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13 Ways To Save Your Furniture From Cat Scratching
By Petar Petrov, Fri Dec 9th
The cats are great pets. They love to play, they love to cuddlewhen you are watching TV or sleeping, and they purr for noreason other than being near you. But they also love to scratch.Unfortunately, the things they love to scratch are often thelegs of your antique table, your upholstered sofa, or yourexpensive carpet. Although many humans do not appreciate when their catsscratching, you have to know that kittens and cats do notscratch to make us angry, they just need to scratch. Scratchingis a natural hardwired behavior in cats, just like breathing andpurring, and every cat owner must know WHY THE CATS SCRATCH. In the wild, cats scratch around their immediate environment tosignal their presence to other cats and to claim the area inquestion. The marking takes two forms: visual and olfactory. Thevisual is in the form of clawing marks and is so obvious thateven we humans can recognise it. The olfactory mark is subtler,involving the release of pheromones. These are substancessecreted from the body to be picked up by the number of the samespecies, causing them to alter their behavior.
Scratching has additional function too. It removes the nailsheaths, outer layer of dead cells from the claw. You mightthing your cat scratches to sharpen her claws, but it morelikely it provides her with a form of physical therapy for themuscles and tendons of her paws. There are two groups of target for every cat. The first one iswhen your cat target one or two areas in the home, usually nearimportant territorial areas such as: sleeping area, litter tray,hunting or play areas. The second one is your cat undertake morewidespread and destructive scratching in highly visible sitessuch as: doorways, windows, prominent furnishings - like sofas. WHAT YOU CAN DO IF YOUR CAT SCRATCHING YOUR FURNITURE? 1. The easiest but the most painful method for cat is declawing.Faced with cat scratching problems, many people considerdeclawing surgery. But many veterinarians believe declawing is apainful and unnecessary surgery and refuse to do it for humanereasons. Instead, they advocate training your cat to use ascratching post. 2. Make sure there are multiple scratching opportunities. Catsoften like to scratch after eating and sleeping, so be surethere is something to scratch near where they eat and sleep. Ascratching post is an excellent investment for your cat. It willallow her to scratch, stretch and exercise all at once. If youwant to provide your cat not only with scratching surface, butand places where she can climb, perch and sleep you shouldconsider cat tree. 3. Cover the furniture with something your cat does not like:double sided tape, some plastic or aluminium foil. Some catsdislike the feeling and sound of foil, and most cats hate thingsthat stick to their fur. Double-sided sticky tape used in carpetinstallation works well, but be sure
the tape won’t harm yourcat or furniture. 4. Keep your cat mentally stimulated and offers her plenty ofopportunity for exercise, and she will has less opportunity tobe destructive in your home. If your cat is frustrated andbored, she may scratch your furniture or tear your drapes. Giveher enough play time. Cats are motivated by smell, sound,texture and movement. The toys you use should aim to cover allthese aspects. Discover your cat’s preferences by presenting avariety different sized toy made from different materials andwatch her reaction to gauge her preferences. 5. Cutting the nails regularly may help keep a cat fromscratching the furniture, or at least reduce the damage done byits scratching. Get your kitten used to having its nails clippedwhile it is young, praise her while you clip the nail and rewardher with a treat. 6. Booby trap the furniture with a soda can with some pennies init, so that if cat scratches, it makes a noise. 7. Use a doorknob alarm on your curtains. When pinned to thedrapes, the alarm will sound every time your cat tries to usecurtains as a ladder. 8. Consider a window perch for your feline friend. It will giveyour cat hours of entertainment - especially if you place a birdor squirrel feeder in the garden outside the window. Be sure thewindow is closed so your pet won’t fall out. 9. When you catch your cat scratching furniture, try squirtingher with a water pistol or squirt bottle and use a firm ‘no’. Ofcourse, this won’t stop your cat when you are not around. 10. If your cat is gaining access to a high bookcase by leapingfrom a nearby chair, move the chair. Without her launchpad, yourcat will no longer be able to reach her perch. 11. You can also try taping inflated balloons to the problemareas. When your cat pops one with her claws, she will avoidscratching there again. However, try this only when you are athome, so you can pick up the balloon pieces before your cattries to eat them. 12. There are training devices that keep cats off forbiddenareas by making annoying sounds. They are available at petsupply stores, catalogs and websites. 13. If your cat still scratches in appropriate places, use somesprays like bitter apple or actual orange peels, which are gooddeterrents. All forms of physical punishment should be avoided since theycan cause fear or aggression toward the owner, and at best, thecat will only learn to stop the scratching while the owner isaround. It does not matter which method you will choose to prevent yourfurniture destroying, every cat owner mush know that it isimpractical and unfair to expect cats to stop scratchingentirely. About the author:The author Petar Petrov is founder of CozyCatFurniture.com. Hissite together with the cat furniture that offer, try to helppeople to make their cat’s life better. Visit the sitewww.cozycatfurniture.com take your free cat newsletter and learnmore about Cat Cares, Cat Health, Cat Behavior, Training Cat andCat Breeds.
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