Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my boyfriend & i adopted a stray about a month & a half ago. hes about a year old, neutered & declawed (not my idea, dont yell at me) & hes a sweetheart. it took him awhile to get used to being here, but hes pretty much settled in now. the only problem we have with him is when we go to bed he will scratch at the door. he has the run of the condo except for our room, & the only way weve found to keep him from scratching is to lay the vaccuum on its side in front of the door, which only works if he cant squeeze himself into a spot between the vaccuum & the door. he sounds like a heard of elephants when he scratches & it wakes us both up, so its kind of a problem. i figure its either because we left him, or because he doesnt like not being able to come & go as he pleases. weve carried him in there before just to get him used to the room, but inevitably he crawls under the bed so we have to crawl under it with him to get him back out. weve tried telling him no & patting him on the nose, but its not working. im going to get some no scratch or whatever its called whenever i find a store that sells it, but im getting tired of tripping over the vaccuum in the morning. any ideas what i could do in the mean time?

also, he has dry food all day & gets 1/4 can of canned food 2-3 times a day, so it cant be because hes that hungry.

thanks for any help,
frankie & morgan

He wants to be in the room with you, it is that simple. One good thing is, you haven't mentioned that he meows. Some cats meow very loudly when they are shut out of the room you are in... I don't have an easy answer for you other than to ignore him for now. One thing you may want to try is to lay something down in front of the door that is uncomfortable for him to stand on... Astroturf mats or a plastic floor runner with the nubby side up comes to mind... Just don't be surprised if he can't scratch on the door, he starts meowing... But, it is worth a try...
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

but inevitably he crawls under the bed so we have to crawl under it with him to get him back out.

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One thing I do to stop this is I tuck my bedspread, blanket, and all under the mattress like you would a sheet so they can't get under. Looks funny with it all tucked in, but works. I also have a couple cat beds on top of my bedspread and they sleep in them and not on the bed...
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

ok, so i bought No Scratch, & ive decided it doesnt work. ive sprayed it on the door & on the floor, & the first night it worked. he scratched 3 times, sneezed, & walked away & that was it. we decided even though it said you should respray once a week, it doesnt last because the 2nd night he started scratching again & i resprayed. that seemed like enough, but after the 3rd day its just not working anymore. its been about a week & were back to using the vaccuum, which he is fast finding ways to get around. my boyfriend is adamant about not letting him in the bedroom, but i get tired of getting up every 20 minutes to go yell at him. aside from his occassional chewing on the blinds & the shower curtain (which we expected so its not a big deal,) this is the only behavioral issue we have had. any other ideas?

I don't understand why he can't be in the bedroom. He wants to be with you. If he goes under your bed he will eventually come out. I think you get up every twenty minutes is encouraging the behavior. If you want him to stop you are going to have to one to two weeks with totally ignoring him. If he isn't getting a reaction out of you and no attention he may just stop the behavior.
Also, he may be lonely. A friend may help/ or it may not. It is hard to tell every cat is different.
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PHMoxie

the reasons why, honestly, make no difference. there were rules set up when we got him, & that was one of them. you are probably right about getting up is encouraging him, its just hard to ignore him all night. i know we cant be the only ones with this problem, i was just hoping someone came up with a better way than the vaccuum. thanks for the reply though.
also, getting another one is not in the budget, & having unsuccessful attempts at buying a "friend" for an animal & now have no room to separate them, im not willing to try. also, the shots & the vet bills for another one are too expensive. its bad timing for this one actually, but im not the type to let animals suffer because i went out to eat one too many times this month.

thanks for the replies. im probably going to buy a mat with knobs on the bottom & flip it upside down & put it outside the door so he cant stand on it. wish me luck.

You sound like a very good kitty mom. I understand not being able to afford another pet. It was just a thought. You are going to have to ignore the behavior. The matts may help.
Best of luck.
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PHMoxie

We've recently adopted a pair of male kittens (brothers) and have had at least one of them meow at our door during the night. Since there's two of them, he eventually gives up and goes to pester his brother, thus letting us sleep.

Since you only have one cat and getting another isn't an option, how about putting some aluminum foil on and in front of your door? That's how I'm teaching my little Magus to stay off my lizard tank. Works like a charm.

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2.0 kittens (Magus and Maximus)
1.1 Mali Uromastyx (Ra and Isis)
1.0 Satanic Leaf-Tail gecko (Diablo)

thats something i never wouldve thought of. ill give it a try, thanks a lot.