We have a 1 year old cat "Storm", an 8 year old cat "Pansy" and a 2.5 year old black lab "Isis". We have very few problems with Pansy but Storm is a whole other story. She gets into everything, all the time. Good thing she's cute 
Anyways, the problem we're facing right now is that she scratches at the carpet outside the bedroom door at night. We sleep with the dog so we don't want to have the door open for the cats or the dog will get up and wander around, whining to go out all night. The cats have the rest of the house to themselves all night. Pansy seems quite content with this arrangement. I bought a "nighttime" toy for Storm that I put out only at night, it's just a butterfly on a spring that wobbles around on the floor. But that doesn't seem to help anymore. We try to tire her out at night and she runs around the house like a mad cat for at least an hour (on her own) before we go to bed, you'd think that would help.
I could ignore the scratching and I know she will eventually stop all together but I don't want her to wreck the carpet. My husband gets very upset thinking that she's out there ruining the carpet. Last night when I heard her, I went and sat on the inside of the door and as soon as I heard her do it again, I banged (just one bang, not that loud) on the door, I could hear her running down the stairs so I think I startled her. That was at 11 pm. At 4 am, I was woken up again so I did the same thing.
By the way, this is a fairly new thing for her, up until about a month ago (maybe two), she would just leave us alone all night and she'd be quietly waiting outside our door when we got up in the morning.
I guess my question is, is there something else I can do to prevent this? To keep her from ruining the carpet? My husband tends to just get up and open the door if it's 4am to get her to stop but I know that's just giving her what she wants so it's not going to solve any problems.
Any thoughts? More exciting quiet toys we could give her at night?
Anyways, the problem we're facing right now is that she scratches at the carpet outside the bedroom door at night. We sleep with the dog so we don't want to have the door open for the cats or the dog will get up and wander around, whining to go out all night. The cats have the rest of the house to themselves all night. Pansy seems quite content with this arrangement. I bought a "nighttime" toy for Storm that I put out only at night, it's just a butterfly on a spring that wobbles around on the floor. But that doesn't seem to help anymore. We try to tire her out at night and she runs around the house like a mad cat for at least an hour (on her own) before we go to bed, you'd think that would help.I could ignore the scratching and I know she will eventually stop all together but I don't want her to wreck the carpet. My husband gets very upset thinking that she's out there ruining the carpet. Last night when I heard her, I went and sat on the inside of the door and as soon as I heard her do it again, I banged (just one bang, not that loud) on the door, I could hear her running down the stairs so I think I startled her. That was at 11 pm. At 4 am, I was woken up again so I did the same thing.
By the way, this is a fairly new thing for her, up until about a month ago (maybe two), she would just leave us alone all night and she'd be quietly waiting outside our door when we got up in the morning.
I guess my question is, is there something else I can do to prevent this? To keep her from ruining the carpet? My husband tends to just get up and open the door if it's 4am to get her to stop but I know that's just giving her what she wants so it's not going to solve any problems.
Any thoughts? More exciting quiet toys we could give her at night?
