How to stop extremely destructive behavior??
How do I stop this destructive behavior??
I feel so bad for having to make a post about this, because this cat is a absolute sweetheart when he's not ruining my day. Basically, my friend had a kitten (got him at 6 months, he's 8 now), and due to some issues with housing couldn't keep him with him. I offered to house him until he's stable again, and so he's been living with me for a couple of months now.
The issue is, this guy sucks. The number of cats I've raised/owned throughout my life is ridiculously high, plus I used to work at a vet clinic, and so I'd like to think I'm pretty experienced when it comes to kitties, but I just can't figure out why he's like this. He absolutely loves destroying my things and making a mess. As in he'll knock my full trashcan over (I've had to switch to trash cans with lids but I still have one normal one left) and scatter the trash all over my room, push everything off of my shelves including books, climb up my curtains, chew electronic cords, bite my phone (like, full force, he's broken through my screen protector multiple times), push things off the top of my closet, and literally scale my walls to tear posters down.
He's also extremely rough when it comes to play, to the point where even if I'm not actively engaging with playing with him and he tries to play with me, I'll end up bleeding. He won't ever sheathe his claws. I've tried making exaggerated hurt noises and even hissing when he hurts me, but he never gets any gentler. If I try to tell him to stop doing something, he either completely ignores me, or he looks at me, and then continues to do what he's doing until I get up and physically move him (and then when I sit back down he'll go back to doing whatever he was doing). I've tried tin foil and double sided tape to get him to stop climbing on things, but to no avail.
Now all of these things aren't even dealbreakers to me- it's just the fact that these things are all happening every day and at the same time. Like I said at the start, he's an absolute sweetheart when he's not breaking everything I own. He's literally curled up on my chest sleeping as I type this. He's one of the most physically affectionate cats I've lived with, so I know it's not that he hates me. I think he's maybe just very energetic and wasn't socialized with other cats well enough when he was younger, but I thought he'd be young enough still when I brought him in to change these behaviors? I also figured maybe he wasn't stimulated enough, so I keep filling the place with with more and more toys but nothing seems to entertain him more than the stuff he's not supposed to be touching.
I also have a dog, a golden, and they get along great and will play, but he's too rough with her, and she's an older dog so I get worried about how much he hurts her. Even when they aren't playing he'll come up and bite or claw her for fun- on one occasion I rolled over in bed and he was casually lounging with both paws on her. This was very adorable, until I realized he had his claws fully extended into the skin on her back- horrifying. She's very sweet and submissive, so she won't ever defend herself, and I feel terrible about it.
I don't know what I can do to get him to stop acting like this. I'm willing to try literally anything. I can't even sleep 8 hours because of this behavior, and it's starting to get to me.
TLDR: Sweet cat but very aggressive with play, and very destructive. Unable to control him or even make compromises.