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Train Your Cat to Stop Scratching Your Couch in 7 Days or Less
Posted: Jul 07, 2018
Are you familiar with the following scenario? You stumble into the living room in the morning on your way to the kitchen for coffee, and you see it: a brand new, Wolverine-worthy set of claw marks down the entire side of your couch. While you slept, your feline bundle of fur and energy added more scratch marks to your sofa.
Why Do Cats Scratch?
Cats scratch things for several reasons, including:
To stretch: Scratching provides exercise and valuable stretching for the muscles and tendons in a cat's body from her toes to her neck and shoulders.
To mark: A cat's paws contain scent glands and scratching things releases odours that mark her territory. It's important to feline social structures to use this method of communication. Even if you only have one cat in your household, she will feel the need to transmit information in this manner.
To maintain claw health: Scratching helps a cat shed the outside nail husk periodically as needed, to keep the claw healthy.
To feel good: Scratching just feels great to cats. It relieves stress and decreases the possibility that your cat will develop other unwanted behaviours.
Day 1: Decide on, locate, and purchase several cat scratching posts and some interactive cat toys from cat scratching post Singapore. This is a critical step in the process.
Day 2: Place the cat scratching posts strategically around your home. Choose places that your cat already likes to hang out, such as near windows and in the family room with you. Cats also love to stretch and scratch when they first wake up from a catnap, so placing a post near her regular sleeping area is a good idea.
Day 3: According to experts at cat scratching post Singapore Make the couch an unattractive place for scratching. You can accomplish this by using one or more of the following techniques like tuck a sheet around the scratched area of the couch tightly so your cat can't get under it to scratch the couch.
Day 4: Get your cat interested in the scratching posts by sprinkling them with catnip or spraying them with honeysuckle. Learn more about catnip and honeysuckle.
Day 5: Start by playing with the wand toy a few feet away from the post. Once your cat is playing along, sweep the toy so that its end drapes over the post.
Day 6: By this point, your cat should not be trying to scratch your sofa anymore, but if she is, consider adding the products to your anti-scratching arsenal. Continue to play with your cat near the scratching post, and reward her with praise and treats when she uses it.
Day 7: Enjoy your new couch, and get ready for Aunt Gertrude's visit. Your cat should now be using her scratching post instead of your couch. When your new couch arrives, you may need to make it unattractive to her for a few days to a week, so she immediately knows that it isn't a place for scratching.
As time goes on, you should keep things interesting for your cat by adding new scratching posts, moving them to interesting spots around the house, and making sure that you continue to schedule play sessions daily with your cat, using new toys from cat scratching sometimes.
John Alex writes an interesting articles and blogs on pets and help people in making the right choices for purchasing cats and kittens.