Kitty scratching furniture
By ctcagrrl
@ctcagrrl (13)
United States
May 12, 2007 4:51pm CST
We adopted a kitty that was allowed to scratch the furniture. We can't break him of this habit and he's ruining our furniture! We have tall scratching posts in every room. When he scratches we bring him over to the towers and rub his paws over it and show him how to do it. We've tried double sided tape and he just moves to a section that doesn't have it. We've covered parts up in tinfoil and he just grabs it with his teeth and pulls it off. We've tried squirting him with a squirt gun and he'll run away, but then just do it again in a little while. I've read about a spray but the one that got the highest ratings is pretty expensive and I don't want to buy it if it's not really going to work. Anybody have any advice?!?
2 people like this
5 responses
@sjohnson628 (3197)
• United States
12 May 07
Wow That's not good. Furniture can be very costly to replace especially if he is scratching on more than one piece. I would highly recommend getting the product you are contemplating because you may only need to buy it once and he will be cured of this destructive habit. Good luck with your kitty!
3 people like this
@Calais (10893)
• Australia
12 May 07
Try the spray bottle with water, but add lemon juice or vinegar to it. They are natural deterants. But you have to be witty and be straight onto him as soon as he even looks like he is going to scratch. And when he is usung the scratch poles, give him praise.
2 people like this
@sjohnson628 (3197)
• United States
12 May 07
I'm just wondering where is it you are suggesting this to be sprayed? I am hoping not on the cat but onto the furniture? Am I correct?
3 people like this
@ctcagrrl (13)
• United States
13 May 07
There is absolutely no way that we'd spray anything other than water on our baby and even that's beginning to bother us as obviously it's not working. I'm happy that it worked for you, but we just wouldn't feel okay with him having to taste that and to possibly have him wind up not washing himself. We always praise him when he's actually using his posts, but unfortunately it's not that often. Thanks for your advice though!
2 people like this
@scarlet_woman (23465)
• United States
13 May 07
if he doesn't respond to anything,ask your vet about claw caps.they cover the claw so he can't damage things.humane,and stops the damage.
kitty will look like he has painted nails LOL.
@woobie (88)
• United States
12 May 07
Have you tried rubbing cat nip onto the scratching posts?? That used to work well for me -- it really got my cats interesting in using the posts. I also trim kitty nails ever other week or whenever I notice they are starting to get sharp again. Then they can't do any damage when they scratch our furniture.
2 people like this
@ctcagrrl (13)
• United States
13 May 07
Yes, we've tried the catnip, but it hasn't worked either - on the scratching post that is. He loves it in his toys and asks us for his catnip toys and knows what it means when we ask him do you want to get high? We were going to trim his nails, but they're black so we can't see how far down we should trim them - ugh. We're thinking about having his vet educate us on how far down we should trim them. Thank God we love our little lovebug! We call him our "special" kitty =)
2 people like this
@larryfisken (339)
• Norway
13 May 07
You should yell and be angry at it when it does it because then it observes that you are getting upset when it does that and then it will actually stop.
1 person likes this
