Destructively Determined

I'm about at my wit's end with this boy, so I lay my problems before you other cat-lovers, in hopes that someone has a suggestion I haven't tried.

Wyatt is a very smart, very willful, and rather nervous cat, with a very specific problem: he wants to get into the bedroom, and nothing on God's green earth can stop him.  This issue has persisted throughout the three years we've owned him, from the first day he tried digging his way under the bedroom door-- through the carpet.  He likes our roommate, who sleeps in the living room and is often available to give him pettings, and seems happy and secure in the apartment even when we're out of the house, but when my husband and I are in the bedroom, trying to sleep, he totally loses his marbles.  He claws at the carpet at the base of the door, trying to get in, and if he's very upset (perhaps someone knocked on the neighbor's door and startled him) he tries to use his head as a battering ram.  As you can imagine, having a cat that tears up several-inch chunks of carpet in our rental homes while we're sleeping is kind of problematic.

So far, we've tried claw caps (which still have enough grip to them for grabbing carpet), placing sticky tape and spiky X-Mats in his preferred scratching spot (he scratches around them), spraying chemical cat repellent along the base of the door (no effect), and cat calming pheremones (no effect on the tunneling attempts).  The most effective remedy so far has been the Ssscat device (basically, a motion-activated can of compressed air, which startles cats away from forbidden areas), but between Wyatt and our other cat, it runs out of charges fairly quickly, and sometimes we can't afford to replace them immediately.  As well, Wyatt is liable to ignore the sprayer when he's in a truly desperate-to-enter mood.  Right now, we're putting him in a crate at night while we wait for more cans of Ssscat to ship.

For a wide variety of reasons, both health and behavior related, giving him free access to the bedroom is out of the question.

So, uh... has anyone else experienced this kind of issue?  Do you have any  suggestions?  Anything you can offer is greatly appreciated.

It is obvious that Wyatt just wants to sleep with you, and it's sad that there are some reasons that you can't give him that pleasure.  He is probably the kind of cat who should not have been an ONLY cat, but whether he would be happy to get a companion cat at this point in his life remains to be determined.  Some cats prefer to sleep alone, but other cats have a deep need to sleep with a companion, whether it is you, another cat, a child, or even a family dog.  I believe Wyatt will continue to dig at your door unless you do crate him at night, and crating him is much kinder than setting booby traps to deter him from digging at the door.  I don't know if it would be possible to crate him IN your bedroom, if that would make him feel more secure, or if that would just cause him to dig at the crate to get out.  I do believe that if you are consistent and set up a nice large crate for him complete with food, water, litter and a cat bed, he will get used to being put into his own bed and he will settle down at night.  Cats are very responsive to schedules and consistency, and once it becomes a routine, there should be no more problem.  Let us know how this turns out!

I agree that your cat wants to be with you but to help protect your carpet I've linked an article about a product called CarPET Scratch Stopper.   http://consciouscat.net/2013/08/06/carpet-scratch-stopper-review-protection-for-your-carpets/

It doesn't stop the behavior but it protects your carpet.

Also you could try getting him a nice bed with a little roof so that he feels cozy enough to be on his own at night.