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Cat destroying furniture
Can you do anything to stop them.
Our cat is using every bit of furniture in the house as a scratching post. He has ruined some leather chairs which we only got before Christmas.
I'm really fed up about it, can't afford to be buying stuff to be ripped apart in a few months.
Our cat is using every bit of furniture in the house as a scratching post. He has ruined some leather chairs which we only got before Christmas.
I'm really fed up about it, can't afford to be buying stuff to be ripped apart in a few months.
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Secondly cats dont like water. When he is scratching someone should spray the cat gently with water making sure the cat can't see them. This should deter him from doing it, As he can see you, he won't know where the water is coming from
My cats favourite place to scratch was always the corner at the back of the sofa. I have wedged the base of a scatchpost under the sofa so the post actually stands at that corner of the sofa. They love it and my sofa remains in one piece. I do have other posts around the house but that is their favourite. They still feel like they are attacking my sofa but I know different
Everybody wins
Plus scratching posts need to be big and stable enough to let the catch stretch up and scratch vigorously - some of them are ridiculously small. It is well worthwhile teaching them (as flakecake describes) to use a scratching post as cats need to be able to strop their claws and a post can save the rest of your furniture being wrecked.
Spraying water, plug in thingies, scratching pole.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I have got a water spray out and will try it. Do need to get a new scratching post though, the one we have is useless, it just falls over when he uses it.
Yep I know exactly what you mean - my cats' post broke a couple of weeks ago and I'm still awaiting delivery of their new one. In the meantime in desperation I bought one from a petshop which is tall but the base is far too small so when they reach up and scratch vigorously it falls over - so it's no use at all because now they're nervous of using it, and have started using the rug (which they never do when they have a proper post).
If you get a proper good post which has a big stable base the cat should be happy to use it - you can 'show' him how as flakecake describes.
Unfortunately though now he has started scratching furniture he has visual and scent cues on the furniture which will encourage him to reoffend. Shutting him out of particular rooms when you aren't there to prevent him may help break the habit.
Apparently they hate citrus stuff so it puts them off scratching it.
Keep applying until they get the message that that area is not nice to scratch
It said cats scratched furniture to sharpen their claws. They also scratched trees. Maybe you adopt wooden furniture so that you can sandpaper the furniture at a regular basis.
i cannot leave sticky tape in my house my cat is an addict to it
Good idea - the more things you can provide which they can legitimately 'wreck', the less likely they are to choose your furniture. One of my cats goes mental for kitchen roll, he clutches it and "rats it" with his back feet. He'll do the same with a newspaper left on the floor. Of course that does make a mess with bits of paper everywhere....:D
If you do use a 'deterrent' of whatever type on the furniture, you still have to provide a really good alternative for them to scratch - cats have to strop their claws regularly.
Put too much down and they'll never return to the house!
Tinfoil - cats don't like that much - although covering your sofa in tin foil is not a long term option :eek:
Has the cat always been like this OP? Or is it only recent behaviour?
Luckily my girl wont even so much as sit on our leather sofa!
I speak from experience as I mentioned above. Our new one arrived today, they love it.
This one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canac-Sisal-Scratching-Various-Colours/dp/B0037XRRJ4/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1298981038&sr=8-19
(I removed the daft mouse thing:o:D)
Don't use a squirter or any other type of punishment, negative reinforcement will only harm your relationship with him, and won't stop him performing the behaviour, he'll just stop doing it when you are around. It's an old fashioned 'fix' akin to smacking a pup on the nose when they've weed or rubbing thier nose in it.
Cats like to mark thier territory, to do this they like to make a long lasting visual cue (the scratches) mixed with a shorter term olfactory cue (from their scent glands in paws), which is why the come back over and over again. The best solution is to redirect the behaviour, every time he scrits take him and put him paws on a scratching post (or an area you are happy for him to scratch), there should be one such post in each room/area at first, to encourage him. Don't buy new posts, they look nice to us, but cats much prefer old tatty ones, especially if they've been marked by so done else previously, a perfect zone for remarking and asserting thier dominance!
Orange is meant to be a deterrent, as is tin foil on the floor around the areas you don't want him to go.
Make sure you don't reward the behaviour by doing anything other than moving him, even opening the door to stop him, will encourage him (as he's got what he wanted).
Bib. Rubbish. He may not 'see' you doing it, but cats are quick enough to work out that something happens not when there are people there, and will associate the negative action with you.
Water never worked with out cat, she got revenge later and smacked her us on the head when going up the stairs. It infuriated her and made her more naughty so later she'd claw the leather sofa and run up the curtains.
What does work is the hairdryer. Now even when in conversation with each other she will run off or her ears prick up on hearing the work hairdryer.