cats clawing furniture and carpets

BudgetBlonde

madget wrote: »

Clapping hands has worked for me in the past, too - they come to associate the noise with the inappropriate behaviour.

Clapping hands has worked for me too, as has a water pistol (not directly at them). You then also reward them for scratching the correct thing with treats and praise or whatever. Of course, that relies on you being in the same room.

Kimberley

Gloomendoom wrote: »

My solution was to simply give him some pieces of softwood that he was allowed to scratch... one upstairs on the landing and one in the kitchen. If he scratched anywhere else he got walloped.

I have no scratched furniture or carpets.

You really shouldn't be allowed anywhere near an animal. Hitting them can create nervous ones and nervous ones are dangerous who could/will get their own back. In a cat you could get badly scratched one day and it will all be your fault. In a dog you or someone else will get badly bitten one day and it will be all your fault and the poor dog would get PTS.

Do you honestly think that the cat you have hit knew why? All they know is that you have hurt them, they do not know why. The fact that your cat doesn't do the things that you have hit it for is because it is scared of you not because it knows it will get a smack scratching your sofa. The cat does not know that this sofa is expensive or it is more important to you.

I have three Cat trees for my three Cats. From a kitten I taught them to use the scratch post on the tree. An adult cat can be taught as well to use the cat post rather then your sofa but you have to be patient and consistent in teaching it.

Gloomendoom

Read my later post.

caela_2

Lol cats do like to gets their claws into everything... the furniture... my shoulders... :eek:

Mine goes for the sofas, but a quick shout, clap and fake lunge towards him (as if I'm actually bothered to get off the couch and chase him!) usually makes him stop while he stares at me in confusion

My suggestion, trim the claws. Use a regular nail clipper or buy a pair in a pet store (expect to pay up to £5). Pet store clippers do pretty much the same thing, but are easier and safer to use as most have a guide to stop you cutting too close to the quick.

To trim the claws, make sure your cat is comfortable (I sit mine on my lap with his little feet sticking out). You need to be sure they can't struggle too much, as sudden movements, nail clippers and claws is not a good combination. Some cats are fine with grooming, mine doesn't really care although he gets bored easily and might need regular breaks to distract him. Just make sure to take your time, stay calm and reassure them. Hold them firmly, without forcing them and this can help.

You need to make sure you only cut the little hooks off the end of each claw and go no lower than the first 2mm or so. You do not want to get too close to the quick (the pink bit you can see inside the claw), as this can be very painful!

If you have time, make sure to check for flaking or broken bits and providing they are lose enough and won't hurt, pull them off gently. Also check the claws are clean and tidy in general- cats usually break them fighting or get dirt trapped in the claw hood. You can even use a metal nail file to tidy up any lose bits.

This type of grooming is basically what they're trying to do when they scratch furniture, so it should make it less necessary (although it's quite instinctive with cats so they'll always do it).

In addition, you can protect your furniture with some cheap door mats (Tesco value are about £2 each), by securing them to the sides of sofas or around table legs.

To discourage pets, you can also spray or rub furniture with lemon or orange oil (cats can't stand citrus smells). Take some fresh peel and squeeze it close to the furniture, bursting the oil from the peel. Then rub the peel on furniture, being quite generous and this will hopefully deter your cat. It will also make your furniture smell nice.

With scratching posts, make sure to use large ones with lots of fun toys to encourage your kitty over.

Finally, the fail safe method- keep a water gun down the side of the sofa and ambush approaching kitty with a good squirt! Lol.

You may also have heard of the invention 'soft paws' (http://www.spuk.com/), which was designed to stop clawing. They're little plastic caps which slide over the claws and basically cork them lol. However, don't use this on outdoor cats as they need their claws for climbing and protecting themselves! Oh yeah, indoor cats will also claw more, so letting them out can reduce scratching as they naturally use tree bark. Also, it will stop them pumelling on doors to get out.

Hope this helps, let me know how it goes!

madget_2

Some good points there, caela - especially stressing that those "soft paws" are definitely not for use on outdoor cats. As for trimming claws, vets might do that for you on cats who are averse to letting you do it yourself. I know that they do this for older cats whose claws no longer retract - a nightmare for them as they catch on carpets, etc when they walk.

