Cats and dogs will dig into the trash when they smell food it is a normal
reaction.

We have food down for our 5 cats at all times they could eat till they puke
but still will get into the trash to get at something they smell tempting if
I let them.

Go to the pet store and get a feeder that you can fill up and will keep the
bowl full  just remember that an cat will become a fat cat if you let them
and that is not healthy.  If they have access to food at all times they need
exercise just like humans do.

Please tell me the cat was declawed when you got him.

In reply to the anti-declaw comments, I have been a cat lover for many
years, and have done thorough research into the ins and outs of what
many people consider to be an inhumane practice.  The place where I
live is extremely restrictive, considering that my fiancee's
grandmother is the landlord and she is EXTREMELY picky, and also
extremely not pet friendly.  She was revolted when I had explained to
her that I had kept many kinds of animals, rats, frogs, turtles, even a
sugar glider at one point.  All of the existing furniture in the house
belongs to her and much to my dismay, that includes a completely
pristine, white leather livingroom set.

He NEVER ever had a scratching problem until one day, when has was 6
months old or so, my fiancee's sister brought her 3 y/o spayed male,
OUTDOOR CLAWED cat into our house so we could sit him while she was out
of town.  Almost IMMEDIATELY, my cat began to mimic the behavior he saw
in the older boy cat and I had to call around for weeks before I could
find a restoration place that would fix the huge puncture marks in our
furniture, which again, does not belong to us.  When the landlord found
out, she was ready to grab my poor kitty by the scruff and hurl him
headfirst into the street.  I considered allowing him to be an outdoor
cat, although I had never had one.  As I mentioned before, the other
cat was an outdoor, but I wanted to see how he dealt with life at my
current location before I decided to let my cat out.  Well, would you
guess that not even 2 days later, that cat came in with a HUGE gouge
over his left eye, beneath the ear.  It only took a little
investigation to find out that behind the condo where I live, there is
a drop-off into a little ravine where there are maybe 20, what i would
describe as feral cats living.  This is an extremely mild-temperatured
neighboorhood in Orange County, CA and many previously owned pets live
outdoors now, including an entire troupe of macaw parrots that were
released by an eccentric resident in the 80's.  After that, I tried
everything, but it could not be stopped, he would NOT stop ruining our
house and it was putting an extremely stressful situation on not only
my living arrangement but my relationship with my fiancee's family.
After a long time, and trying different arrangements (plastic claw
covers that stay on for a few weeks, etc.) nothing worked and I simply
could not afford to continue to repair our ruined house.  I finally had
him declawed about 4 months ago, and he recovered perfectly.  He was
not even angry, when I brought him home from the vet, and after his
spay/immunization trip, he hid for days.