Just a rant more than anything, this probably isn’t the best place to put this thread but I’m hoping the responses will possibly be a bit gentler than AIBU.
I’ve had her since a tiny kitten and she’s really depressing me to be quite honest.
DH hates her, I like her, she’s has a very sweet and gentle personality but her destructiveness I am struggling to cope with.
She is so, so destructive.
She’s damaged four sofas, two beds, the stair carpet which now needs replacing but I daren’t do it while she’s here, the skirting boards, a wooden bookcase, a wooden cabinet, curtains, the kids mattress..
She is destroying my house!
I dread letting her in and struggle to relax when she’s in the house because all I can think is what is she scratching now?
We’ve bought her scratching posts, she either uses them in addition to everywhere else or just ignores them entirely.
I’ve tried playing with her but she loses interest.
She’s not massively affectionate either so it’s not like she’s acting up for lack of attention.
She’s worse than a Labrador for food, she will counter surf and take food straight off peoples plates.
All the mash I was cooking for dinner tonight is in the bin after I caught her eating it.
I’m just so fed up of her.
I want to rehome her but darent tell the rescue the reason why incase that means she doesn’t get accepted and incase they judge me.
I feel guilty about wanting to rehome her, as the kids love her and when she’s not trashing everything I love her too.
But I really don’t think I can cope with her anymore.
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The litter tray
Cat is driving me mad
Borderstotheleftofme · 09/08/2020 17:52
If you have a destructive cat, you just accept things will be damaged
I really don’t think either of us can.
It upsets us so much to see expensive items ruined.
And worse, this isn’t even our house!
We are in rental.
We take particular care over covering up or putting away things like special shoes and clothes, etc, and not leaving food out
I have tried things like double sided tape, foil etc which reminds me, she also toilets in my potted plants so they have foil over the soil (attractive 
) and chews them 😡 but realistically, the amount of stuff she destroys is so huge, I’d have to cover my curtains, my blinds, all the beds, the stairs, the skirting etc etc.
Impossible!
Your situation is different because you are not able to accept the damage to your house. Or could you accept it if DH could accept it? which came first? cat or DH?
Me and DH both really wanted a cat, we bought her years ago but had no idea she would be like this.
You say your kids love her, they will never forget it or forgive you if you give her away
This is mostly what stops me rehoming her.
accidentally found some really rough bristly door mats in the pound shop a couple of weeks ago which are cats have been scratching madly
I have a large area of this matting and she does scratch it a tiny bit but not a lot.
I think I’ve pretty much made my mind up I think tbh.
I really don’t think I can live with this cat.
I don’t know why I made the thread really, to rant I suppose or maybe hear others experiences with destructive cats or validation rehome is the right thing to do.
I don’t know.
I feel very conflicted.
She’s a nice cat and I would never want her to suffer but at the same time, the stress is immense.
This isn’t even my house and I’m just paying out and paying out trying to fix damage.
The rows me and DH have had because of her ruining everything 
I wish I could help. They only thing I can really suggest is talking to the vet
Thank you 
Its worth trying putting cat nip on her scratching posts and pads, and making sure there are plenty around so she's not too far from one when she needs to scratch
Tried it.
She’s not massively into cat nip.
She’s had an assortment of scratching posts and activity centres over the years. The regular string ones, seagrass ones, cardboard ones..
She just prefers to use my stuff it seems 🤷♀️
You can also try feliway diffusers, I haven't used them myself but I've heard they are good for calming cats down so might help
I have heard of these and will try one
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