Alright so here's the deal...I have a 3 year old spayed female cat named Serenity and Serenity loves to just be a butt in the middle of the night.

She will meow at the top of her lungs, she will scratch on the carpet, she will try to open the closet door (which we have now installed a lock on so that she can't open it herself) and if she can't open it, she begins clawing underneath it.

Now, getting rid of her isn't an option at all - it's not something I even want to consider - I just want to know how to get her to sleep!

Some background info:

-She is an only cat but my roommate and I both work from home an we're off quite a bit - she gets PLENTY of attention throughout the day and before bed. She even sleeps in the bed so she's never alone but she's free to roam the apartment. -She has plenty of fresh food and water. -We have already tried using a spray bottle full of water - every single time, she just runs into the other room and comes back soon after (pretty sure she's made a game out of it) -We've tried putting her in a kennel for about 10 - 15 minutes of 'being bad time' but after she gets out, she continues with her behavior, despite us doing the water bottle AND this for the past two or three weeks. -She has numerous toys - stuffed mice, paper balls, things on strings and she plays with them all the time so I know she likes them just fine. -She has two scratching posts as well.

The absolute ONLY thing we've found that keeps her from scratching is tape and obviously, we don't want to put tape all over the apartment just to keep her from scratching AAAND it doesn't fix the meowing in the night.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Cats are [at least partially] nocturnal animals. What she's doing is normal and to be expected. If an animal is doing something natural and instinctual, you should never punish them for it. The obvious problem here is that she has no playmate when she is the most active. I would look into getting a cat to be her friend and locking them both out of the bedroom at night time. Then everybody's happy :]

Can you put her in a kittyproof room at night? My cat does the same things. Most cats are active at night and hate closed doors.

We have a litter box in the cabinet, food/water, toys and a cat bed in one of our bathrooms. We turn the light off, but turn on a nightlight so he can see and it's not totally dark. We keep the toilet lid shut and anything that will get him into trouble put away (so no cords, no beauty products). This keeps him confined so that he can't chew cords or plants while he's unsupervised and our sleep isn't disturbed by his antics. At first he would sometimes jump on the door... it sounds like he's body slamming it actually, but we ignored him and he eventually learned that doing that wouldn't produce a result. Now he stays quiet all night. However, if we're not up to let him out by 8:30am he starts to get impatient.

has a lot of good suggestions, she covered just about everything I could think of but I do have one for you. Try leaving the tv on at a low volume. My cat used to cry when it was the middle of the night, I think because she'd get lonely with everyone sleeping, and keeping the tv on seemed to help.

There have been plenty of great suggestions so far, so I definitely think you should try them! I have another question, though: What kind of food do you feed your kitty? Our cat used to be CRAZY at night, and we couldn't figure out why. She got plenty of attention during the day and such, but she was very destructive and vocal during the night. We were feeding her Meow Mix at the time, but we decided to switch to a higher quality cat food. We had also noticed that her coat was a little dry and felt unhealthy. Along with the switch of catfood, we started giving her a nice helping of tuna in oil in the mornings to munch on throughout the day, and put some apple cider vinegar in her water.

We don't have a problem with her being crazy at night anymore. She seems much happier, less aggressive, and her coat is very shiny and soft now!

You know those plastic mats you put under your computer chair with the little plastic spike grips on the bottom? I've heard that if you put one of them spikes-up outside your door and in front of the closet door at night, cats will leave you alone in that department. They don't like the texture.

Cats do not have to be a nuisance at night. Despite the fact that they are nocturnal with training a cat can merrily join in with the rest of the family for bed time. The key is to remember that they are creatures of habit and live for schedule. This is a big part of training your kitty for bed.

Try not to depend on outside resources (such as water spray) as the source of authority. Stuff like that can just create new and unnecessary fears or concerns. She needs to know the definition of a good firm No. You are the authority, you're the treat, you're the joy, you're everything. Your body language will help her dictate whether she's being a good or bad girl. If she doesn't respond to a command like No that tells her she's doing something wrong, that's something that needs to be worked on. It will help every aspect of training.

Her kennel should be a safe spot. So unless it's a place of genuine fear (which it should never be) it's not a punishment. Her greatest punishment should be and will be your collective disappointment in her.

Secret made a great suggestion which was exactly how I trained my kitten from day one. Kitty bed time room. Quarantine a room in the house that you can place all the necessities into for bed. It should be comfortable, with interest, snuggly spot(s) for sleep, and have a good door. Like training a toddler for bed time, the whole experience should involve a lot of pleasure in winding down from the day. Have a direct time when your whole house can retire. Even if you two don't go to sleep, don't be out in the kitchen, or living room, etc. At this time, you need that very strict schedule. If you worry about energy, a vigorous romping play ten or so minutes before bed time is announced is good.

When you're ready, announce it! Cats learn words and phrases far easier than we realize. Catch her attention, it's time for bed! Let's go to bed! Shut things down. TV is off, doors are final checked, etc. Complete a bed time schedule of things that you do right before bed. Give her a special bed time thing too. Maybe it's a special snuggle, or a nice robust brushing. Then, everybody goes to drop her off to bed, says good night, door is shut, lights are off, and the house is quiet. She will howl, she'll throw a fit, she'll rampage, ignore it. This will be the new bed time schedule. Same time, every night. She will grow to expect it, enjoy it, and take comfort in it. When she starts to signal bed time herself, that's when you know it's really set in, and that is when you can even begin experimenting with leaving the door open.