Darcy is a problem child

I think that Darcy is a freak of nature. Thanks to a previous suggestion of ignoring her and a little moving around of feeding schedules, I have been able to stop her from scratching on the furniture during the week. On the weekend however, Hubby and I maintain a different schedule which involves sleeping in a bit later. Darcy doesn't like this and so she scratches at the furniture despite our most sincere efforts to ignore her, she persists. We put down some carpet runner where she likes to scratch, but since she is a freak of nature, she doesn't mind walking on the super sharp little plastic knobbies. She doesn't care about foil, she chews off her softclaws within a day or two of me putting them on. I don't know how to stop her from scratching during the weekends. I would prefer to be able to sleep in an extra hour or two.

Also, she is ruining our blinds. She doesn't mind being sprayed with water. She still managed to get to the blinds when we moved the cat tree away from the window, we stopped putting suet in the feeder to discourage birds and therefore discourage her from getting into the blinds, I cut the cord so she wouldn't hang herself, but I would prefer that she stop ruining the blinds. The window is too narrow for vertical blinds, so are there any suggestions?

Can't you keep her in another room altogether overnight? You're the one changing her schedule and it's making her nervous. And maybe you could use a different style of blinds, whether pull down shades, or something else.

I'd see about investing in some plastic blinds--they don't crease like the vinyl ones. I don't think Darcy sounds like a freak of nature--she seems to be acting like a normal cat. They get to nap all day and don't understand the desire to sleep in. You could try adding a big play session just before bed on the weekends, and giving a larger than normal meal or investing in an automatic feeder. There are no guarentees though--my mom's 15.5 year old cat is driving her nuts in the mornings, and she isn't even hungry. She just wants the humans (all of them!) to get up and keep her company. You could try keeping her confined, or you can try using Sticky Paws or similar double-sided tape to discourage her from scratching on the furniture. Alternately, you could give in and get up long enough to feed her, and then go back to sleep. I'm currently battling my own cats on this, and I'm very close to giving in and feeding them the first time they wake me since they are so persistent.