Have you tried having a play session with him before you go to sleep?

The twit (Mark Healey) who uses the nickname die@spammer.die  writes

squirt bottle by the bed and >shoot him whenever he starts.  

have him put down but this has to

It sounds like you have absolutely no clue that this squirt bottle has been
useless....you keep using it despite the failure of this method. You actually
are thinking to "put him down" for this behavior that is not too far from a
normal type behavior. Why do you have any pets at all? Your cat sounds like he
is bored. Maybe some exercise and attention to tire him out might help. You
probably don't have a clue that cats are nocturnal and don't go by our
timeclock.  If there's nothing in this cabinet, why not leave it open? If the
cat scratches at the door, can you pad the door to muffle the scratches?  You
didn't list any positive reinforcement or behavior modification that didnt'
involve punishment.

<< I don't want to give him away or have him put down but this has to
stop >>

Please don't kill your cat for normal cat behavior.  How old is he?  If he's a
kitten, he will eventually calm down.  Play with him before bed as others
mentioned and leave the cabinet open.  Have you tried ear plugs?  Get him toys
he can play with at night in the other room, a tall cat tree, a way to look out
windows, etc.

Candace
(take the litter out before replying by e-mail)

See my cats:
http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

"One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other
than human."  (Loren Eisely)

Open the cabinet.  

Hi Mark,

I don't want you to have to give away or put down the cat over this,
either. It's normal cat behavior. That said, yes people need to sleep,
so let me ask you a few questions and make a few suggestions. Firstly,
how old is the cat? If it's under a year old, then you're probaboy
just looking at kitten behavior that will mitigate in a pretty short
period of time. Like human babies, cat babies can't sleep through the
night. Secondly, how long have you had the cat? If the cat came to you
recently, then it probably just hasn't acclimated to your schedule and
it will, in time. Our schedules are opposite to a cats natural
schedule (make a ruckus at dawn and dusk and hunt during the night and
snooze during the day), so it does take some time living with the
humans to adjust to how things are done around your house.

Things you can try: I agree that if the cat digs the cabinet, that you
might as well leave it open if there's nothing inportant in there. Why
not? You've probably created a game with the squirt bottle by now
(i.e. cats goal is to avoid being squirted, not to avoid the behavior
causing the squirting), so forget that and try some new techniques.
Firstly, do play with the cat a bit before bedtime. Sometimes 15
minutes is enough to relax a cat and send it into mellow zone during
the period you are falling asleep. Secondly, do express some dismay in
cat terms when the cat wakes you up. He needs to understand that you
don't like it - i.e hiss at the cat when he pisses you off. They know
EXACTLY what that means. If hissing doesn't stop the behavior, then
the next thing I'd try is a time out. Namely if the cat engages in the
behavior, you hiss, and the cat does it again, then gently pick him
up, bring a toy and a blanket and the food and place him in another
room with all doors closed (an extra bedroom or the bathroom). He may
make some noise, but let him spend the night there. My guess would be
that the next night or even the night after that, he'll stop the
behavior immediately when you hiss or get up and move towards him. You
should be able to discourage it in just a few days.

It is possible that you simply have a very bright and energetic cat
and if he's home by himself all day, he may just be too jazzed in the
evening to be able to sleep all night. It may well be that a 2nd cat
would keep him occupied during the day so he wouldn't sleep all day
and therefore zing around all night. Assuming this is an indoor cat,
that may well be his problem.

Good luck and try to hang in there and improve the situation. The cat
is only expressing a desire to interact with you. He just doesn't have
his timing down yet.

Perhaps he wants to sleep in the cabinet.  Open it and make a little
space for him.  It might solve your problem.   MLB

Not to worry.  I couldn't put him down.  I was writing 5 hours before
I had to get up for work.

The cat is three or four.  I don't like the noise idea because his
brother is usually curled up on by back and purring when this happens
and I don't want to discourage that.

He doesn't like mellow petting but he will go ape sh.t with massive
forhead rubbing when his head is scratched and he never gets tired
of it.  He hates to be held and wond sit on anyones lap but will sleep
on a prone persons chest.

I guess I'll try to tucker him out with the laser pointer.

--
Mark Heaely
marknews(at)healeyonline(dot)com