Help Taming My Cat

She is 2 years old, i had her when she was about 3 months old. she is a really mean kitty, she hisses at people, attacks people, and make people mad. its starting to get annoying, and i dont want to get rid of her, she is pretty cool, and fun to play with sometimes, and likes to be with the family if she is known with them.
1. she likes to scratch leather sofas, how do i make her stop, using water guns dont really work, she just runs away and come back later.
2. When playing with her, she uses her claws, and then gets mad, she dont let people touch her, except sometime she lets us pet her, and i want to clip her nail, how can i do it without getting bitten, scratched and start bleeding.
3. She doesnt like being hold, and when you hold here, she starts growling and hissing, and attacks if she can. anything i can do where she wont mind it as much?
4. she hisses and growls and attacks when another animal is around, some way to change that?
there may be more questions later on if it comes to mind.
5. sometimes, when she is outside, or when i havent came home for awhile, she hisses when i try to go near her, as she is mad, she still follows me though, but sometimes i feel like she doesnt remember me at all anymore, is that wrong?
6. today, she went out for about 30 min or so, and i think there was 2 other cats around her when we found her, when she came home, she wouldnt go near any of the family member, and when we do, she growls, hisses, and attacks when close enough, its like the same thing above, she seems like she doesnt remember us. On normal days, she likes to follow me around, sometimes starts playing with me, playing toys in front of me, sleeping next to me, and she respects me and lets me touch her once in awhile. But when i am gone for awhile or tell her to go back in the house, she disrespects me, dont let me touch her, and wont go near me. Sometimes when she is like that, she still follows me, but just wont let me go near her. Anyway to change her, will spaying work?
7. How could i train my cat to stop scratching furniture, let us cut her nails, let us touch her, dont get angry everytime when we play with her, and have her behaving like a nice household cat?
Thanks in Advance

1. I protect my sofas with plastic. The cats don't like the "crunchy" sound when they go on them.
2. Play with her only when she wants to. For trimming her nails you may have to ask your vet or go to a professional groomer.
3. Not all cats like to be held. Others may disagree with me but I would respect her wishes.
4. She's being territorial. It's normal.
5. You probably smelled different to her.
6. If you don't want her getting pregnant, be impossibly noisy when in heat, disappear days at a time, etc. - yes, definitely get her spayed.
7. I feel your cat has not been with people or socialized properly. Was she a feral/stray before you got her?

Provide her with something in the same room as the sofas that she can scratch on, a scratching post perhaps.

And for the other things, first get her spayed, definitely, all those hormones can't be helping.... Also, if she had kittens, chances are she wouldn't let you near them, she'd become even more defensive.

I agree, just respect her want not to be picked up.

For the other things, try clicker training, you should be able to find a book about in relation to cats on the internet. It was originally developed by dolphin trainers and I now use it for my horses and my dogs, with astonishing results. It works by positive reinforcement and should work wonders with your girl. Good luck!

This is what I have done:
1. Put aluminum foil over the part she scratches and put something suitable to scratch in front of it (scratching post, rough textured outdoor welcome mat, cardboard cat scratching material). Try different things until you find one she likes to scratch on then gradually move it away from area.

2. Tie a shoe lace to a stick and wave it around for her to chase. Don't use your hands when playing.
Clip nails when she is asleep and do only a few at a time so as not to wake her.

3. She may be one of those cats that doesn't like being held. Maybe sit on the floor and drag a toy on a string around while ignoring her. Then slowly drag the toy across your lap and don't touch her. Keep doing this and maybe she will get to like playing on your lap.

4. Getting her spayed may help here. Unspayed females will attract other males to your house. She could be acting territorial and transfer her actions to you because of the other cats outside. After spaying she will not attract other males.

5. Leave a piece of clothing that you have worn in her bed. Maybe offer a treat when you leave and when you come home.

6. She may have already mated with one of the cats. If you can, get her spayed as soon as possible. My daughter took in a stray and after spaying she became more loving. I think hormones play a part here. Best to keep her inside until after spay is done.

7. Search the forum for "socializing" or "taming". There is a wealth of info.
While she is at vet for spay you could ask for their advice about her not remembering you.

I hope this helps some. I have done alot of trial and error living with my cats.

I second the spaying. If the vet fees are a problem, contact your local Humane Society; they may have a low cost or free spay/neuter clinic.

Spaying/neutering is what responsible pet owners do./I] If you can't afford to spay or neuter, you can't afford regular veterenary care, food, and other thing the animal needs and you should not have a pet if you cannot look after it properly.

There's a lot of very good tips on dealing with cat aggression in this thread:
http://thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20837

For inappropriate scratching: the reason why water guns don't work is because the only thing that it teaches them is what not to do, not what is right for them to do. Imagine a teacher screaming at her student when they say 2+2=5 without bothering to tell them what the right answer is. A child doesn't learn that way and cats don't learn that way either. Get yourself a tall scratch post - one where they can stretch out their entire body length (short ones are worthless), or get yourself a cardboard turbo scratcher for the floor. When your cat goes to the furniture, redirect them to the appropriate scratching place and praise them, give them treats, and do whatever you can to reward the cat. Cats are smart and will learn quickly.

my cat hasnt really been out much, usually about 20 min per week at the most, and when ever some one comes in, she flys out the door, is there any way to stop her, and keep her as an indoor cat? when she is usually outside, she is right in front of the door, and shes been out probably about 10 times in her life, until yesterday when she went somewhere else.
i wanted her to be an indoor cat, but my mom is always like let her go outside for a couple of minutes or she might go crazy.

I have two that would run for the door when it was opened. They have never been outside. What I do is give them a few kibbles of dry food to redirect their attention when I leave. Now they run to the food container instead of the door. Another thing I did until they were trained was to slowly open the door and keep my foot in the opening. I then looked for the cats before I opened the door making my foot the last to move from the doorway. They can be trained with food. Just find what they like and offer a tiny bit when they do what you want.

A female cat outside for even a minute can get pregnant. Even if she stays by your door. There will always be males waiting if she is not spayed. Less worry to just have them spayed. She may not try to run out the door after she is spayed. No more hormone drive to mate.

Cats can live a life indoors just fine and will not go crazy. Especially after she is spayed. Put a chair in front of a window and put bird seed outside or old bread to attract birds to watch. Good luck with getting her spayed. It really may help solve several of your problems.

Make sure (if someone else is home when you're leaving) that she's behind another door, but that as soon as you're out (or anyone else leaving is out) that the person still at home lets your kitty back out of the room she's in. Or if someone comes from outside (and you're home) to first get the cat behind a door (or even picked up) just long enough to let people inside. Once your cat is spayed, she won't feel the need to run outside as much anyway (and won't go crazy) once a few weeks have gone by after surgery.