Scratching my bedroom door

Hi, I'm new to the Cat Site.  I have two cats, Shadow and Inky.  Yes, I took his name for the site

My wife and I have tried various methods of deterring our cats from scratching on the bedroom door to wake us up in the morning.  Seems these guys always want to be fed. 

We tried taping cardboard to the bottom half of the door.  That just turned into a scratching post.

We tried having spray bottles at the ready to discourage them, but that would mean getting out of bed to use them, which isn't really ideal.

Sssscat takes care of most of our issues, but it's not perfect.  It does keep the cats from scratching the door, but only if we use it consistently.  It isn't teaching them not to scratch, because if we ever forget to put it out, they will wake us up with scratching.

Also, if we have to get up in the middle of the night, Ssscat goes off on us too, which is also not ideal.  Neither my wife nor I are very tolerant in the middle of the night, or when we are woken up by noise.

So here's my question: what recommendations do you have for keeping the cats away from our Bedroom door that:

1)will teach them this behavior

2)won't affect us if we "trip" it

3)doesn't cost an arm and a leg

Of course while I'm writing this post I'm seeing all sorts of ads for such products on the petco banner. 

But what do you recommend?

Thanks,

Shadow's human.

As a general cat "rule" they do not like closed doors.  It probably has very little to do with wanting to be fed and more to do with the fact that the door is closed and scratching it has worked in the past for them to get your attention.  Negative attention is still attention.  There really isn't a whole lot you can do other than ignore it.  I know it's easier said than done and it is costly to keep fixing a door.  Or you could leave the door open.  Try feeding them before you go to bed that way they are not waking you up at the crack of dawn if you think it's really food they want.  I don't but they are not my cats and I am not there so I can't be sure. 

You could try Sticky Paws.  It's more for furniture but it would deter them from scratching the door where they normally do if you absolutely have to shut the door.  Cats do not like sticky substance on their paws so they will avoid it.  It is more humane than the SSssssssssstcat.  I think the devices they come up with to deter bad behavior for animals are often inhumane and do not really fix anything.  They just make them neurotic.  But Sticky Paws does work of furniture so it could work on a door, too. 

I agree that you should consider leaving the door open, or completely ignore them when they scratch at your door. It's probably due ot them wanting attention, and any attention bestowed upon them on your part shows them that their technique is working. the double sided tape could also be a viable solution. i have heard of double sided tape working to prevent cats from doing lots of things from jumping on counters to scratching expensive furniture.

P3,

I had been considering Sticky Paws since it would definitely be quieter. 

We do actually feed them before bed as well, so maybe it is just that it's a closed door thing.  Unfortunately our bedroom is full of things that a cat could knock over, which is why we generally keep them out at night.  That and the fact that they wouldn't necessarily sleep but rather roam, which again would keep us awake.

I'll give Sticky Paws another look. 

Thanks!

I have a solution that doesn't entirely fit your requirements but I wanted to post it for people who find this page by doing an Internet search like I did:

I just recently solved the problem we were having with one of our cats scratching our wooden bedroom door (it's an old house) so much that he was damaging it.  Not only that, we were up at 5:30 every morning to feed him.  We hadn't slept well in forever and it was making my wife and I crazy.  Here is what is working for us:

1.  I measured the width of the doorway entrance and then went to Target and purchased a Sterilite plastic box (similar to this: )

2.  I then put about an inch or two of water in it.

3.  I put it so it blocked the door.  

Results:

After a couple of days of crying and trying to get around it and getting a little wet he has given up and now waits for us to get up.  Problem solved!

Hope this helps someone.

I had the same issue...i solved this by taking my cat(s) and chucking them in the shower and closing the door..It's quite Hilarious once they realize they've been defeated. 

Problem solved after the 3rd night and I didn't need to make a water pool or make some elaborate contraption 

Hi: Cats do hate closed doors. They like being close to us. This is probably not the best answer, but I finally gave up and leave my door partially open. Since I have done that the cats have calmed down and basically don't come in until we wake up. They're usually hanging out in the living room. They seem to respect and understand you're sleeping. But, if my door is closed that's when I start hearing a lot of meowing.
Sometimes, periodically I now do close the door and because it has been opened for the most part they are ok. I have had cats for probably 25 years now and this has been working. Best of luck to you! They joy they give us is worth it.

I've posted about this in other threads--i don't have a problem with cats scratching doors but my sister says citrus spray works.  They don't like citrus scent so she sprays the door before she goes to bed and it keeps the cats from scratching there. 

Cats can be very disturbing at night, especially when the door is closed and they want in! The solution we came up with is to get a nice comfy pet bed and put a pet heat pad in it. They each have their own, they love the heat pads so much they prefer the beds to ours! So they are in our room but not on the bed, it works!

Di and Bob said:

 
Cats can be very disturbing at night, especially when the door is closed and they want in! The solution we came up with is to get a nice comfy pet bed and put a pet heat pad in it. They each have their own, they love the heat pads so much they prefer the beds to ours! So they are in our room but not on the bed, it works!

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Brilliant!  I have an old cat (almost 18) who likes to get under the covers with me and keep warm.  I wouldn't mind but he's so restless during the night he wakes me up often.  I'm going shopping for a heated bed!  If he doesn't like it, I'm sure it won't go to waste--I've got six other cats, one of them will use it.  

The only problem YOU"LL have is them deciding who gets the warm bed!!! It might end up a little more expensive then you think!! 

We solved this by putting some pennies in a pop can and taping the opening with duct tape.  When they would scratch or meow we would throw the can out the door (not at the cats, just to make noise).  They hated it and avoided the door after that.  Now I'm looking for some noise maker that would remove my presence entirely from the noise.  Something where I could press a button in the bedroom and there would be an obnoxious noise where the cats are.  That way there would be no bad association with me, just the door.  Although with the pop can I don't think they associated to badly with us.