I keep my cat's claws clipped, once every week to ten days I simply clip off the sharp points. I also keep a spray bottle of water handy to spritz them when I catch them scratching on something they aren't supposed to. The combination of the two works pretty well, not perfect but well...... I also have one of those round scratching things with a cardboard insert and a ball around the outside edge. They seem to like it better than their scratching posts.
Cat
(Jim just reads the forum once in a while)
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Clipping is helpful and easy... I use people nail clippers on mine and just take off the pointy parts.
But the deal is that vertical scratching has a territory marking component. For that you need not a repellant spray but a pheremone spray like Feliway. Or you could use a diffuser in the room.
susan
What I want to know is, when are they going to start selling Comfort Zone for HUMANS????? 'Cause some days...
CatandJim wrote: I also have one of those round scratching things with a cardboard insert and a ball around the outside edge. They seem to like it better than their scratching posts.
Exactly how I trained my cat 15 years ago! And she has never damaged anything...ever...in my house in over 15 years.
Here is what I did -- I bought the round cardboard inserts and put one on the floor. I sat down next to the cardboard insert and started using my fingernails to scratch it. My young kitty got Territorial or competitive and ran over immediately and started scratching it. She then "claimed" them as her own and has never scratched anything else. She sleeps on hers!
If I want to get a rise out of her when she is bored, I lean over and do the fingers on her scratching pad and she runs over to claim it and vigorously goes to town on it. Too funny.
Works great! p.s. can you guess I have one each in the living room, bedroom and family room?
Livin Lite Quicksilver 8.0 (Folding Tent Camper) only 900 lbs!
My mom has used the beating the offending "chair" or "sofa" with a newspaper and making a lot of racket while doing so in front of the cat. The cats seem to get the idea that that piece of furniture is very bad and they better stay away from it. Sounds silly I know, but it has worked with 40 yrs worth of cats!
Clip their claws, get yourself a water bottle, a Feliway diffuser, and have patience ;-) I have two of the little buggers, and they are both fully armed. We live with scratch free furniture, so it can be done!!
Yeppers-15 years ago, I had no pets, didn't want the reponsibility. Then I rescued a little Manx from an abusive home, fixed her injuries, then discovered she was positive for feline leukemia. I was attached by then, and when I lost her, I grieved so badly I shocked myself. So now I have two cats, a shelter cat abandoned by his former family (lucky me!) and a formerly feral female. They drink only distilled water, and eat Evanger's organic cat food-more than $2 a can!!! Ah well, I love 'em to death, what can I say? ;-)
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