I have two male cats, both about 1.5 years old, supposed to be brothers, but I don't know if that is really true =)
They live with me in my 50m² flat. Sometimes I go out with them in the backyard, when the weather is nice. They have tons of toys and 4 scratching posts/cat trees, a big one, a larger one and two small ones and a lot of cupboards to climb and hide =)
I have the feeling that they are quite bored. Of course, they are often alone at home, but that's the reason I got two of them. They play with each other and sometimes play with their toys, which seem rather uninteresting to them. They come to me when they want to cuddle and go away when they have enough.
But one problem is, they are scratching a lot... a very lot, on the walls and on the doors (open doors.) Sometimes I have the feeling that they do it just to provoke me or get my attention. They get enough to eat (I suppose... 2x 100g wet food per day, steady supply of dry food, water and some treats) and they get a lot of attention from me... but it seems to be not enough. One of them is particularly eager to anger me. He scratches the wall or the door and looks directly into my direction, and as soon as I turn around or raise my voice or show any reaction to it, he runs away. So far throwing my key ring is a good way to convince them to leave the door alone... but even harsher punishment doesn't seem to work (nothing serious, just the average clap on the back, loud voice and so on.)
He definitely knows that he is doing something wrong and hides immediately when I tell him to stop, which makes it rather difficult to show him where he can scratch. When I sit down again, sometimes he immediately goes to the door and scratches again, but I don't want to make this a game for him. They also scratch when I'm not at home and they are alone.
I always try to entertain them when I get home, try to play with them, get new toys for them. They are interested for one or two minutes, but then it seems to get boring and they simply go away or sit in front of me with the look of "What do you want from me, you imbecile?" So, I don't know what to do to keep them entertained anymore.
Do you have some tips what to do to keep them entertained and convince them to stop scratching everything? They already have done some major damage to my walls and to my door frames. All help is appreciated.