8 Tricks to Stop Your Cat Scratching Your Bedroom Door at Night

Wanting to stop a cat scratching at your bedroom door while you’re trying to sleep is a surprisingly common problem. Not only does this make a surprising amount of noise, but their apparent anguish

is sure to pluck at your heartstrings and make you feel guilty for keeping your cat out of the bedroom at night. Truly, the feline species has developed complaining into a fine art!

Besides leaving you groggy in the morning, this also damages the door—those tiny claws are like chisels. Never fear: we’ll show you how to stop a cat from mauling the woodwork without hurting any feline feelings.

Before we get into the steps you can take and some products you may want to buy, though, let’s first see what this behaviour tells you about your cat. Asking, “Why is my little furball being a dingbat again?” doesn’t exactly amount to pondering the mysteries of the universe, but it may well point you to the simplest and least meddlesome way to keep your cat out of your bedroom at night.

Why Do Cats Scratch at the Door At Night?

Cats can be annoying; this only adds to the charm of these willful screwballs. Why, though, is your cat disturbing your sleep?

Does he dig his claws into your ankles every time he has a bad dream? Does she force you and your partner to sleep contorted into weird positions? It is amazing how a four-kilogram feline manages to occupy half of a queen-size bed. Do they fight for the privilege of lying between you or give you kisses at random times during the night?

Do they get the midnight zoomies, suddenly taking off after a ghostly mouse (or perhaps fleeing from a phantasmal pitbull) and running around furiously for two minutes, taking care to bounce off or jump on every single object that clangs, creaks, or crashes? Do they consider it their sacred duty to meow some kind of critically important information into your ear at 4 a.m.? And, of course, sometimes they demand that you get up and let them out, only to turn right around and walk in again, just to show that they can.

Let’s put our own feelings aside for a moment, though. From the feline perspective, some things that can prompt a cat to scratch at your bedroom door include:

• Boredom

• Hunger

• Stress or anxiety

• Loneliness

In addition, cats often leave scratch marks and pheromones on wooden objects in their territory to tell other animals to stay away or claw at any handy object just to keep their claws sharp. If at all possible, you should observe your cat’s habits to determine which instinct or emotion is leading to this undesirable behaviour.

For example, assuming you’ve had them neutered, a cat meowing loudly at night in addition to trying to get into your bedroom can indicate that they’re upset because they’re not getting enough stimulation during the daytime. A cat pooping in your bedroom can be a sign that they’re feeling neglected and want to get a reaction from you.

Steps to Take When Your Cat Keeps Scratching at Your Bedroom Door

The ways in which our cats try to communicate with us are often nuanced and difficult to interpret. If you think you’ve got a handle on the basis of your cat’s unwanted door scratching, you can probably jump right to the solution that’s most likely to work. If not, you may want to try these one by one until you find one that stops them from clawing at your bedroom door.

Give Your Cat Something Else to Scratch

We (most of us, anyway) cut our fingernails regularly. Kitties do something similar, only without using clippers: instead, they sharpen and trim their claws by scratching at a resilient yet yielding surface. They need to do this, even if you give them the occasional pedicure. Especially if you have an indoor-only cat, getting a scratching post and teaching them to use it is the only way to save your doors and furniture. Place the scratching pad or post somewhere they feel comfortable, or, better yet, get one that’s part of a cat castle they’re sure to want to make their own. If this is all there is to your cat scratching the bedroom door, putting a scratching post in the hallway outside may solve the problem.

Play Mind Games

All cats respond to their owners’ actions and body language. Simply ignoring their scratching may be enough to make them give up and find something else to do. Alternatively, spraying the door with a scent they don’t like (rosemary or citronella oil, or any of a dozen commercial cat repellent products) can make them lose interest.

Schedule Some Playtime Before Bed

We’re all tired after a long day… chances are, though, that your cat is just gearing up for some nocturnal adventures. If you don’t help them burn off their excess energy now, they may come looking for you to entertain them later, even if the bedroom door is in the way.

Enticing them to run around a little, perhaps chasing after the notorious red dot, lets them know that you’re still their partner in crime; 15 to 20 minutes of vigorous play should tide over their need for mental and physical stimulation until morning.

Invest in Some Toys They Can Use by Themselves

Normally, a cat playing with a piece of string (or whatever) prefers that there’s somebody at the other end of it. Now, some more imaginative cat breeds, like Abyssinians and Korats, are generally happier to entertain themselves, but this really depends on the individual cat.

There is a simple solution, though: get a toy that behaves as if it’s alive. Battery-powered toys can be surrogate friends to your cats and draw their attention away from scratching at your bedroom door. These range from the economical to the high-tech—of course, there’s no way to tell in advance which your cat will find most interesting.

Get an Automatic Feeder

Cats are notorious for begging for food even while their bowl is still half full. When you think about it, though, we humans also have our weird little rituals around eating. Hunger is only part of the equation: being fed lets your cat know that you’re concerned about their welfare.

There are several kinds of automatic cat food dispensers that can reassure your kitty in this way even while you’re snoozing peacefully. Alternatively, a feeding puzzle can keep them entertained during the nighttime hours; these also keep greedy kitties from gorging themselves. At the very least, start feeding them just before you go to bed. This may be enough to encourage them to take a digestive nap and stop them scratching at your bedroom door.

Give Your Cat a Secure Bedroom of Their Own

It’s entirely possible that your cat is restless at night because they don’t have anywhere, aside from your bedroom, where they can sleep while feeling safe and comfortable. Most cat trees incorporate a soft, igloo-like enclosure that may feel like a good shelter to them. If you’re good with your hands, you can even construct a whole bedroom for your cat!

Install a Cat Flap

If your cat can’t get out of the house by themselves at night—a potty break waits for no man’s slumber—they may have no choice but to scratch at the bedroom door until you wake up. Some cat flaps are pretty easy to install by yourself if you have some limited knowledge of carpentry.

You can also find cat doors for interior doors; these may be useful if you prefer to keep the bedroom door closed to preserve heat and keep out noise, or if you have sticky-fingered housemates. Most of these can be locked, so you can still keep the cat out of the bedroom if necessary.

Try a Physical Barrier

If all else fails, you’ll need to make it unpleasant or impossible for your cat to scratch at your bedroom door. An empty cardboard box placed across the threshold may be all that’s needed.

Alternatively, while sticking a sheet of aluminium foil on the bottom half of your door isn’t likely to become this year’s interior decorating trend, it should stop them from scratching the door—they don’t like the way it feels under their paws. You can also buy sheets of soft, spiky material to lay in front of the bedroom door or glue onto it.

Final Thoughts: How to Stop Your Cat Scratching At Your Door

You can learn a great deal about your cat, and indeed life, by carefully watching what they do. This also helps to alert you to possible health issues.

If your cat never used to scratch at the bedroom door before but now does so constantly, there is a chance that they’re experiencing some kind of psychological or physical hurt. They can’t tell you about these kinds of problems except by breaking their usual routine in order to get your attention.

If the above steps don’t work, a visit to the veterinarian may be in order. If a medical checkup turns up nothing, talking with your vet may help to shed some light on the underlying issues causing them to scratch at the bedroom door. If they’re just feeling anxious, removing the cause of their stress may be simpler than you think.