Cat meowing at bedroom door

Question
My cat is 7 yrs old.  My husband of 2 yrs is allergic to my cats and the bedroom is off limits to cats.  At night my one cat meows at the door and scratches at it until I get up and stay in the living room with her.  How do I stop this behavior?  We can't sleep!  

Answer
Hello Julie!

Well, first of all, be absolutely SURE NOT to pay her ANY attention when she does this!  VERY IMPORTANT!!  The more attention (even to tell her to knock it off) you give her, the more it will encourage her to continue.  She's just lonely.

One thing I would recommend is loading up her night time space with lots of different kinds of toys.  This way she will definitley have something to occupy herself, though she won't be giving them any time of day (or in this case night, hehe) for the first week or so.

Step Two: get a good amount of white noise going in your room.  A fan works great for this, provided its loud enough.  You don't need a rocket fan, or anything, just one that makes a good amount of white noise.  You can also download white noise from the internet (try googling white noise) and playing it either from your computer (if it is in your bedroom), or burning it onto a CD and playing that at night.  This will go a long way in helping drown out her crying.  

The most important thing is that she get used to being alone at night.  Don't worry...there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with her getting used to being alone...she just has to learn that she CAN be alone.  Does that make sense?

Another thing, if she starts realizing that the meowing is no longer getting her attention, she will more than likely start clawing under the door, which you can counter with getting a chair mat (plastic mat that has teeth underneath to hang onto the carpet that offices use) and placing it under the door so that a couple feet of it comes into your room (thereby keeping her from dragging out from under the door...you can even place something heavy on it if it will help), and the rest is outside your door.  This will prevent her from being able to damage your carpet.  

So, let me know how all that works, ok?  Just remember to be stubborn, and don't let your heart convince you that your baby is heartbroken...she's absolutely FINE, I PROMISE!!  :o)  In fact, this will be a very healthy thing for her to learn!  She needs to learn to have time by herself.

So, give it a shot, let me know how it goes, if you have any other questions, or anything doesn't/won't work for any reason, ok?

Hugs to you and yours!

Rosie*