My cat is a nightmare.

[SexlessBoulderBelly]

I couldnt think of a catchy title to grab attention for advice. But my cat is actually lovely, she’s just got a bad habit.

We’ve had our carpets replaced, but the cat comes to the bedroom door every morning and starts scratching at it. We really don’t want this carpet to get ruined like the last one.. she had pretty much scratched it away to nothing.

She has a scratching post downstairs. Would it make that much difference having a scratch post right outside our door on the landing? It’s like she’s trying to get it but obviously I want want her purring and dribbling while sat on my chest at 2am.

What can we do to stop the carpet getting ruined? Is there a mat or a protector we can use?

Picture for attention.

Cats just dont like closed doors tbh! You could try a scratching post if you like though

Ah, she's beautiful. Don't be a meanie - let her in for 2am cuddles and dribbly snogs.

I have exactly this problem .... my cat just hates shut doors so no diversion tactics help

I let her in the bed til she drives me nuts then lock her downstairs when I can’t take anymore . It’s a shit solution though, I feel your pain :(

What a beautiful kitty! Yes, I would put a post there and squoot it with catnip to make it extra attractive. What I did with mine: every time there was inappropriate scratching (on furniture etc) I‘d take the cat to the post and put his paws on it. And mimic scratching. They got the message, even if it sounds a bit weird!

Our doors stay open. We occasionally get early morning visits but not that often. Maybe they dont want in but want the option open to them. Mine often want the back door open but dont want to go out, just want it open for the sake of it

I‘d let kitty in to snuggle though, nothing better than a warm kitty to cuddle first thing!

My DP would never in a million let her in for a cuddle... me on the other hand

But I’m also due a baby in January so as much as I’d love 2am sloppy cat cuddles I need as much sleep as possible at the moment and will for the next number of years!

She has a little cat house and a bed in the porch but I feel like the porch is cold and I would worry if she was outside all night, especially now it’s getting colder.

The only other room we could shut her in is the living room.. which we’ve also just had carpeted so not ideal

This is all she wants. It’s breaks my heart.

Maybe I actually just need a new DP and not a solution for the carpet, no?

Aww, gorgeous puss

We had similar issue with our new kitten so put a baby gate at top of stairs so he can’t get to the carpet outside the bedroom (stairs are wooden luckily)

He didn’t like it to begin with but after a few days he learnt the routine that at night he’s not allowed in until we get up at 7

Oooh the baby gate could be a good call! If I put it right on the edge of the carpet she won’t even be able to get to it to scratch it.. Maybe that and one of those scratching pads on the landing for her to dig her nails into. I’m just worried that she will will think it’s ok to scratch everything if I condone it with a scratch mat?

Same problem at the bathroom door (can't leave it open or they crash about in there in the small hours) and we bought another scratching post, put it over the piece of carpet they were destroying and it worked, they can't physically scratch the bit of carpet and use the post.
It's a bit of a pain having to walk around it to get into the bathroom though..

I lock my cats in the kitchen over night and leave the bedroom doors open in the day.

One of my cats knocks three times to come in to the bedroom, but if we don't open the door they just try to dig their way in.

I load up the cat bowl before I go to bed but am usually woken up in the wee hours by the cat scratching the bedroom carpet to get my attention. I can tell him that his food bowl is full, but what he really wants is for me to walk downstairs with him on the off chance it needs filling, because if it was empty he'd have to come back upstairs to wake me up and he feels that would be a waste of his time. Obviously making me get up and walk downstairs to show him the full food bowl I know is full because I filled it 4 hours ago when he was fast asleep upstairs and he hasn't been near it since Doesn't Count.

I’ve seen some sisal scratching mats that look a bit more presentable if you don’t like the idea of having posts everywhere.
The cats seem to like them as they are more like a carpet too

I don't have carpet because I thought the cats & children would wreck it. So my cat drags her claws down my door at 2am (or my wardrobe if she is inside the room). Nails on a blackboard style.

Once she has my attention she trots to the bathroom so that I can run a tap at a gentle trickle for her to drink from. Then it's downstairs to have a look at the dry food bowl. If we can see the bottom of the bowl it is A Problem. So I top it up. Then my other cat stumbles downstairs, bleary eyed "Did I hear food?"

And so it goes on....

@WildCherryBlossom I know the feeling. Floss will scratch at the carpet and cry relentlessly until let in. Where she will nuzzle my face with love and dribble all over me. Then as soon as my other half lifts a leg to go put the kettle on she boots out the room. It’s all so that someone can go top up her food bowl, she doesn’t actually love us at all.

Oh she does love you! She just needs to make sure you know who is in charge.