Stop my cat scratching everything!

Feisty_Fairy

Hi everyoone!

I have a lovely 6 month old kitten who i love to bits. Bless her she is in the house by herself all day (i work full time) and she hasnt been spayed yet. She will be allowed out when she has been done. I need to know how to stop her from scratching everything, she has lots of toys and a great cat scratcher/bed thing, but although she uses them she also likes my furniture, edges of the carpets and my wall paper.

I will have a new 3 piece suite soon and i am going to be decorating aswell and so want to get her out of these habits asap. Also as she is wrecking my carpets and its gonna cost me a fortune!

Have tried some good behaviour spray, thats supposed to keep them away but she doesnt bother!

Any ideas anyone?????

Im getting desperate!

Thanks in advance,

Feisty!

Jnelhams

Where possible rub Vaseline on the legs of tables, the smell and greasiness will put her off, otherwise dusting areas with black pepper or using a plant spray and a quick squirt at her will soon put her off the game.

TheChillPill

I have a 2 year-old cat myself, and have had her since a kitten. She was pretty much the same, but I found that when she was able to go out, she stopped scratching in the house completely. She does it occasionally now, but always uses the scratching post I have by the front door (positioning it there lets her know that she should associate scratching with the outdoors - apparently).

The sprays have never worked for me, and I cant think of anyone else that has had success with them either.

My advice would be to have her done now so she can go out, and see how that goes - worked for me.

black-saturn

Sounds like she might be bored. I dont really know how to combat that but that might be the reason.

trinnylilac

I did watch a program once and they suggested aversion therapy .
Everytime your cat/kitten goes to scratch then do something to your cat that it doesn't like , They suggested spaying with a fine mist of water.(nothing nasty)

It will then associate scratching the sofa with getting wet and will hopefully stop.

Dolphin

hiya

Water pistols are a good quick fix solution but obviously only work if you are at home to spray them.

Try leaving oranges or orange peel by the furniture you dont want scratched - cats hate the smell apparantly!

Good Luck!

Dolphin

trigger_mike

Our cat is very good for that but when he was younger and did it sometimes we tried a spray bottle with some lemonly water in it and just sprayed him with it, seemed to work.

rchddap1

With my old cats whenever they started scratching where they shouldn't they got a sharp word....were picked up....taken to the backdoor mat (or somewhere 'appropriate') and we moved their feet for them (ie, we performed the scratching action using their feet).

Mind you...they were kittens when they were trained.

Feisty_Fairy

Hi

I am gonna try the water pistols trick and wil also get an orange smelly spray of some kind fopr when im not there!

Thanks all and keep em coming!

Regards

feisty!

jen_jen_2

double sided sticky tape on the item they are about to scratch apparently they dont like the sticky on their paws. cant use on wallpaper though!
it worked for a short time with our cats who scratch the carpet at doors they cant get through - gave up in end and leave doors open now. also put cat nip on what you want them to be attracted to ie the posts this may encourage them to go towards that more often