Our cat is driving Dh up the wall

[Troels]

He's actually a good cat, but wants to go outside at about 3 or 4am each night. No problem, but to get us to let him out he's started to scratch the carpet on the landing and meow.
Even with the bedroom doors open so he can come in, he scratches and meows.
No cat flap from the house as we have a few friendly other cats who visit and I don't want them all having a party in the kitchen.
So is there a spray I can put on the carpet on the landing that actually works?
He doesn't scratch in the day as he just goes to the door and tells us to get it open loudly

As TheBoss says, If he has a microchip, get a microchip readable cat flap and program it with his microchip. There are timed ones to stop him going out too early

If you’re not keen on cat flaps, you’re best off trying again with a litter tray imho. And confine him to one room downstairs at night (with as many scratching posts as you like) - where you can’t hear him?

You might have to stop obeying him and opening the door every time he asks during the day, just to encourage using the litter tray.

You need a chipped cat flap that will let yours in & out but not the rest of tge neighbourhood cats

Failing that, a new husband

Just put an old carpet cutting down on top of his scratching place before you go to bed so he wrecks that instead of the carpet.

fluffy

Failing that, a new husband
That did make me laugh, he's stopping he's been around too long.
He's just grumpy as he installed all new carpets upstairs.
Neither of us mind getting up to let him out, just the carpet scratching.
I'm going on the hunt for citrus spray that will be safe to use, see what that does.
Other than that I might try and lock him in the bedroom with me, so as soon as he starts to get restless I'll be awake to let him out. He likes to sleep under the bed, and sneaks in some nights before I go to bed. Scares the crap out of me when he grabs an ankle when I get up for a wee.

If you don't mind letting him out then why not set an alarm for 2.45am and routinely get up and let him out before he asks? He doesn't know how else to tell you.
Or train him to ring a little bell

The issue is he scratches and you let him out. He’s trained you.
Cats shouldn’t be out at night. So you need to untrain yourself. Don’t let the cat out when they start scratching.
I slipped an offcut of Lino under our bedroom door when the dreadful duo used to scratch (not neutered and so couldn’t go out!)

You could ask a carpet shop for a carpet tile sample to put over they spot for now.

I don't give in to pestering either. She learned to ask me last for anything apart from illness.

@gamerchick same here. But DH is a soft touch so they just bother him.

Mine as well. But I'm in another bedroom and keep the door shut so she jumps on his head instead

Mine has a microchip cat flap but she is also on lockdown at night.

She does cry w bit during the night for attention but I ignore her and she goes back to cheep. She has no choice but to use the litter tray at night..

Cat flaps are great hough, I have seen other cats try to get to the house, so it does work.

Another vote for a microchip catflap. We just bought (and are about to install) the Sureflap Connect one, so we can set curfews for ours as they stay inside at night. (According to our vet that's also when they're more likely to get into fights with other cats, so they're more at risk of injury).

Violet I have the connect - it’s awesome.

I check on her while I am at work. The two times she was injured I knew something was wrong because she was outside for longer than usual. I was at work and would never have known otherwise.

It’s weird seeing groans of how long your cat spends outside😂. My. phone meows every time she uses the door. Had to turn that feature off😂

Graphs not groans

The other explanation is that their up & want a bit of company. One up, all up.

I locked him in the bedroom last night to see what he'd do. He slept under the bed until 4, then was sat looking at me when I got up to wee. So I walked down to the patio door and off he trotted, not a meow or a scratch. You watch it'll be a one off. If he's curled up somewhere else when I go to bed he'll come scratching. I think I'll still hunt down some citrus just in case.

Neither of us mind getting up to let him out, just the carpet scratching

I missed this. One of ours won't let me out of her sight, if I go to the loo, or try to have a bath in peace, she's frantically scratching at the carpet to try & open the door. She also jumps in the bath or shower given the chance & can open the shower door. She's a sweetheart, but only does this with me & I want to shut the damned bathroom door when I'm I the bath shower, or on the loo, so it was driving me nuts.

I solved it with a citronella Spray. I think you can buy cat repellant sprays with citronella in them, but I just bought Citronella Aromatherapy oil & mixed it up in a spray bottle with water. Spray this all over the carpet at the door, cats hate the smell of citronella & won't scratch where it's sprayed. You have to refresh it every so often, but I now can have a bath etc in peace if I want - no need for new husband 😂

Photo of mad cat in cute mode

Fluffy that is tragic , your poor cat .

Ours have a micro chip cat door (they were ready chipped) it is a godsend once they work out how to use it , the "click" that shows it's activated is quite loud .

When we got our cats (in May) my DC are late teens so we could offer a home to cats who didn't want children in the house .
We have minimal carpet and the stair carpet is quite old (so not too bothered about little claws)
We unlock the door at 6am , and this time of year , they know to come in about 7pm, then we lock it once they're home .They started going out in July and wanted to be out very early to do a recce of their patch . (I think next year they'll be more keen, they're establish now )

My DH was the one who was keen for cats (I had the job of searching through the Rescue sites where I found this pair)

They love my DD room and scratch on her door . If she lets them in they dive onto her bed and the female especially is a nocturnal pain in the bum. ( All other doors except the pantry and utility are open. She wants the closed door !)

Our male loves his little laser light and 'asks' DH to let him play .

Aww RokinHippy that is one cute cat.
I'll try your recipe and see if it stops the scratching. I'll order sone Citronella aromatherapy oil and have a go.
Our nutter is fast asleep in the middle of the floor so everyone can see him at the moment.

2 of mine do this - a useful tactic that works for me is that I let them out an hour before I go to bed and then get them just before I go to sleep (in the hope they've burnt off energy). We don't have a catflap so I'm just a glorified doorman. If I don't do this I get hours of face patting or meowing through the night. In the warmer months, they would happily spend the night out - it's only the fact that it really cold at night that I want them in