How to stop your cat from scratching
Cats love to scratch! They clean and sharpen their claws by scratching. But
they can ruin our furniture, carpets, walls and doorways. Here are a few tips
to help stop your cat from doing what comes naturally.
1. Provide a scratching post for your cat. They are normally made of wood covered
with carpet and rope. You can buy a scratching post at your local pet store,
a cat show or off the internet. You can also make your own scratching post very
easily.
2. Show your cat how the post is used by doing it yourself in the cat's presence.
This may sound silly, but it works! After you do it, the cat will go to it and
smell your scent, then it will leave it's own scent.
3. Always praise your cat when it scratches on something that is meant for that
purpose.
4. You can say "No!" to your cat when you see it scratching an unwanted
item and squirt it with a plant mister (set on stream rather than mist) or use
a child's water pistol. The water won't hurt your cat, but it won't like it
and will associate the word 'no' with being squirted with water.
If you come to visit us you will find that nothing in our house bears scratch
marks!