Naughty kitten

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I have two cats the same age, and the other one has been trained easily. But his brother is constantly doing things like he will jump up on the worktop several times a day, play with my corded secure flat entry phone, rip up bin bags before I've took them out. He rips up the litter tray liners and I can't use them. He tries to climb out the window if I leave it open. He knocks over the same lamp over and over again. I think my other cat is smarter and just understands no. I don't know what to do I'm frustrated having to deal with the same things over and over several times a day and I get really frustrated and annoyed with him. Will he grow out of it ? He's 4-5 month old

He's wrecked my couch as well ripping up the fabric underneath. I wlll stop him doing something and give him in trouble and he will just go straight back and do it again

You can’t train cats the way you can train dogs. He sounds bored to tears. Is he getting out? Because he doesn’t sound suited to the life of an indoor cat.

I take him out on a harness sometimes. He loves it whereas my other cat hates it and is scared being outside. Maybe it is he needs to go out properly but I don't know how to manage it living in a first floor flat. There's a bad road nearby as well

He’s a baby still, very young and you’ll need to get around him by doing things such as keep bin bags out the way, we don’t use litter liners, worktop comes with time but generally they just learn to stay off when you are looking, screen to block window climbing. He will also need lots of toys and stimulation.

However he doesn’t sound well suited to being a cat in a flat . We had one once who wasn’t but it was temporary as moved somewhere with a garden where he was happy and lived until 17.

Is he neutered and vaccinated? I'd say he does just desperately want to be out. Especially in summer. Do you have any access at the back of the house? If it's possible for him to climb in and out of a window you should ideally let him.
It's unusual for cats to enjoy being in a harness. So he's not that naughty! Most kittens do act very silly and grow out of a lot of behaviours. But cats can't really be trained.
If he gets on the table, firmly say no or clap your hands so he jumps off. If that doesn't work then you can use a spray bottle of water to lightly spray him to get him to jump down. And don't reward him or feed him if he's on table/side.

Has he got lots of enrichment inside?

There is a great toy from b&m which does an automatic laser and my cat loves it. You just press it and it automatically does it so he can chase it without you having to do it.

Look for automatic toys that will keep him busy for quite a while.

Put lots of scratching things about especially near areas he does it.

I would put throws over your sofa when not in use and maybe put these on the edges of your sofa. Have you tried these? Something like the below images for the edges of your sofa.

There are cat ladders that people use in first floor , have a Google.

Cats can be trained. I taught mine to sit on command. 😁😁 she is very dreamy treats orientated. She doesn't jump up on my sides in the kitchen either. I knock her down straight away, everytime she did it.

Have you tried the old trick of foil covering the work surfaces? Some cats hate that.

Try taking him out each day at the same time. But if he doesn’t settle in a few months I’d think about rehoming him through a rescue to a place with a garden. (I’m assuming they’ve both been neutered.)

He's getting neutered next month. I do clap my hands and have tried spraying water at him and he hates it but he still keeps doing it. My other cat is so well behaved, he did all of these things but he learned not to really quickly. I have been thinking of letting them out it just feels awkward that they won't be able to get in when they want. I'm on the first floor so I can't use window access. It's a bit funny but I've been thinking I'll need to move to a house as I don't feel it's fair on them

Rehoming you all is the ideal solution! Extreme, but ideal. He should get a bit better after he’s been neutered.

Re cat ladders, I've a horrible neighbour downstairs and I think he would sabotage

I could try taking him out more often. I have thought about rehoming him but he's more my son's pet and he'd never forgive me. I hope the neutering helps

He shouldn't be going outside at all if he's not neutered, even on a harness. If he slips out of it and escapes, he'll be off making kittens before you know it.

But long-term it could be that a flat with no outside space just isn't the right environment for him. Cats are born to roam for miles and to hunt, not to live confined within four walls with the occasional outing on the end of a lead.

I used to be a huge advocate for indoor cats until one of mine got so unwell he ended up in the vets with stress. As soon as we started letting him out (on vet advice) he was a million times happier and his health issues vanished practically overnight.

I know, and I feel guilty getting angry with him when it probably is he needs a normal tree- climbing cat's life. I've been thinking about moving for a while and a big part of it is I want that for my cats.

If you've a horrible downstairs neighbour that does not help. If they were nice you could come to an arrangement where the cat could use the back door, but presuming the garden is owned by nasty neighbour?
It's really hard to say logistically how the access thing could work. Take him out on the harness I guess. That's better than nothing. And at least let him sit on the windowsill with window open. He'd be unlikely to jump down if it's a whole storey.
In an ideal world I guess moving to a place with garden would be the best.

And at least let him sit on the windowsill with window open.

Careful of that. My happily indoors cat used to go out on the windowsill until a couple of weeks ago. One day I couldn’t find her anywhere but my new downstairs neighbour in the garden flat heard me calling for her and shouted up that she was down there. The neighbour has a really enormous dog who spends most of its time on the patio so my little cat was truly terrified when my neighbour brought her up. I think she must have fallen asleep on the sunny windowsill and rolled off, because she was unhurt despite landing on paving slabs.
No more windowsill for her sadly.

You’ve got to take into account he’s only a little baby. Like all kittens and baby animals, life is one big adventure to him at the moment rather than him being naughty

I have Flat Cats for my windows. Cats can see out but not get out, breeze can enter but not larger flying bugs - win win!

@Allergictoironing

Thanks for that. I’ll have a look at it.