How to stop my cat from scratching the door at night and get sleep?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 3 years and 3 months old | 8.2 lbs
Our cat scratches at the bedroom door/walls at night. It is not about stretching/clawing, we have established this is her way of asking to go outside. She already has a scratch post she uses. We don't have a cat flap - during the day she is outside mostly. At night they are indoors and we have a litter tray. If we let her stay out all night she sits outside our window meowing to come in. If we keep her in she scratches at the door to go out. The disruption of sleep is become unbearable. Help!
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on April 15th, 2017
You guys are in a difficult situation, and I can sympathize. I had similar problems with one of my cats when she was young. You are doing the right thing by keeping her in at night, however, and hopefully as time goes on and Autumn matures a bit, she will adapt more fully to the human "non-nocturnal" habits and learn that nighttime is for sleeping. Unfortunately, the evolutionary drive to hunt in the nighttime is strong in cats, and not easy to un-do. In the meantime, consider confining her to a small room like a bathroom for the night - equipped with comfy bed, food and water, litterbox, and scratching accessories - and invest in a good set of earplugs. Purchase a plug-in diffuser that diffuses calming cat pheromones - Feliway is the brand I use - which will hopefully help her to calm down and eventually settle in for the night.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
-
Published on April 5th, 2017
It's normal for cats to be active at night, especially young cats like Jasper - but this can certainly be inconvenient for us sometimes! I would recommend giving Jasper something to do at night to help keep her busy. A food puzzle toy such as an Eggcersizer can be a good option for this, especially if you also pick up her food bowl at night. You can also use a white noise machine or something similar in your room to help block out any sounds from outside the door, which should make it easier for you to sleep.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
I have a 6 year old cat named Pumpkin who is really poor behaved. She constantly wakes me and my boyfriend at night for no valid reason. When we try closing the bedroom door, she will ram and scratch the door but if we let her in she with scratch ho
My 1 year old cat won't let me sleep. He scratches at the bedroom door relentlessly and cries throughout the night; tearing through the sticky cat repellent tape on the door and ignoring the cat repellent spray. Despite playing with him and feeding h
My cat is keeping me up at night. Any suggestions? scratches, meows, and attacks our other cat. I play with him before bed. Vet says healthy.
My cat will not sleep at night. He keeps the whole family up. He scratches at our doors and meows all night long. Will you help me? What can I do to stop that behavier?
My cat is almost 8 months old and recently she has become increasingly clingy at night. She wants to get into my room while I'm sleeping and will meow all night and scratch the door if she can't get in. Is there any way to make her less loud at night
She is meowing a lot and I know that’s part because of her breed (I didn’t know this when I adopted her) but she’s constantly meowing especially in the morning for me to get up. Sometimes at like 4am. And she scratches at walls randomly. Do you have
How can I get my cat to stop scratching at the bathroom sink and mirror at night. I have tried putting him outside right after and have also tried the water bottle trick and he still doesn't get it.
my kitten is keeping me up every night by running like wild and knocking stuff off the walls. I play with her 3x a day (last one before bedtime) until she literally can't chase the toy any longer. what else can i do to have a proper sleep at night? s
Our cat freya has been very active in early morning hours. I have tried very hard to curb this, she has gone from 130am to 430 am. If we ignore her she usually goes away but is back by 5 and with no mercy. If I don’t get up she doesn’t stop. I have
My cat will be 7 months old in a couple of days. He’s very clingy to me. I don’t let him sleep in the room with me at night. He starts to meow at my door to let him in. There is someone in the living room with him though, so he’s not alone. What can
Book an appointment with the pros – our expert vets are here to help.
