Kitty Boredom Issues? Meowing And Chewing/door Darting

[Hugospal]

Little Ferro has a few bizarre issues since he was younger. One is the meowing. He spends at least some part of the day jumping on my counters, knocking things down and meowing. He also looks for things made of plastic and licks/chews on them, and flies out the door if you aren't careful when opening it. We're in an apartment building so he doesn't actually get to the outside but it's still worrisome as a lot of people in here own dogs.

The weird thing is, that when working, I don't come home to chewed plastic all over and a giant mess (usually), so I think all this behavior is probably some kind of attention seeking strategy. I've had a few live in-boyfriends over the years and the behaviors seem to get worse for a while when it's just me and the cats.

We play regularly and I enjoy that he's a vocal cat. He'll meow when you talk to him like having a conversation. He is very energetic at 4 years old and I think at this point I should give up waiting for him to grow out of the kitten phase.

I was thinking of trying to take him outside but I'm not if that's going to make his door darting worse or not. I tried taking him on outings once before when he was ~1 but he was too afraid of traffic and all the noise (we lived near downtown in the city), although we live in a little quieter area now. I wonder if anyone has a similar experience or any other ideas. thanks for reading!

 

[ArtNJ]

He is probably synced to your schedule, so the reason you don't come home to a mess is that he mostly sleeps when your gone. None of it seems so bizarre to me, cats like to do all those things, with only the chewing on plastic being less common. One of my two sometimes chews on electrical cords when bored or hungry, and I previously had a cat that would eat plastic if he was hungry. Its not clear to me if you have swallowing plastic or chewing on electrical cords, but both of those make it more worrisome, and if you have that, I'd personally use a squirt gun, shouting or stomping to discourage that strongly. You don't want to reinforce a dangerous negative behavior by rewarding it with play or food if you can help it.

As far as what to do for a bored cat besides play with them, theres more knowledgeable folk than me on that, so I'll defer.

 

[danteshuman]

I would give him a window perch to watch birds. If you can feed the birds in a tree in view of the window. I would also try giving him chew toys ... and if necessary using bitter spray or chili oil on the plastic he keeps chewing. I would also grow a couple of plants in pots for him to safely eat. Cord covers to if he is chomping on cords.
A cat that knocks things down is bored. Toy rotation and a morning & evening play session before dinner should help.

About rushing the door. I was a mean mommy who taught my boys to NEVER cross over the doorstep (but oddly the sliding glass door/backyard is fine.) How? I put a penny can by the door. Every time I left I took it with me. Every time I entered the door if they got within 5 feet of the door I chased them with the penny can. After a month I just left the penny can on the cabinet where we set our keys for a year. Later when I started letting them get an hour in the yard, they used the sliding glass door. So the front door was always a no no. *After I closed the door & set down the can I would greet them/love on them. After a while they learned to crown the door as we entered/left. *Really years later I can have the front door open with supervision. Salem will sit right by the door frame. If he starts to stick 1 paw over, I firmly say his name and he goes back away from the door. Dante if gets within a foot of the door, I say his name, he will back away.

 

[danteshuman]

After a while they learned to crown the door as we entered/left.

Should be:
After a while they learned to not crowd the door as we entered/left.

 

[Hugospal]

Thanks for the input! I've been worried that he's been too bored lately, and then today I receive a package and he's spent all day playing with the empty box and doesn't want anything to do with me. Figures.

That aside I've been considering getting some cat grass too. I need to find a heavy enough planter so it doesn't end up on the floor too.

As for the chewing plastic, He doesn't seem to eat it but if I catch him gnawing on it I take it away. He ate a rubber bracelet of mine years ago and threw it up on the floor so I don't keep any rubber bands or anything of the like in the house. This isn't the first cat I've had that was attracted to them. It's hard to keep the house devoid of plastics though but like i said he doesn't seem to want to eat them so much as chew.

 

[darcifinn]

We used that canned air for door darting cured it right away with our Maine Coon kitten.