So annoyed at my cat

[SkyBlue1987]

Soo annoyed at my kitten right now, he’s clawed and destroyed our carpet. I’ve shut him in a room while I calm myself down but please talk me out of rehoming him because my kids love him. I know it’s not his fault I’m just frustrated that he is so destructive and am at a loss what to do - no other kitten I know is this destructive. He has so many toys and scratching posts but we have had multiple couches, curtains, dining chairs, duvets, shoes, kids stuffed toys, books eaten all destroyed.

Haha I do agree with you but I have two and a clawed ripped up carpet and sofa

My cats hate closed doors - they don’t even want in the room but just bring affronted at the idea that they don’t have an option to enter the room when they want.
So I keep all my doors open even my bedroom cupboard sliding doors. They’ll come running if they hear me sliding them just in case I have any intentions of shutting them.

Only one of my two is a carpet scratcher and it’s an attention thing so I try not to react when she does it but I also put cardboard scratchers in the spots she does scratch to hopefully redirect her. It’s not 100% but has improved.

But also no you can't rehome him much like you can't rehome your kids. Cats can't stand closed doors, leave the door open. He'll probably come in for a sniff and leave

Were they outdoor cats? Our cat who only goes outdoors when it’s sunny, to lie on an outdoor sofa & who has no interest in scratching household items/her scratching post has to have her nails cut. They’d grow uncontrollably as she doesn’t use them to naturally wear them down. My outdoor cats who went outdoors digging and doing whatever cats do did not need it doing.

Can you trim his claws? If you start young they get used to it.

Three of each!

Bit of a fallacy that cats scratch to shorten their claws - they scratch to sharpen them whereas growth is in layers similar to a snake's skin. Cats claws develop in these layers, so they have an outer sheath which falls away over time - if you don't know about this, it can be scary the first time you find one!

Like with everything, cats vary greatly in claw growth. My dearly departed Boycat needed his trimmed every month or so, whereas his litter sister never gets hers done. Tobias gets his checked at the vets and has had his trimmed a couple of times over 3 years.

All are/were indoor only, downstairs is laminate flooring with a few rugs and upstairs mostly carpeted, all scratched, and all have/had different preferences. Boycat loved wallpaper; he would sometimes scratch the upright scratching posts but wallpaper was his first love, he would totally ignore any other kind of scratchers including wall mounted ones. Girlcat is a traditional girl - she likes scratching posts and loves the flat wall mounted scratching board over the sofa. Tobias did do a little bit of wallpaper scratching at first, but his true loves are carpets and cardboard scratchers. However many cardboard scratchers he has, the upstairs hall and stairs carpets get a good seeing to every day and night.

I have birmans which are similar to ragdolls, and I trim their claws every month using human clippers. They’re fine about it and it works well - just don’t cut below where their claws go pink. Mine have only ever destroyed stair carpet but they do go outside and have lots of scratching posts. They’ve never touched the furniture. Cats hate closed doors and will try and burrow through them so just don’t bother!! Ragdolls like hanging with people so do spend time with him. He’s only a baby and will calm down soon. Mine are all wonderful company. (Picture of one chilling out - he’s a lovely boy)

poor kitten, please be gentle with him 🥺

You shouldn’t have got a kitten if it being around is a problem for your ‘sanity’ ffs.

trim his claws, spend time with him, don’t shut doors leaving him the other side…no carpets will be ruined.

Fill the house with empty cardboard boxes stuffed with newspaper balls

Not about claw scratching but about breeds. My friend got 2 Tonkinese kittens over covid. They were actually quite reserved until about a year ago when boy cat almost died. They’re now both 5. The adult daughter of the house spends a lot of time with them as does the son. They’ve both come into their Tonkinese characters recently. They have a small garden but rarely use it. The boy cat loves playing with those soft balls. When I was over there last I spent almost the whole time playing with him and he miaowed and wound between my legs when it was time for me to go. They keep all doors in the house open so the cats can roam. Their other favourite thing is food, but stealing hot toast out of the toaster and the husband’s pasta meal. They’re fed very well.

He sounds quite lonely and bored to be honest. We have two 10 month brothers and we've had very minimal damage to anything despite them staying indoors. Just a bit of scratching on the stairs carpet when we went away on holiday and they had a neighbour drop in to feed them (which I took to mean they missed us and got a bit bored). They play and play fight together for several hours a day still, and I think it would be an awful lot of work for us to try and keep them sufficiently stimulated if they didn't have each other to do this.

Ragdolls qre very sociable clingy cats. A companion would be ideal but in the meanwhile he needs lots of attention and playtime. You can’t shut a ragdoll out for any length of time.

i have indoor cats and give them nail trims. There’s one chair they’ve attacked and it’s a lost cause.

I can sympathise.

I just spent £20 on a new insect net for back door.
24 hours and our kitten has used it as a climbing net and put massive holes in it 😐

Have you ever had a kitten before him ? It's strange to me that you can be annoyed by him doing naturally cat like things . Also concerning that you'd be considering rehoming at this early stage but maybe you should for the kittens sake . I'm generally not in favour of cats that are kept inside for their whole life , it seems cruel . Why on earth did you get him . I'm sorry but I've been really annoyed by your post , I work for an animal rescue and we wouldn't have rehomed with you due to you having no outside space and young children . I assume he was from a breeder .

And he’s a baby, a kitten!

He is perfectly fine and happy and has a great spot to enjoy the sun, and I’ve forgiven him (mostly - for now 😂). I was just having a bad night and a rant at his destructiveness. I have had a kitten before but not one like him. He’s pretty high on the destroying things scale and I think most people would get somewhat annoyed at their carpet being ruined especially when he has other things to scratch. I’m not going to tolerate the carpet being ruined if I can help it - he will learn. I personally think kittens are better going to a home with children so they get used to children, my cat loves observing the kids play and they play with him. We have plenty of outside space for when he is older, we will use a catio or leash though and not let him roam.

@SkyBlue1987 completely unrelated but I love that view!!

' I’m not going to tolerate the carpet being ruined if I can help it - he will learn. '

oh dear.

Oh no I can understand. I’ve resorted to buying cheap cushions and duvets for the beds etc - that way at least I won’t go too broke replacing them often when they get shredded 😂

I have doubled sided tape and anti scratch spray, and have ordered another scratching board so yes hopefully he will learn. Our budget doesn’t stretch to replacing the carpet.

You don’t sound a lover of cats to be perfectly frank - if you want a show home a cat is definitely not for you - my sister now has wooden floors - she took up the carpets as her cats used to sharpen their claws on her carpets especially the stairs!

I do love him. But I also enjoy having nice carpet 😂

You think that's bad. I adopted a pissy older cat once from rescue. The whole house was drenched in piss. I did manage to train her out of it and it stopped completely when I got her a rescue companion but the whole house had to be be professionally cleaned. These days its a pee free zone. You know who you are kitty.