How do I stop my cat from destroying everything?
I have a cat who is 9 months old.
She claws my computer chair, she claws my leather piano stool and she's putting all kinds of holes in it, she chews on the cords to my PC and my fan and my PC headset and she chewed on the mic to my headset.
I try to kick her out of my room and then she just stands in front of the door crying for 8 hours as loud as possible and claws at the bottom of the door. It's not a battle I can win.
I'm getting so sick of my stuff being broken and destroyed. I can't even leave a water bottle out without her spilling it.
She's fixed so it's not like she does it from hormone stress or whatever.
She has toys. I saw on Google to introduce her to a scratching post. Well my cat has two and she refuses to use either of them.
I thought that she acted this way because she's needy and wants attention but whenever I give her attention she fights it and runs away and she doesn't want attention she just wants to be in my room.
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Clawing post
Try taking some catnip and rub it into the kitty scratching post. That should get her attention on the post, at least. No promises on whether she will now use the post properly.
Claw damage
To curtail destruction, please look into kitty claw caps (like SoftClaws), that let the cat retract its claws but prevent it from doing claw damage. However, the cat can still bite and cause damage that way.
Teeth damage
There are sprays that you can spray on wires that taste bad to the cat that can prevent chewing. Wire chewing is common in cats. Before you spray everything, test a small section first.
Play
Like dogs, cats get pent-up energy. For a week, play with your cat with all different manners of toys until it is utterly exhausted, and see if the destruction levels change. Remember that cats get bored like humans do, so you should be using a variety of toys.
Meowing
You are now living in the cat's territory. It does not appreciate you restricting access to parts of its territory by shutting the door. (I don't know what to do about this but wanted to explain from the cat's perspective what was happening).
Keep working on making the things she's destroying unappealing, and looking for appropriate things that she likes better.
For instance, there are a variety of different types of scratchers for cats now in many different materials. Try out different ones, especially ones with different materials. I've found cheap cardboard scratchers especially appeal to many cats probably because those ones are easily destroyed. The only downside is having to vacuum bits of cardboard regularly. Place the scratcher close to objects the cat likes to scratch already, and hopefully they will be redirected towards the scratcher. If your cat likes catnip, you can extra encourage your cat to scratch the scratcher by laying a bit of catnip on it.
As for the cords, try to make them unappealing, and get them out of reach when possible. Try wrapping the cords in unharmful materials that the cat doesn't like chewing, like cushy fabrics. Again, you may need to try a variety of things to figure out what the cat doesn't like.
I've also heard that cans of compressed air are particularly good for disciplining cats. No water getting everywhere, and you don't need to particularly aim for the cat, as it's the noise they don't like.
I have been through this too: Some cats chew cables, others tear up your furniture, and others are pretty well behaved by human standards and just play with their toys and always use scratching posts.
Like having a baby, and baby-proofing your home, you should cat-proof our home:
1) Remove poisonous plants.
2) Don't leave medications around like loose tablets.
3) Secure delicate / valuable items that the cat may knock over and break.
4) Don't leave razor-sharp knives out on counters etc.
5) Don't leave human food around that the cat may lick / eat. Note: Some cats like to put their paws into your drinking glasses when you are not looking.
6) Use spill-resistant sports bottles, or cap your water bottles between sips. There are also cup holders you can mount on your desktop. These are easy to DIY as well.
7) Put away small corded items like ear buds, headsets, and phone charging cables when not in use.
8) Larger computer cables, and power cables can be protected with plastic or metal sheaths you can buy that cover them. e.g. cable cladding, cable raceways, cable protectors, conduit.
9) Stay away from your cat when wearing expensive clothes.
10) Put away small valuable jewelry items.
11) Blankets can be thrown over couch backs and arms where the cat likes to scratch.
12) Place tablecloths or heavy vinyl-coated fabrics on top of flat wood surfaces that you don't want scratched over time as the cat jumps on them.
13) A cat falling into the bathtub while you are bathing may result in serious injury... to you.
14) Avoid having high perches above where you sleep / sit. A 10 lb cat jumping 4 or more feet down onto you may result in injury... to you.
My cat Ody has taken to laying on top of our warm pizza boxes. Doing this he crushes the lid damaging the pizza within. Hiding the pizza box works but then we have to get up from our meal every time we want another slice. Putting large light weight objects on top of the box is working for now but he is starting to figure out they can be moved. I am still working on a solution for this one.
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