considering kittycide!

My youngest kitty, 6 month old Pepper, (formerly Pepe', we discovered he is a she) is driving me nuts! She is constantly in to everything, tears down my curtains, gets on my counter, and is just generally obnoxious. She will not listen to anything! I am so sick of screaming at her, taking stuff away from her, and peeling her off my curtains. I have had naughty kitties before, but never one so hard headed. I am considering finding her a new home, but the way she acts, they would just bring her back. My s/o is developing severe dislike for her because she will not stay off the computers, and even wiped out his hard drive playing with wires. She was injured when I found her, and is just now getting into a condition of health that she can be spayed. I have tried everything I can think of. Things that worked with the others, she just meows at, like she is talking back to me. She is an adorable little girl when she wants to be sweet, and just cute as a button, (looks like a Bengal mix) but she is destroying my house and my sanity. Declawing is not an option for any of my cats, and I have never considered rehoming one that I have taken in as a permanent member of the household.
I am going to get an appointment to have her spayed ASAP, now that she is healthy enough. Do you think she will calm down? My others were never this naughty for this long! I welcome suggestions or advice!

It sounds as if you have adopted a real wild child! Although all kittens are pretty wild and crazy critters, every now and then one comes along that has the energy and mischeviousness of 10 kittens all rolled up in one little body. The advice you need is pretty lengthy and will best come from a book. Get on Amazon or go to a local bookstore and look for one of these books by Pam Johnson Bennett: Twisted Whiskers, Psycho Kitty, or Think Like a Cat. Also, the book Is Your Cat Crazy by John Wright has a clear description of a cat just like yours. Here is a link for these and other cat books.

haha, Buffy was like that too! Always getting into trouble and not listening to us. She has mellowed alot since, though she is still mischevious and hard-headed. I would advise you stick with your kitty, as she'll mellow out soon, do to age. Also, when you get her spayed, she should mellow out some more.

Or you can try playing with her. I recently got a cat toy (the wand with a bunch of feathers at the end of a string) and after just a few minutes, Buffy was lying down and huffing and puffing. Maybe your cat would be content to lie around and catch her breath after some hard playing. But then again, maybe she'll like chasing the feathers around and around and around, until you are falling over, huffing and puffing.

Spaying will help. Screaming at her will not. Screaming will only accelerate the behavior. You might try one of the spirit essences on her-

Little Big Cat

Originally posted by hissy
You might try one of the spirit essences on her-

Little Big Cat

Click to expand...

If spirit essences are not available, or are not desired for some reason, I will pass on something which Jim and I learned quite by accident.

A couple of days ago our brand-new Turkish Van, Samwise, was being naughty about getting into something which was off limits (my sewing table -- complete with trees containing seductive spools of thread). I use a "spray can" which just contains air for cleaning lint out of my sewing machine. Jim had purchased it at Office Depot to clean dust and dirt out of his computer keyboards and such.

A "puff of air" administered the next two or three times Samwise got on the sewing table did the trick, with no risk of harm to him. Actually just waving the can in his face now works in cases of kitty-trespass.

Pavlov's cat??

May be worth a try.

Cheers,

Ann