Nighttime Litter Box Scratching And Scratching And Scratching

My 13lb, 3-year-old longhaired male (who we suspect has some Maine Coon in him - he loves water, playing fetch, greets us at the door, is basically a dog) keeps my husband and me up ALL NIGHT LONG with his litter box scratching. We have a covered litterbox for him and our other 7-year-old shorthaired female. He will run around the apartment and wake us up at midnight. Once he bothers us, my husband will get up and close him in the guest room. Then around 3 am he howls to be fed. We try to hold off until our quiet female asks for food around 5 am. Once fed, he has to use the box and will scratch the edge for 15-20 minutes straight. My husband gets up and shoo's him out and locks him back into the guest room until we wake up at 6 am. It's an all-night situation and he is driving us crazy.

Odd thing is, when my husband went out of town for business a few weeks ago for 3 nights, our male didn't disturb me once. I got up to feed them at 5 am, and that was it! I think he likes to play with my husband during the night, so to get him out of bed, he does all the things that annoy us. How do we make it stop and get some sleep?

Hi. Do you know for sure that he doesn't scratch in the litterbox like that during the day also? Might just be his nature.

Where is his litterbox kept normally? Can one be placed in the guest room, at least a night, and have him put in there during sleeping hours?

I do think that he knows he can get your husband up at times during the night, and that is why you didn't have him bugging you while your husband was gone. So, maybe the answer is to make arrangements that will enable your husband NOT to get up at night. Feed him a little later in the evening and maybe that will hold him off until 5am, play with him before bed time, and move him and his litterbox to the guest room overnight.

I am sure other members will read your post soon and offer some helpful advice!

I don't think it's a good idea to shoo him out of the litter box. Honestly, we do everything we can to make the litter box experience a good one. Cats are easily frightened. One of their responses to being frightened is to stay away from the place where they were frightened. One loud noise from husband when shooing kit out of the box... Or kit may decide you don't want him to use the box. Cats don't think the way we do.

Seems to me the simplest situation and the one with the potential to get you the most rest is to either put both in the guest room before you go to bed and not let them out or feed them until you are ready to get up in the morning or stick them both in the guest room when he starts pestering you at midnight. But same thing. They stay there until you are ready to get up, not when they decide they need to eat.

There might be major carrying on for a few days until they get used to the new routine but they won’t starve by 6:00 am. And not feeding until then means you will be awake by the time the litter box scratching starts.

If you feel guilty making them wait for breakfast you could give them a little kibble or a few treats at their bedtime.

Scratching the side of the box might just be a habit. My cat does it after pooping, every day. She does her thing and then just hangs out in there, scratching the sides of the box for a while. Any way you could just move the box further away from your bedroom, perhaps the guest room so you can't hear it?

Other than that, I really subscribe to the play dead rule. It can take a while to work, and it can be super hard to just pretend they haven't woken you up or walked all over you. Up until a few months ago, I was living with my ex. When she tried to wake us up at night, I would play completely dead. Not even rolling over. He would respond to her, and so she would keep trying to get him to engage with her. She never really stopped walking all over him at night, and would occasionally get me too, probably just proximity. In the thee months that it's just been her and I, she hasn't woken me up in the middle of the night ever. So, I would try both of you really, completely ignoring the cats until you're ready to get up.

Hello and welcome to TCS. Here's an article that might have some suggestions for you: How To Stop My Cat From Waking Me Up At Night (step-by-step Plan)