Stumpy is nutso. She's almost 2 and we've had her since she was 7 months old. We were fostering her after she'd been injured then decided to keep her. She was a nice, quiet, sweet cat - perfect for us. Then she healed and became psycho kitty after we did the adoption paperwork.
She walks around the house bored and looking for things to do, which usually means causing mischief. She's ruined our couple of thousand dollar dining suite (table and chairs) from racing all over them, ruined so many cables from chewing them, damaged walls from leaping up them and hanging on with her claws, and keeps trying to jump onto our flat screen tv which I'm pretty sure will fall over if she jumps up or down from too big a distance.
We have tried Soft Claws, we have double sided tape everywhere she shouldn't be, she knows she's not allowed on the table and races off when she gets caught, but keeps getting up there anyway, we even have Contact paper sticky side out to stop her leaping up the walls. We've tried Feliway, we've tried bitter spray to try and keep her off things and it does nothing.
Whenever she's going through a naughty mood I wear her out with the laser pointer, and we try to play with her regularly, and she goes on supervised walks outside to chew the grass and explore.
With a baby on the way I'm worried about her. She's chewing all the baby stuff for a start - we can't but the mobile up because she tries to chew the animals off. We're borrowing a friends big swing and she's tried to play with those dangly toys.
Realistically, when the baby comes we'll have less time for her. She gets on well with our other 2 cats, but won't play with them, and she won't play with toys independently like the other 2 do.
I'm getting sick and tired of constantly replacing things she damages, and frankly I hate the fact that she's bored to the point of destruction. It's horrible to see her look so bored, and I am getting down to drastic solutions. I am not a new cat owner, and I feel like I know enough about cats and am responsible enough to know if it's me doing something wrong or if the kitty is incompatible.
I spoke to the vet about drugs, but the vet said since she's not aggressive (she's a sweet cat with a big purr, and doesn't have a mean bone in her body), she doesn't think drugs will make a difference - we just have a very energetic kitty.
So these are my 2 options (keep in mind she has lots of toys, we play with her regularly, and will soon have less time to keep her constantly occupied):
Option a) Let her outside during the day. She's very scared of cars, but we're in a quiet townhouse complex where there's not much traffic, and not many roads nearby. Upside - she'll have more space to run around. Downside - I hate the idea of letting on e of my kitties outside - there's too many dangers out there.
Option b) Rehome her. I honestly think she's just bored here and would be a much happier cat in a larger home - especially if there's kids aged 6+ who could play with her regularly. Upside - she'll hopefully be happier and less destructive. It feels like we're keeping a lion in a cat cage. Downside - I am very against rehoming kitties - a cat is for life. But if the situation is incompatible with the cat, can I make an exception? Could I live with myself? I am pretty sure she'd be happier elsewhere, but what if she was still destructive and went home to home for the rest of her life? I would be constantly fretting not knowing what happened to her.
Any thoughts? We are getting very frustrated and angry with her, which I know is unfair on her - I know it's not her fault, she's just a very active cat living in too small a space.
She walks around the house bored and looking for things to do, which usually means causing mischief. She's ruined our couple of thousand dollar dining suite (table and chairs) from racing all over them, ruined so many cables from chewing them, damaged walls from leaping up them and hanging on with her claws, and keeps trying to jump onto our flat screen tv which I'm pretty sure will fall over if she jumps up or down from too big a distance.
We have tried Soft Claws, we have double sided tape everywhere she shouldn't be, she knows she's not allowed on the table and races off when she gets caught, but keeps getting up there anyway, we even have Contact paper sticky side out to stop her leaping up the walls. We've tried Feliway, we've tried bitter spray to try and keep her off things and it does nothing.
Whenever she's going through a naughty mood I wear her out with the laser pointer, and we try to play with her regularly, and she goes on supervised walks outside to chew the grass and explore.
With a baby on the way I'm worried about her. She's chewing all the baby stuff for a start - we can't but the mobile up because she tries to chew the animals off. We're borrowing a friends big swing and she's tried to play with those dangly toys.
Realistically, when the baby comes we'll have less time for her. She gets on well with our other 2 cats, but won't play with them, and she won't play with toys independently like the other 2 do.
I'm getting sick and tired of constantly replacing things she damages, and frankly I hate the fact that she's bored to the point of destruction. It's horrible to see her look so bored, and I am getting down to drastic solutions. I am not a new cat owner, and I feel like I know enough about cats and am responsible enough to know if it's me doing something wrong or if the kitty is incompatible.
I spoke to the vet about drugs, but the vet said since she's not aggressive (she's a sweet cat with a big purr, and doesn't have a mean bone in her body), she doesn't think drugs will make a difference - we just have a very energetic kitty.
So these are my 2 options (keep in mind she has lots of toys, we play with her regularly, and will soon have less time to keep her constantly occupied):
Option a) Let her outside during the day. She's very scared of cars, but we're in a quiet townhouse complex where there's not much traffic, and not many roads nearby. Upside - she'll have more space to run around. Downside - I hate the idea of letting on e of my kitties outside - there's too many dangers out there.
Option b) Rehome her. I honestly think she's just bored here and would be a much happier cat in a larger home - especially if there's kids aged 6+ who could play with her regularly. Upside - she'll hopefully be happier and less destructive. It feels like we're keeping a lion in a cat cage. Downside - I am very against rehoming kitties - a cat is for life. But if the situation is incompatible with the cat, can I make an exception? Could I live with myself? I am pretty sure she'd be happier elsewhere, but what if she was still destructive and went home to home for the rest of her life? I would be constantly fretting not knowing what happened to her.
Any thoughts? We are getting very frustrated and angry with her, which I know is unfair on her - I know it's not her fault, she's just a very active cat living in too small a space.