Health / Behaviour Issues - Help :(

Hi guys!

I haven't posted here for a while - everything has been really great with Snickers & Snowpea, until recently where I'm noticing a few issues with Snowpea. Stats:

Snowpea - short-medium hair domestic (white). 1 yr, 3 months old
Snickers - short-medium hair domestic (tortoisshell), 1 year, 2 months old

Here is my initial post with their back story - http://www.thecatsite.com/t/287580/say-hello-to-snickers-snowpea

TL;DR - we rescued them from a not so great family out west. Snowpea had pee stains and bite marks all over him and was pretty skinny. Snickers was just really down and a bit too skinny. She also had a limp wrist (Vet suspects she got stepped on) however all of that sorted itself out!

So, on to the issue...

Snowpea seems to have a few behavioural issues that I think are tied into the health issues he's having:

He seems to have an inferiority complex. There are a few reasons:

• When he walks around the house, his tail is usually in the apprehensive/defensive position.(one of these)
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  • roro
  • Sep 2, 2015
• When we've gone to bed, we need to keep them out of our room because they keep us up all night if they stay in the room. They take over the bed, run around the room, scratch the headboard and generally cause mischief LOL. So, we keep them in their own area with beds etc. Every night, he starts meowing at about 5AM to get in, starts scratching at the door. Kind of normal and it doesn't bother me too much, he's like a natural alarm clock. BUT....
• When we open the bedroom door, there are literally CLUMPS of his fur everywhere. We've monitored this over a couple of months and it seems he's stressing himself out so much that his fur is malting really rapidly.
• He generally malts way too much, even when we brush him daily. His hair has basically taken over the entire apartment, gets in our eyes, is all over our clothes Every day we could make a second cat out of his malted fur... 
• He seems to want to be mischeivous to get attention, ie he knows he's not allowed in the kitchen but he'll do it time and time again, and we calmy try to get him out or make the usual NO noise, and he runs off tail down and sulks. I would think after this long he would know not to? We've tried different methods of discipline to no avail.
• He seems to want to give us payback if he's annoyed/hungry - ie if we're lying on the couch, he will jump onto our chest/stomach as HARD as he can and whine, then jump off. To be completely honest he can sometimes get so infuriating, but then one look in his eyes and I want more cuddles hahaha.
• He scoffs his food WAY too fast, and then goes straight for Snicker's food and just pushes her out of the way. We seperate them when they eat now, but he still finishes first, comes to the door where Snickers is eating and SCREAMS until we let him in and always tries to eat her scraps. We know he's getting enough food, he's a good weight, he's just had a food complex since we got him. (They were definitely mistreated before hand, too skinny, probably barely ate)
• He constantly wants to eat, always. always, forever, always, more, more more more more more. He would eat the entire living earth if he could...
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  When he comes near us though, his tail goes up and he's super happy. He does the slow blinks, he loves a good pat and snuggle.
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  He's slightly clingy to us, in that when we work he will not leave us alone for a second, which is fine because we love cuddling with him

In short, he's mostly a really loving, adorable and happy cat. He plays with us loads, as soon as we bring out a toy or do any chase kinda games. He is very active and would never hesitate to come and play. Generally...

As for his relationship with his sister, they are actually really good. They constantly lay together, clean each other, play! Sometimes they play too hard and he tries to show his dominance etc but she can be just as feisty! There isn't much issue there, other than the fact that he's almost twice her size (she's a bit of a runt I think, she's full grown but really small).

Snickers in general is fine. She is absolutely adorable at all times, content, happy, funny, loving, and just does her own thing! Snowpea was like that for the first few months, but gradually things started to change.
 

Sorry for the rambling of this post - it's 7AM and I've been up worried about him because he seems to be getting worse. 

I'm going to take him to the vet soon just to check he doesn't have worms or anything else that might be causing his incessant hunger, however I doubt it as it's been that way since we got him. We have been fairly busy lately so I haven't had much time to invest into training/behaviour stuff, but we do spend loads of time with them every day. They're basically the biggest part of our lives.

I guess I'm just looking for any tips / advice, if anyone's going through anything similar? Do you think he needs to see a behaviour therapist? Is there anything I could do to start testing/checking what might be causing any of these things?

Any help would be really appreciated.

A few things came to mind when reading through the points:

How long and often do you play with him? I don't mean to offend, but it sounds like he might be bored....ie, seeking attention the wrong way! When my cat is being a brat, I pull out her favourite toy (either laser pointer, or "Da Bird"), and that seems to redirect her focus. I play with her until she is panting! She then finds her napping spot and takes a nap lol.

As for the food, I can totally relate to having a constantly hungry cat! Can I ask how much Snowpea weighs, and how much food your offering? It might not be enough, but good idea to do a vet visit to rule out any worms etc.

For the "nighttime mischief" there are ways to tire them out, so that they have a sound and restful night. Jackson Galaxy has some great videos on this topic. I believe his theory is, "play, hunt, eat, sleep"! Play with them until they are panting, feed them a late meal/snack, then call it a night. This routine might help settle them at night.

 We have been fairly busy lately so I haven't had much time to invest into training/behaviour stuff, but we do spend loads of time with them every day.

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This is a big part of the problem, most likely.  He's used to having more of your time and attention.  He needs a lot of play time and a regular routine.  Kitties thrive on routine.  I would also suggest Feliway to help de-stress.  The constant hunger might be from boredom and not really being hungry, especially if that's when he receives positive interaction and love.  After getting him to the vet, which needs to be this week, redirect him when he starts wanting food.  Play with him using an interactive toy such as "DaBird" as the previous poster mentioned, or some other type of interactive toy like a laser pointer.  Kitties bond with us during play, so it's a great way to bond with your kitty as well as redirect any negative behavior.  Even setting up a bird feeder by his favorite window would be good as that will entertain him as well. 

As for the nighttime naughties, this is what I've found to be so good for kitties.  A cat's natural routine is play, eat, sleep, so if you have a really good play session just before bedtime followed by a nice snack of a high protein canned food (grain free would be awesome), then they sleep through the night.  I have 4 cats and they all do well with this.  Try to go to bed at the same time every night, even on your off days. My cats know that after night-night snack, it's lights out and bedtime. They will play a little bit with each other, but then they settle down and sleep until morning.