One of my cats DIGS/scratches everywhere, on doors, sheets, drawers, carpet, blinds...

[acebellakittens]

Hi all, I hope you can help me. I have two beautiful cats that are very close to being 1 year old. They are siblings and they get along great, both are healthy, spoiled, spayed, neutered and very loved. I have a male and a female called Ace & Bella respectively. My trouble cat is Bella. I work business hours so I am not home most of the day, and I assume that she is doing all of this out of boredom, but her brother acts completely different. He sleeps all night without any issues while she scratches doors, drawers, furniture, blinds, windows... Besides the obvious issue of me not getting any sleep, I wonder if she is OK or if there is something that she needs or wants.. I am tired of trying to discipline her, I have a spray bottle that I point on her direction (not at her) when she does things like this but, there's gotta be another answer.... My poor cat gets drenched in water and it breaks my heart to think that maybe she's not just being a rebel but actually trying to tell me something.  I get no sleep and Ace gets waken up too!! Is this boredom or is she sick? Please somebody help!  

 

[Ms. Freya]

Sounds like boredom to me. 

A good start would be to get a variety of scratchers, toys and climbers to keep her busy - you can try different scratcher types (sisal, carpet, cardboard, etc) and she might even enjoy having a cat tree or condo to play in. At just under a year, they're still quite young and it sounds like she's definitely an active personality. The trick will be finding what she enjoys to keep her busy. There are some great toy suggestions in our reviews: http://www.thecatsite.com/products/

You also mention you work from home - maybe some scheduled playtime with her to wear her out before you have to work would help. Any wand toys or something like a cat dancer or Da bird would work - just something to keep her busy and burning off some of that energy. 

Overall, cats and discipline don't mix well (as it sounds like you've discovered) so you might have better luck just distracting her energy into some non-destructive play.