Need advice/help with difficult cat

[Caidan]

First of all, I'm really bad at this kind of thing, but here I go.
I have a cat who has been very problematic. He came out of nowhere, just walking down the sidewalk. No clue where he came from We've had him since 2014. We also have another animals in the house too if that helps. Here's a list of his eccentricities:

Acts like he's going to spray but doesn't
Meows and wails nonstop outside door so watch eat and/or eat
He'll sit outside my or my brother's door for hours
Wants to eat all of the time
Always wants me or brother to watch eat
Easily agitated
Can't pet too long or he will bite
Cat keeps trying to escape
Tries to go in room either to lay down or to get attention so we could feed/watch eat
Lays by window sill and stares outside
He scratches stuff up a lot

I don't know what to do. The cat really stresses me out. I don't want to get rid of him because nobody will adopt him. I saved his life a few years ago when he got hurt by falling off the window sill. He got real thin and didn't want to eat and I nursed him back to health. So I have an attachment to him.
We tried taking him for walks outside on a leash, but he wants to stay outside. He'll hiss when I try to bring him in and get testy, even try to attack. When he does escape, he always comes back. I don't want to leave him outside because he will probably get killed, he used to get into fights a lot when he' run out. It is at the point where my brother is saying t get rid of him and my mom is now saying it. I feel really guilty for even considering this.
If anyone could help me out by giving me some advice that would be great. Thanks and have a great day.

 

[stephmnichols]

Is it possible to build him a little catio attached to your house, so that he can come and go as he pleases but remain safe?

 

[stephmnichols]

I built one on my upstairs deck for my cats! Attached to the bedroom window, we just took one of the screens out. So they can go in and outside whenever they want (provided the window is open - we close it at night to avoid bugs) and they both really love it! I have one cat who was acting like a little monster about going outside too but since the weather has been warmer and she's been allowed in the catio she's stopped scratching and whining at the front door

 

[MonaLyssa33]

Has he been an indoor only cat since you rescued him? Is the behavior change recent? If it's a behavior change I'd take him to the vet. If he's always been like this, I'd look into building a catio as suggested, if it's possible where you live.

 

[Caspers Human]

Laying by the window is perfectly normal cat behavior, even for 100% indoor cats. They just like to "supervise" the neighborhood from their perch on the window ledge.

Getting agitated and biting when you pet them is normal for former ferals or abandoned-and-rescued cats. Casper was abandoned before we adopted him. He has come a long way since we first got him but he still doesn't like it when anybody pets him for more than a minute or two.

Food obsession is within the range of normal for any cat but is more common for rescued cats. It comes from a learned sense of food insecurity. If a cat lives for a long time not knowing where its next meal is coming from it teaches them to always eat whenever food might be available. Begging for food is also a behavior that some cats use to get attention from their humans.

Scratching... Normal. Cats will be cats.
Outdoor and feral cats use scratching as a way of marking territory. Indoor cats do it to but to a lesser extent. You CAN teach them to use a scratching post if you are persistent about it.

Has he been neutered? If not, you really should. It will help stop or, at least, minimize a lot of bad behavior, especially things like spraying, roaming and excessive meowing.

The rest of the things you CAN work on and probably manage, for the most part.

We've had Casper for almost six years, now. As I said, he was a rescue cat. He was never a problem cat, at all, but he did have a few behaviors left over from being abandoned outdoors. He's, pretty much, always going to be a skittish cat. Even though he has gotten better, he's still got some food insecurity. Just as long as he knows where his next meal is coming from, he's okay.

It doesn't sound like you have a cat with any really bad behavior problems. Most of the time, if people just learn to look at things from a cat's perspective... "Think like a cat," if you will... they can solve many things that, from a human's point of view, seem like problems.