Spray Bottle Not Working

Question
So, I have two kittens about 12 weeks old. We have had them for about a month and a half, and they are now getting into everything.. tearing up curtains, scratching furniture, etc. They have about an 8 foot tall cat condo, basically, including lots of scratching posts, beds, tunnels, and such. Regardless, they have still been scratching the furniture and tearing things up.

We have been using the spray water bottle and the "NO" routine. They understand "NO", and that it means that they aren't doing something good. However, it seems that they will stop sometimes for that time, sometimes for less than five seconds and just go right back to doing it. Otherwise they tend to run and go do it somewhere else. They are also very sneaky about getting to our food when we're eating.

I've heard that you can put vinegar in the spray bottle, but I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that, in case it gets in their eye.

Any suggestions?

Answer
Hi
firstly no vinegar is not a good idea it will sting the eyes and this is cruel.

It can be difficult to control kittens as they are full of energy and mischief just like a small child and as they do not speak our language it can be even harder.

The secret is to think like a cat, what do they understand. well firstly shouting No is not a punishment it is seen as a good thing as they have got your attention and that is all that matters. So shouting is no good.
Smell is very important to cats so if the curtains or furniture smells horrible to them they will keep away. there are some safe  cat sprays on the market (see your pet store) the other option is to spray your soft furnishings with a strong smelling citrus smell. This often puts them off but you will have to spray regularly then after awhile the kittens will just automatically ignore them.

Make sure the kittens claws are not sharp (please do not declaw). Just trimming the sharp end off will help see my claw trimming page here /claws.html

You can also put double sided sticky tape (there is also a pet product that is similar) that you put on the corners of your furniture and curtains. this feels horrible to your cat as their aim is to use their claws. See this page for full information about this problem here /scratching-post.html

I know this can be a trying time but they will grow out of it as they get older.

best wishes
Kate