play with him, but that just makes the scratching start an hour or so later. He is weird because he wont touch the kibble, but if I take it and mix it up with my hands, he eats it. I don't know what that's all about.

He just woke me up actually. So here I am....

This is what worked for us with Fable who no matter how much we entertained him before we went to bed, still kept us awake scratching at the door and carpet: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90105

"Best way to keep a cat out of your bedroom, park your vacuum in front of your door. Run the plug underneath the door, leave the machine on, if kitty "knocks" on the door, get out of bed, plug in the machine 2 seconds then unplug."

It really works, Hissy saved our lives!!!

Originally Posted by Jupeycat

This is what worked for us with Fable who no matter how much we entertained him before we went to bed, still kept us awake scratching at the door and carpet: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90105

"Best way to keep a cat out of your bedroom, park your vacuum in front of your door. Run the plug underneath the door, leave the machine on, if kitty "knocks" on the door, get out of bed, plug in the machine 2 seconds then unplug."

It really works, Hissy saved our lives!!!

Click to expand...

The main problem with that is right now we rent out a room and I would hate to do that to the roommate. Although, he probably hates the scratching too!

Speak to the guy and see what he says, it didn't take many blasts with the hoover for Fable to learn to leave us alone!

Yeah, I think I will try it out and see what happens. He is so persistent! 7 years old and now he decides he wants to be annoying! Silly kitty...

Mid-life crisis? Trying to regain his youth?

Who knows! He is such a brat. He is the kind of cat that forces you to pet him. He comes up and pets you! Last night was no better though. Maybe tonight.

What about using small carpet tacks to affix a piece of carpet remnant to the bottom half of the doors. Then they become scratching posts themselves and it doesn't make any noise. ???? As you rent, when you move, the nails just pull out and no damage done.

That's not a bad idea. Just need to go find some carpet.

Home Depot or any carpet store - just ask for remnants. The size you'd be looking for? A carpet store may even give it to you free.

Ok, thanks for the idea. Hopefully it works.