Adult Cats are Still Naughty at 3 1/2. Why?

Has anyone noticed if kittens that were raised completely indoors grow up to have more behavioral issues than cats that spent the first year of their life outside?

Of all the indoor only cats I've had over the last 26 years, the only ones that were naughty are the current ones I have that were raised completely indoors. I'm not sure if that caused their behavioral issues or if it's genetic.

These cats are almost 3 1/2 and they're still misfits. They've gotten better recently since my grandma moved in with me, but they're still naughty. They walk across the coffee tables and sometimes purposely knock things off, they lay on the dining room table (where the humans eat), play with various decorative items, and look in the trash can to see what they can pull out to play with (this is a new behavior).

Things are even worse at Christmas. The first Christmas I let them loose in the house (as opposed to confining them to one or two rooms), they were 1 1/2 years old. I anticipated that they would play with the Christmas decorations so I put up my old dumpy tree and bought brand new plastic ornaments from Dollar Tree. I also only put out a few decorations that I didn't think they'd bother. As expected, they kept playing with the ornaments on the tree, knocking them onto the floor and batting them around. They also pulled out the little plastic ornaments in my little lighted ceramic tree. I ended up having to hot glue them in. None of my other cats have ever done these things. I have never even worried about any of my other cats messing with the Christmas decorations.

So does anyone know what causes this behavior? Did I spoil them too much or something? They have toys that they play with and don't seem bored. They seem to enjoy watching the other animals outside (birds, squirrels and cats). None of my other cats have ever acted like this. I've had sibling cats in the house before that didn't act like this. I just don't get it. These cats do seem very, very smart as compared to all the other cats I've had. The one actually watched and studied me when she was a kitten. She often outsmarted me by figuring out how to get through the baby gates I had stacked up in the doorway. It was a real battle of wits with that cat, although I did win in the end, I think. On second thought, she knows how to push my buttons, so I guess she ultimately has won. If I don't feed her when she wants me to, she goes around eating stuff like tape, paper, cardboard, plastic, etc.

Some cats 'mature' and calm down quicker than others. I've had one who was pretty sedate by about 1 1/2 years, and we currently have a 3 year old who still acts like he's 6 months old. It really depends on the cats. My brother's cat didn't start calming down until she as almost 5 and she still gets into things.

It sounds like they're just looking for things to do to entertain themselves and are unfortunately settling on behaviors you'd rather not have. If you can find a toy or toys that distract them, you may be able to re-direct some of their behavior into more appropriate play. A lot of our members have good luck with cat nip or valerian toys or those feather wands.

As to the Christmas tree...I think most cat owners run into that one - and entire tree filled with shiny dangling bits is just too enticing for most cats. I know we've taken to decorating the bottom 1/3 of the tree with shatter-proof, cat friendly ornaments, so there isn't a concern when they pull them off. Every cat we've had has been fascinated by the Christmas tree. Fortunately no one's tried to climb it yet.   

we had a cat named jeep who kept a kittenlike personality his entire life.  he was mischievous and playful, loved knocking things off the table, chasing anything from toys to our feet, and he also did what we called the "jeep leap", which was one heck of a high pounce. 

as long-term cat lovers, we also have pretty but unbreakable ornaments that we use on the lower 1/3 of our trees, and never ever use tinsel.