Does your cat scratches your favorite beautiful furniture? Well, scratch is part of your cats life. Your Cat’s instict commands the pet to scratch in order to be comfortable and feel good. Is there any house cat training method to prevent or reduce scratching?
First lets see why cats need to scratch on furniture or objects. It’s because they need to replace the outer sheath of their claws with a newer claw. And a brand new claw is one of the most importand things for your cat.
So how to you train your house cat to prevent scratching?
1. One method suggests that the cat’s claws should be tipped with small plastic caps which are glued to the claws. Of course the cat will never stop scratching but using caps is a good house cat training method to prevent damage when your cat scratches something.
2. Another good practise would be to make use of scratching posts. You can buy a scratching post from any pet store. Put the post near the place where the cat usually takes a nap. All cats love to scratch after a good sleep.
3. Do not yell at your cat or punish it in any way. Never hit your cat! As I said earlier the cat scratches by instict and cannot associate your punishment or hitting with the fact of scratching. There are people who perform de-clawing for aesthetic or shelfish reasons. Of course I would never recommend such a violent method. This has nothing to do with house cat training.
4. Another not so nice house cat training method to prevent scratching is to use repellants. You can buy them in any pet store. Spray the repellant strategically on places that are likely to be scratched by your cat.
5. A similar method is the use of double sided sticky tapes. Stick pieces of the tape on the furniture and your cat will stop scratching. But would you like your furniture covered with sticky tapes?
6. It’s a fact that cats don’t like the smell of citrus. In fact they hate it. So a good house cat training practise would be to spray some lemon juice on certain targeted areas where your cat is about to scratch.
These are some of the house cat training methods to prevent your cat from scratching your favorite furniture or objects. I hope you found the information worth reading.
How to stop or train cat not to scratch carpet, doors and furniture? ?
We know about claw covers from Softpaws but this is an 8 year old outdoor cat that now has to be kept indoors fulltime and he is too much for us to handle in dealing with his paws – bites, claws and goes crazy. Anything to spray that won’t ruin carpet, furniture or keep house smelling funky? Or anything to attract him to the 4 or 5 different scratching posts, etc we’ve bought and he ignores. We can’t get rid of him or would do so. He’s been neutered and he also goes wacko if confined to one room, really tearing things up. This has been going on for a year.
DECLAW!
You’ll be so much happier! I give you my permission!
Here’s an excellent site to read up on the procedure:
http://www.geocities.com/declawing/index.htm
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Keep his nails clipped. Also get him a scratch post, once he starts TRYING to tear up the furniture, politely pick him up and bring him to his post. His urge to scratch will still be in play and he will just continue on the post. Cats are smart but can be taught easily.
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If you’re going to keep him an indoor cat, get him declawed. I saw a special once that said that even indoor declawed cats will still go through the motion of ‘sharpenning their claws’ on furniture. I don’t think it’s something that can be ‘untaught’.
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I stopped a cat from clawing things by wrapping pieces of aluminum foil on stuff. My house looked weird, but it worked. It took about 2 weeks. Also, you can move the post in front of what he’s scratching, such as in front of a chair arm, and gradually move it to a better location.
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well if you could already tell cats are really stubborn! they are really super duper hard to train…(i would know)
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personal experiances
Well with him being that old and has been outside his whole life, there isn’t a whole lot you can do. Every time he scratches something try using a water bottle and squirt him with water. It helped me but I have to admit eventually my cat got used to it, lol. I know you said you don’t want your house to smell funky but one thing that cats absolutely hate is vinegar. If you spray a little vinegar on him that will temporarily help. Get some liquid catnip and spray the scratching posts, that could help. But honestly, this cat is set in his ways and there isn’t anything you could really do to permanently stop him. Don’t declaw him, he’s too old!
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u cant train a cat to stop scratching things….its a natural born instinct they r born with it ….then only thing u can do is:
1. you get him/her declawed its an easy process and its NOT tat expensive.
2. by a scratching post and to get her to only use tat is by getting something she sleeps on and rub the post with it …to get her scent on it
3. or by this spray the lures the cat away from the furniture its a spray tat smells like nothing to us humans …but for cats it putrid and it sends the cat running and thinking twice in getting anywhere near it LOL
but un my opinion i suggest the last 2 …i took co-op at a vet clinic and declawing let me tell u …ITS A VERY DISTURBING SIGHT …u will only noe if u were there to see it …ughhh yuck :S
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Some smells that cats detest are vinegar, hot pepper, and one you might find pleasant is "bitter apple" I think you can find that one at pet stores.
If you’re able to, try clipping his claws, my first cat had problems with me handling his feet, so I would wait until he was asleep and relaxed with me nearby, and just clip a claw or two at a time. Just make sure you don’t hit the quick (the pink area visible) that causes a lot of pain and bleeding.
Try checking it out of your library.
Person who mentioned aluminum foil was on the right track, most cats don’t like the sensation of it on their paws. Another thing they HATE is sticky paws, so you could buy some contact paper and leave it sticky side up on your furniture when he’s likely to go on a scratching fit. Another thing you could use is double stick tape.
