Is your furniture becoming your cat’s personal scratching post? Does she seem to take delight in provoking you by shredding the upholstery to ribbons?Believe it or not, she's not trying to drive you crazy: She's just doing what all cats naturally do. The solution? Get her to scratch on a more appropriate alternative!Keep reading to learn how you can train your cat to use a scratching post.Why Do Cats Like to Scratch? Cats like to scratch for many reasons. One reason is that cats like to keep their claws sharp. Secondly, a cat will scratch to help remove old sheaths growing over their claws.As a cat scratches it also helps them tone their muscles, its good exercise!Cats also feel a need to mark their territories, and scratching is a great way to do that.As you can see, no matter how much you try to train her out of scratching, it’s simply not going to work, it goes against her nature.The solution is to get her to use an appropriate alternative.Picking a Good Cat Scratching PostA good cat scratching post must stand rock solid. Don't cheap out and buy those flimsy little things from the pet store. Your cat isn't going to like a scratching post that falls over each time she tries to use it.It also needs to be tall, something that lets your cat stretch to her full length. Ideally, it should be a large tree that your cat can climb all over.It needs to be covered in the right material. Believe it or not, your cat won't be thankful for extra soft material. Cats like scratching surfaces that are rough, grippy, and shred easily.Sounds an awful lot like a tree, doesn't it? It should, because outdoor cats love scratching on trees. Trees are tall, rock-solid, and fun to shred.Training Your Cat to Use a PostIt's not enough to buy a scratching post and hope your cat transfers her affections to it. You need to make it as attractive as possible.A cat doesn’t necessarily recognize that a post is for scratching, often they’ll walk right by and go straight to the couch. Put the post near where she currently likes to scratch, eventually she’ll give it a go and hopefully she’ll prefer it.You can make the post more attractive with catnip and feather toys. You might want to start off by playing with your cat around the scratching post. When she digs her claws into it, praise her. Give her a treat. You want her to associate this new toy with fun and good experiences.What Not to Do When Your Cat Scratches Your Furniture Even if your cat likes the scratching post, that's no guarantee she'll automatically stop scratching up your furniture. She's used to her old scratching spots, and besides, they carry her scent.Here's what NOT to do when your cat starts scratching your furniture.Don’t hit or yell at your cat, unlike dogs, cats aren’t as susceptible to this kind of training. They won’t connect their behavior with scratching the furniture. Cats are more likely to get confused and frightened. If you do it too much she will come to think of you as someone to avoid.Don't drag your cat away from the furniture. While many cat owners may tell you to calmly remove your cat and drag her to the scratching post, this may not always be the best strategy. It's better if the cat thinks the scratching post is her idea. This action might actually offend her.Instead try to distract your cat , get her attention by calling her name and playing with a toy. Casually get over near the post.Make Your Furniture UndesirableCurrently your couch is the epitome of a good place to scratch, the material is fun to shred, it’s tall enough to stretch on and like a tree, it’s sturdy. Best of all it smells like her now.There are lots of things you can do to discourage your cat from scratching your furniture:Use double-sided tape. Covering your cat's favorite scratching spot with sticky stuff like this will probably repel her.Clean your couch. Sounds simple, but it will remove her scent, it’s no longer her territory. She may move on and find that scratching post. Make sure to test the cleanser on a small part of your couch first as to make sure it doesn’t damage your upholstery.Move the couch. This may be as simple as repositioning the couch so that your cat's favorite scratching spot is inaccessible. If that's not possible, you might want to temporarily move it to a place where she can't reach it.Spray the couch with scent, a citrus smell is good as cats generally hate the small. Make when you spray it, it doesn’t go near the scratching post though.
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Is your furniture becoming your cat’s personal scratching post? Does she seem to take delight in provoking you by shredding the upholstery to ribbons? Believe it or not, she's not trying to drive you crazy: She's just doing what all cats naturally do. The solution? Get her to scratch on a more app
KitForCats offers extremely sturdy hand built cat scracthers and are ideal.
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