Multiple questions in here..

I don't know the backstory here, but I just wanted to check and make sure - she is spayed now? And you will be getting him neutered if he's not already?

As to your questions...

1) Are you sure he's not deaf? Or partially deaf? One idiot vet we had when we asked if one of our cats was deaf clapped his hands not to far from her and she turned - and he said "she's not deaf." Well, he was wrong. She's deaf. You also sure his ears aren't plugged with wax or something? AND.... are you sure he's not just ignoring you?

Also, I've told this story before, so those of you who read this and are sick of hearing it, sorry! But we adopted a little girl who we separated for introductions to our other kitties. She liked to hide under the cedar chest in the room when alone, so every time we'd go open the door, we'd call "Where's Ming Loy?" all cute, and she'd bang her head on the bottom of the chest, wiggle her way out and come running. The first time we let her out of the room to explore, we were all in our bedroom. We called her... "Ming Loy!" No response. Called her a few more times. Gary and I looked at each other with the same idea - we called out "Where's Ming Loy?" - and she came running! It took a couple of weeks to switch her name from "Where's Ming Loy?" said like a question, to just "Ming Loy." But are you sure you're not combining his name with something else - like you're usually calling him .... Cat Name, Dinner! or Cat Name, Treats! ?????????????????? Because he may think his name is the whole phrase, not just his name.

2) With cats there's two components to changing behavior like scratching. One is denial of the place they want to scratch - the other is providing the alternative. She obviously loves to scratch on natural wood. Anywhere to obtain a tree stump or thick branch or something? Because with scratching, finding a surface they like to use is half the battle. She obviously prefers the natural wood, even though she used to be happy with the other post.

Here are some links if you want to buy more stylish natural wood things for her - or just use these ideas to make things for her:

http://www.naturaltreefurniture.com/CatScratchers.html
http://www.naturalscratch.com/

Oh wait - you're in Canada. I don't know if either place ships there - but you can google it.

As to the denial part - wrap the column in aluminum foil for now. If that doesn't do the trick, buy a roll of duct tape or two, and it'll probably take two people to do it, but wrap the column (where she can reach) with the sticky side facing out.

3) Our cats were all feral rescues, and they all hated being picked up. What we did was do it in really baby steps. We'd pick them up and immediately set them back down. Do this every day. In fact - give her a couple of treats as soon as you set her down. Then she learns that the ACT of being picked up isn't a bad thing. After a couple of weeks, instead of immediately setting her back down, hold her for like a second or two. Then set her back down. Do this for a couple of weeks.

You get the idea... just keep picking her up, setting her down, and every few weeks, lengthen the amount of time you "hold" her. And give her treats every time you do it. She'll come to associate being picked up with treats, and learn that it doesn't mean she's being held captive or shoved in a crate.

That's a nice way to start the new year!

Hope the suggestions help. And is there a possibility he's deaf?

Each cat has its own personality. Some will respond to their names, but most don't bother. I currently have six cats and only one seems to recognize her name. Mostly she'll just look at me when I say it, but that doesn't mean she'll do what I want her to. One cat comes running when I call her for supper, but I suspect that she's responding more to the tone of voice than to her name.

I've had two of my cats since the day they were born. They're both female and look almost exactly alike, but have totally different personalities. One loves to be held and cuddled. The other will actually put her front paws on my shoulder and push away as hard as she can trying to get down. I don't think I treated them any differently when they were kittens. As I said, they just have different personalities and preferences. You may or may not be able to train your kitty to like being held, but you can certainly try LDG's suggestions.

I would also suggest keeping them separated until you can have them spayed & neutered. You may think he's to young, but a 5-month-old male can definitely get a female pregnant.

Good luck with training your kitties. (I always thought it worked the other way around).

Oh only two of them "like" being held, and one came that way and the other does it on her own terms. The rest tolerate it - but at least we can pick them up, so we know we can get them in a crate when we have to, and they don't associate being picked up only with going to the vet.

I am so glad to find I am not alone in this. I did it too. A tom whom I thought was a girlkitty was named Pansy (mom was Daisy). He never learned to come tp Pansy, thankfully, but would come to Whereszababee. It took weeks to shorten it to Zabbie and many months to shorten it to Zab. I wasn't content to ruin one cat's life so did it again with Tippy. Tippy was a shy kitten, and much coaxing and saying Where Tippy would bring him out. He rarely responds to just plain Tippy and I still have to call Where Tippy. The only time he responds to just plain Tippy is an invite into a vehicle....silly cat.

To the OP, some cats never seem to learn their names, and many have selective hearing and only answer when they feel like it and some will come running to anything that sounds close to their names. It's a matter of patience to get them to respond most of the time.