Husband VS Cats

[Entropy]

Well, it seems my little Shiloh (avatar kitty) who isn't so little anymore has developed a bad habit.
He scratches at our bedroom door.
He's not terrible, he only does it in the mornings after the alarm and sometimes right after we go to bed but it drives my husband crazy. I do have a water bottle that we sometimes use for kitty discipline that I allow him to make use of at night.
But in the morning it's hard enough to wake my husband up, Shiloh does a great job!
Why does he scratch at the door? He wants attention. He is a die hard cuddle kitty. If you are in the house then he just KNOWS you have time (and hands) to pet him. The cats aren't allowed in the bedroom (we do our best to have ONE room that is as cat hair free as we can make it) but if he thinks he can swing it he'll dash in when we open the door. But does he hide under the bed? No, he jumps ON the bed and plops down for cuddles *sigh*
He's still the smallest of our three but is still a good 11 lbs without obvious fat on him.
Hudson, our kitty that cause us such worry and EXPENSE over the christmas days is doing very well, though somewhere during his ordeal he found his voice. He used to have a quiet broken meow. Not anymore. Ooooh no. He has a MANLY meow now. I don't know if he's trying to make up for what they removed or what, but he talks too. That's the only change, he's still cuddly and the loudest purrer I know.

I just don't let my husband see the checkbook and add up how much this cat has cost!

[reptile3]

Sounds like he wants to play and/or cuddle, my 2 clowns always want to play early in the morning, and want attention... Does your hubby mind your cats?? We rescued the 2 we have, thanks to hubby. Here are my 2... they are 7 months apart, in age.

[Entropy]

My husband is a dog person but has no qualms about cuddling and playing with my cats. He kind of has no choice but to deal with them. With him being navy and being gone so much they are my comic relief and company so I don't have to talk to myself. The snakes don't cuddle all that well after all

Heck, I'm with my cats more then I'm with my husband!

[frankykeno]

Hmmm but think of it from your husband's point of view. He's home, finally in his own nice comfy bed and the cat is scratching away disturbing his rest or just not allowing him to wake up slowly (which I'm pretty darn sure he doesn't get to do when on duty). Letting the cat be his feline alarm clock might be effective but it won't encourage him to like that cat one bit.

I'd respect his time at home, discourage the cat from this behaviour and I bet they'll get along just fine.

[Entropy]

Oh believe me, I don't encourage it even in the mornings, though I do tease him about his feline alarm clock kicking in if he hits snooze one more time.
However waking up slowly isn't something he does well anyway. He insists upon setting the alarm for the last possible minute, on more then one occasion he's had to run to the ship which is not exactly close since the base decided that no one except officers and up is allowed on the pier.
On the days he CAN sleep (on the weekend days he doesn't have duty) in I'll get up a bit early and go feed the cats so that Shiloh is too occupied with breakfast to scratch the door, also, since the alarm doesn't go off on those days he doesn't really scratch unless we aren't up by noon.

[catawhat75]

Be glad it is only around alarm time! My 13 yr old kitty who I adore, is a door scratcher. ALL THE TIME! She does it when she wants food, morning, noon and night. In the middle of the night I have used the water bottle to no avail, she waits until I fall back asleep and does it until I get up.
Sounds like kitty has you/hubby trained That is supposed to be a sign on a very intelligent kitty!
Wish I could tell you a way to get her to stop but mine has done it for years. If you ever figure it out, please for the love of God, tell me!!!!

[Entropy]

He's not a fan of the water bottle at all. It's not getting worse and I'm sure the more we work with him with the water bottle the more he'll decide it's not such a bright idea and of course when no petting ensues... well that will not please him.

[drugaria]

Well all I can say is that discipline is the key here !
It took a while for our 3 cats to lern not to disturbe me when I'm in my room (it is a cat free room, but not snake free Anyway it took about a month of screaming at them and chaseing to hit them back in the days but they learned that they are not allowed in there and now don't even attempt to enter even if the door is left open .So a little bit of tough lovin is the key

[Entropy]

In my experience cats don't do well with physical discipline, thus the very effective water bottle.

[Drew87]

my cat and my roommates cats do the same thing so bad its down to wood under the carpet they just want attention just give them a squirt of water everytime they do it or put a block between the door and then and they cant do it they will get board and go do something else