One other solution which has worked for me in the past is to place tin foil over areas where they scratch. It does look rather odd, but it most certainly works. I have some in place around the bottom of the coffee table in our sitting room. We wrapped it around bits of cardboard which was cut to fit the area. We're so used to it now that we sometimes forget it's there, but the look on first-time visitors' faces is priceless! :-)

caela_2

Gloomendoom wrote: »

What injury?

Unusually for a cat he also used to come with walks with me across the fields. He would also come on camping holidays too. He never ran away.

Lol that's so cute, my cat comes for walks with me too, just follows along hehe. Did it when I was walking to catch a cab once and I had to run though lol felt pretty bad about that but don't wanna pay for two fayres.

I was going to ask about the camping holidays- I really wanted to take my cat camping lol. How did you manage? Did he get spooked in the new environment? That's what I'm worried about, cos mine gets quite nervous in the car and going to new places if they're loud.

Gloomendoom

caela wrote: »

Lol that's so cute, my cat comes for walks with me too, just follows along hehe. Did it when I was walking to catch a cab once and I had to run though lol felt pretty bad about that but don't wanna pay for two fayres.

I was going to ask about the camping holidays- I really wanted to take my cat camping lol. How did you manage? Did he get spooked in the new environment? That's what I'm worried about, cos mine gets quite nervous in the car and going to new places if they're loud.

No he didn't. He was a very laid back cat. This was how nervous he got in the car...



It didn't seem to matter where he went, within hours he had worked out where the best places to find mice were... and who was going to give him extra dinners. He had a couple of altercations with local cats that I can remember, but he was quite a large cat and never really had any problems.

I have had cats since I was born. My first word was 'P@ssy' (much to my parents' dismay). As a family, we have taken our cats away with us on lots of UK holidays and never had any problems. When camping, some have preferred to stay in the caravan/tent during the day but others have thoroughly enjoyed themselves exploring their new surroundings. None have ever run away.

Edit: Before anyone starts screaming and shouting, my cat was constrained in a proper cat basket when the car was moving.

madget_2

Gloomendoom wrote: »

No he didn't. He was a very laid back cat. This was how nervous he got in the car...



It didn't seem to matter where he went, within hours he had worked out where the best places to find mice were... and who was going to give him extra dinners. He had a couple of altercations with local cats that I can remember, but he was quite a large cat and never really had any problems.

I have had cats since I was born. My first word was 'P@ssy' (much to my parents' dismay). As a family, we have taken our cats away with us on lots of UK holidays and never had any problems. When camping, some have preferred to stay in the caravan/tent during the day but others have thoroughly enjoyed themselves exploring their new surroundings. None have ever run away.

Edit: Before anyone starts screaming and shouting, my cat was constrained in a proper cat basket when the car was moving.

He's lovely. I have a real soft spot for ginger boys. We have one and he's a gentle giant. Not as laid back as your cat, though - ours adores other cats, but is very nervous of people he doesn't know well. He came from a very dodgy, gang-ridden part of an inner city, so I think he had a bit of a rough start in life, poor soul.

I've seen very few other cats who are as comfortable in cars as your ginger boy looks. One was a Maine Coon (they often seem to act more like dogs than cats) and the other was a French tabby moggy I saw at a service station many years ago. His owner let him travel on the parcel shelf in the back of their car, then slipped a lead on him and they both strolled quite happily through the car park and into the building. I don't think anything could have phased that tabby, he was so incredibly laid back.

Gloomendoom

Thanks for that. Oddly enough, I was thinking of getting another cat and a Maine Coon was top of my list, that or a Norwegian forest cat.

My parents have had several Abyssinians, and they seemed to travel well in cars. They also cope with camping too.

madget_2

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Thanks for that. Oddly enough, I was thinking of getting another cat and a Maine Coon was top of my list, that or a Norwegian forest cat.

My parents have had several Abyssinians, and they seemed to travel well in cars. They also cope with camping too.

I'd also dearly love either a Maine Coon or Norwegian Forest cat. Trouble is, that's never likely to happen. Working for an animal rescue charity, I get suckered into taking on the moggies with health problems that no one else wants! :rotfl: I love them to bits and am a real fan of moggies, but it would be lovely to have either a Maine Coon or Wegie - even a half-moggy version.