scratch posts etc

[Angeladeedah]

Lol - cat's are ace on cat nip!!  They are so away with it especially when they've not smelt it for ages.   

[HaneyHarperIndyMum (Val)]

  loopy cats!    Funny how strange some cats will act when given some cat nip, huh?  I also have a little pouch that I fill up with cat nip and give Haney to play with.  He loves it so much.  He rubs his face all over it and will roll his body all over the pouch and then toss it up in the air.  It is hilarious to watch him.  He's a cat nip drug addict! 

[Kirst]

I sprayed the cat tree with catnip spray - ok they went a bit loopy but at least they did it on the tree and not my sofa!

[Angeladeedah]

Unfortunately I have had this problem with one of my cats - he will insist on only using my furniture for scratching.   I have scratch posts/mats all over the house and he refuses to use any of them.   I have scratch posts next to the furniture he uses, I've sprayed him with water when he uses them, I've tried citrus spray and tape stuff but nothing works.   So now what I'm doing is when I replace the furniture I am trying to buy chrome stuff (though not sure what I'll do when it comes to the bedroom furniture).   I love them more than my furniture so I've had to learn to eventually live with it!!

[HaneyHarperIndyMum (Val)]

Hi nicchick.  I know it can be hard for your cats to learn where scratching is allowed and where it is not.   Here's a little trick, my vet approved of this also....I trim my cats nails every other week or so as needed.  I have been doing that since they were kittens and I only trim the front nails tips.  It is simple to do and my cats don't mine.  Try it, I know it has saved my furniture. lol    If your cat protests this at first, you can always wrap him up in a towel much like a burrito so he can not struggle while you do clip his nail tips.  This towel wrapping his for your safety as well as his.  With a cat who struggles, you could run the risk of trimming off to much nail and hurting him.  Better to be safe than sorry.

Also you are doing the right thing by just redirecting his scratching behavior to a more appropriate item or mat.  I have several scratching boards all through out my house, they are the type that I can either hang on a door knob or just lay them down on the floor.  They are not so big and bulky and I hardly even notice them in the room.

Another tip I do is to use cat nip sprinkled on my large scratching mat.  One of my cats is just mad about the stuff and the other cat could care less, so it just depends on the cat.

btw my large scratching mat is really a sisal door mat and that is all my cats favorite place to do their scratching.

Good Luck.

[nicchick]

ah well, we do have a ceilng anchored climber/scratch post (from zoo plus its brilliant) but she broke her back leg about 4.5 weeks ago so its currently lying down as I dont want her falling from a height and hurting her leg again. Her leg is healing very well according to the vet and it isnt slowing her down but she does limp when she gets tired. She is a total loonie and rushes around everywhere so the likelihood of her falling off is higher than most kittens! I will stand it up again in a week or so. Maybe she isnt using it because its the wrong way round?! 

Ive tried playing with feather sticks/toys on the scratch mat and I have also tried gently moving her paws on it..... nothing!

Tonight Im going to get her a small but sturdy post and see if she will start using that - I have another one in the house but my resident cat Simba still needs something to use 

nikkix

[Tiggy's Mum]

When you take her to the scratching post after she's scratched something she shouldn't try moving her paws up and down in a scratchy motion on it.  This worked almost instantly when my two were kittens, they are absolute angels now.  The only thing they scratch is their posts... unless I dare to lock them in the spare room with their trays and lots of toys while workmen are in, then it's fair game to try and shred the carpet to get out 

[tiga]

When I got my two I played games with them on the scratching posts and mats. I dangled feathers or toys around the scratch posts and they would scratch by trying to get to the toy. Try a feather on a stick and play with that on the mat. She should start scratching as she plays - then at least she will know what it's for. Whether she still uses the carpet is another matter!

Also is the mat stable or does it move easily? They seem to prefer things that don't move around. If it moves maybe you could velcro it down.

[Catbird]

I think that the trick is to actually provide something they prefer to use.  Is your scratch post just a post, or is it more like a cat tree that can be played with and on?  I have 2 for Dot - a ceiling one in the lviing room and a large corner one in the spare room/study.  I also have 2 smally scratch pad anchored under the feet of the sofa and armchair in the living room (they are the type you can put over the door handles, or nail to the wall).  She also uses a long sort of hessian-y runner that I got from Matalan and which lies on the hall carpet and she likes a couple of bits of seagrass furninture that I have (c'mon, it's cheap!).

All this sounds expensive and rather overpowering but isn't.  You can look on Zooplus and various other online sites (like Ebay) for cat trees, the rug was about £16, the scratch pads were £3 each (Wilkinsons) and the seagrass stuff was £10-£25 (Wilkinsons again).

She has never, ever clawed or scratched where she's not supposed to (other than me  ), so I have never had to try and train her. 

Hope this helps.

C.

[nicchick]

Hi all my new kitten is a little horror (bless her!) and doesnt seem to know where she should scratch  . I have only had her for a few days and she is about 18 weeks old. She keeps trying to scratch on the carpet which I would like to stop obviously! I presumed that she may be one of the cats that likes to scratch horizontally instead of vertically, but no, she wont use the nice lovely sissal mat I bought her. 

How do I gently teach her where to go? When she starts to use the carpet I say "no", and gently pick her up and put her on the scratch mat but she doesnt seem to understand at the moment.

My big cat even though he was younger when we got him seemed to get it straight off, so Ive never had to teach him as such.... Any ideas?? Im going to get her a normal size vertical scratch post as maybe the big one seems a bit big?

Do you think she may learn from watching my adult cat once they are intergrated properly?

ta, nikki, who does like her carpets......