My girlfriend has been having difficulties with her feline companion (read: overlord) particularly at night. Now, he’s still rather young, only coming up on a year old in October.
The issue is this: at night, if he is locked out of the bedroom he will paw at and rock the door continuously for hours, with a nice howling meow. If she kindly open the door, she or we are treated to two minutes of head-nuzzling followed by several hours of him knocking things over, playing with the blinds or attacking stray toes.
It’s a small apartment, so there isn’t really another room he could be confined to at night, and that’s not really an optimal solution.
The little guy gets plenty of attention during the evening hours when she’s home from work, has another elder feline companion who is well-behaved, has a scratching post and numerous kitty toys.
Does anyone have advice for calming him down so that she can get a good night’s sleep?
Do not let him in, ever. Never ever ever ever.
DO open the door, and spray him full in the face with a water bottle.
This will be an extermely unpleasant process at first. You might be up all night, for several nights or a week spraying him every 15 minutes, because in the past if he tried hard enough you let him in. Thus, he will try as hard as possible to re-create the conditions where you let him in. You will have to be totally consistent and not give in to the one thing you know will make him quiet down. Eventually, he will figure out that yowling at the door brings only sadness.
Besides behavior modification, your other option is to create some white noise, like a fan, so that it is easier to ignore the yowls. I’d actually try white noise + ear plugs if the yowling is quite loud as you describe.
What Hello Again said. Or crate him for the night.
When I moved in, my SO’s cats did the same sort of thing. That and they woke her up all night to let them in, let them out, let them in, let them out. After they spent several months sleeping in the garage at night, they decided that getting to stay in the house at night was worth a modicum of civilized behaviour. I did have to repeat the process every so often for a while, but it usually only took a night or two for them to remember why they didn’t act like that.
Contrary to popular belief, cats do not have to be obnoxious, destructive little monsters. You can have pleasant, well-behaved cats who do not throw tantrums any time they don’t get their every whim obeyed. All it takes is a little training.
Fortunately, yours is young enough that you can probably save him from spending his life as a spoiled-rotten brat.
We had the same problem with my cat after we moved house last summer - howling and scratching and mewling and thumping against the bedroom door all night. We got an automated cat repellent, and it works like a charm (she still needs an occasional tune-up, like when we come back from vacation). I picked some up at my local pet store. Hold firm on kicking the little sweetheart out of the bedroom at night - it’s worth it in the long run.
OP, you mentioned “plenty of attention during the evening hours when she’s home from work” so I’d suggest you ramp it up to 11. Near the end of the evening, wear him totally out. Wiggle a string and make him jump for it until he’s panting and out of breath. Won’t work for the entire night, but it’ll buy you a few hours.
He’ll grow out of the “OMG need to PLAY WITH STUFF!!1!” phase soon, within the next year or so, if your gf decides she likes him sleeping with her, just not attacking her toes.
This. Instead of the water bottle, I had to set the vacuum cleaner by my door plugged into a power strip. I could reach the power strip to turn it on when the cat got too noisy. The cat hated the vacuum and eventually learned to leave my bedroom door alone.
Or…you could get a dog too! I have three cats, one of whom is a kitten just shy of one year old. She is extremely playful, often to the point of obnoxiousness! However, I also have a dog and the cats have learned that at night, the dog is shut up in my bedroom with me and that is the time that they can have the run of the house free of any canine interference!
However… If you can’t use a dog to keep your cats at bay, I suggest the same as others here - never, ever give in! It may take a while, but eventually the cat will learn that the bedroom is off limits at night and will stop bothering you. Its really just a matter of who can hold out the longest!
Be strong! 
He doesn’t like you. You are overstaying your welcome in his home. You need to learn to take a hint and go away. After all, hasn’t he already been more than gracious all evening long?
your GF could go high tech with the aversion therapy. I saw a video where someone rigged an electronic eye on the kitchen counter top. Every time the cat jumped on the counter top, it triggered something that scared the sh*t (ie vacuum) out of the cat.
Of course if it is noisy, it could very well keep you up all night.
Thanks for all the suggestions!
The current tactic is a mixture of massive playtime before bed followed by the spray bottle. Too early for conclusive results, but she’s hoping.