My mother and I adopted 2 kittens 8 months ago. We have had cats in our lives more often than not having them. We went in thinking we would get only one, but as I'm sure you all know, its hard to resist those damn cute faces! Anywho, these 2 kittens are from 2 different litters. One was a stray who got injured from a street sweeper and as result, lost one of his back legs. (Don't worry, mobility is NOT an issue)

They get along just fine. An equal amount of loving each other mixed with play-fighting/chasing. With one of them missing one of his legs, we opted to keep them as indoor cats (also with the street we live on being a racetrack for the teenagers) I am not as open to declawing cats as my mother is (since she is the one who bought all of the furniture) but again, due to a lack of a hind leg and him needing traction, we have not declawed them.

So now. The issue...... Damon (male) and Ella (female), which we have nicknamed "Demon" and "Hella".....these are the most HYPER and DESTRUCTIVE cats we have EVER owned. We have purchased a 6 foot cat tree/stand for them which does get its use for them to scratch at, yet they still LOVE the leather couches :/
Both TV's in the house have almost been knocked over. The blinds have been hung and now have holes in them to the point where we just don't have the blinds down anymore. Shelves have been hung on and have had to be replaced. Numerous power cords have had to been replaced and hidden to avoid further damage to the cats and the cords themselves. We also have a bird which the cats don't try to attack, but we are concerned that when they jump on the cage, they might get bit.

When they chase each other, its a crazy sprint and leap from one bit of furniture to the next. Kitchen counter and table included. Us eating lunch/dinner does not seem to be a deterrent to them. We have used the normal means of discipline for them (spray bottle, firm "NO", taps on the head/butt of disapproval, etc) but it far too often seems to be forgotten within the half-hour.

We have various toys for them, strings on sticks to make them chase, toy mice, balls, foil balls, etc... They do use them, but seems not enough. We also do our best with our schedules to interact with them so they know they don't always need to find their own fun. We have cardboard scratch pads for them which rarely get any use.

Bottom line, they have likely caused approx $800+ of damage (things with insane amounts of claw marks and things made of glass which have been broken).

With Christmas coming....we are DREADING what will happen when the tree goes up. My mother has always loved going all-out for christmas. Tree will, as usual, have 1000+ lights and more ornaments than the tree can actually hold. Little Santa's village things around the house. We are visioning a Griswald Family christmas *National Lampoons Christmas Vacation" type scenario without the fun and humor.

All this hyperness and destruction and surprisingly, we have yet to introduce them to catnip.

We feed them health-oriented kitten food on a regular basis as well as one small can of wet food for them to split each day. They never try to get our own food so "human" food is not an issue.

We DO love our cats, but they are way more hyper and destructive than any other cats we have owned. We are left scratching our heads wondering if we missed an evolutionary cycle in the feline world that we were not aware of!!!

Basically, we are at the point where if we don't find a solution, we will have to give them up.

HELP!!!

thanks in advance.