The key is to make your furniture unattractive to the cat and the posts far superior. Don’t punish him (to a cat, scratching is something that NEEDS to be done, if you whack him he’ll just think you’re insane, like if someone belted you for breathing). When he starts scratching on the furniture try distracting him by tossing a ball right by him, he’ll probably jump off the couch and chase the ball. Maybe use a ribbon and lead him to the post, if he’s like my kitten he’ll chase the ribbon and latch onto the post. Praise him when he does that, soon he’ll connect scratching post=happiness from everyone. If you yell at him for scratching furniture, you’re just giving him attention, and some cats (like children) take perverse pleasure in torquing you off, or getting focused attention from you.
Another thing, does he like catnip? Try rubbing it on the posts, or if he doesn’t like that, leave treats by the posts. Also, not all cats like the same texture, my kitten completely ignored the carboard scratcher (although he loves the toy that came with it) but now maims the sisal rope posts I got. It helps that it has a dangly toy attatched to it so when he goes nuts attacking it, he hangs onto the post and feels how good it is on his claws.
Do NOT declaw him, not only is it a nasty procedure, but when a cat is older than 2 it takes much longer to heal, plus he has a higher chance of infection. You really wouldn’t want him to decide that going in the litter box it too painful.
Hope that helped a bit.
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Outwitting Your Cat, an excellent book with lots of real instructions on getting your cat to think it was all his idea in the first place.
My 12 years old cat suddenly last year stayed full time indoors, but I never experienced problems that bad. I’m guessing he wasn’t ever kept in even at night during most of his life? He’s used to scratching on trees outside, try using a real wood log or several placed in the main areas he’s been scratching, spray with bug spray to kill any spiders, ants, or other ones. He hopefully will associate these with his former outdoors and use them. As for his biting, that’s a tougher one that can take a long time to overcome if ever. It will take more time. The Soft Paws claw covers must be put on by a vet and will last about 3 months, then will need to be replaced. Only as a last resort you may need to remove the front claws if all else fails. There are very few times I ever recommend claws removed, this sounds like one.
Have you tried putting catnip on the scratching posts to attaract him to them? There’s a catnip spray that can be used for this.
A cat we rescued from an elderly couple had adopted her that morning from a family who’s son was severely allergic and swelled up, had adopted her the night before from an other person added up I was fourth to take her in 24 hours and the cat was none to happy. She spit, bit, hissed, attempted to shred, and growled at anyone ot thing that moved or she smelled. She had been fully declawed by her first owner and we then understood why they chose to fully declaw her. She was completely vicious. She bit us and drew blood, smacked with her paws like she had claws and the bones in her paws left bruises when she struck your hand. For 3 days she hid in my one son’s room, them we got her out and put her in my room where it was larger area and for the next 5 years, she never came past the doorway. We just worked with her over and over. For the last few years she’s become more social with a few of the other cats. She loves to lay on my lap while I’m on the computer.
I’m not sure of what else to tell you otherwise since this has never been a problem for me. Mine don’t claw furniture, climb curtains, or the carpet. My rescued declawed one, she will "claw" up everything, but she cant hurt anything.
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Small animal rescuer and owner/caregiver to 88 pets, 70 are in cages. I have 14 cats, 8 are rescues.
Just simply get a Cat scratchy thingie. ( I have absolutly no clue what its called)
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There is a spray at Walmart you can buy that helps this. It’s called Green Apple and cats dislike the scent. It has worked great for me.
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U can make ur cat a outside cat thats I did and cats know whos there owner soo it will come back to u.
Thanks,
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NEVER DECLAW YOUR CAT….NEVER NEVER NEVER!!!!
i cannot say that enough….its a horrendous procedure that should be illegal….declawing your cat is the equivalent or losing your fingers up to the second knuckle….you are forcing your cat to be disabled….its a horrible way to treat an animal you love…
that being said…when my cat was a kitten he was attracted to scratching my expensive couch and i had a fit….then i did some research, and found some solutions….
first i kept a water bottle next to me on the couch and when he would approach to scratch, i would spray him once….and if he continued, i would spray him again….but usually one spray did the trick….most cats really hate water and dont appreciate being sprayed with it….
second i got scratching posts that were wrapped with twine….the carpeted ones are not as attractive to most cats as the twine ones are….
third i bought him a cat tree….something that he could claim as his own….the polls are also wrapped with twine and he goes crazy scratching them all the time….when i first gave it to him i covered it in catnip and he went crazy for it….rubbing all over and claiming it….
fourth i trim his nails weekly….i use a regular human nail cutter cause i am more comfortable with it…and you dont have to be nervous about trimming your cats nails if you only trim the white part….if you hit the pink part he’ll cry and it will bleed…..its not the end of the world, but it will hurt him…so stick to the white stuff…start by trimming only a little tin bit and when you get more comfortable you can go up a little farther….if you cat hates having his nails being trimmed, and most do…you can make him more comfortable with the process by touching his paws all the time….when my cat is laying in my lap i’ll casually reaching over and pick up a paw and squeeze it to check the length of his nails….he used to pull away and give me a look…but now he doesnt even flinch (or wake up for that matter)…
hope that helps…
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i think you can find a great help in:
http://www.gadwood.com\index1.html
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