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All cat homeowners love their cats, however one factor that isn’t fairly as endearing is how they scratch up the furnishings. It’s widespread for cats to scratch at family objects, together with couches, doorways, rugs, beds – the listing goes on. You’ve in all probability already questioned why your cat appears to like etching their little artworks onto your furnishings.
Don’t fear, there’s no malice concerned, although people like to assign human logic to animal behaviours. By understanding the reasoning behind the scratching, you may start to know how one can maintain your cats from scratching the furnishings.
Why Do Cats Scratch?
Scratching and clawing at objects is just one thing that each one cats do. In the event you watch huge cats resembling lions, tigers, and jaguars, in addition they like to scratch. They only don’t do it on family furnishings however on timber. Cats scratch to:
- Preserve their claws wholesome – Cat claws are made out of the identical materials as our fingernails, besides theirs peels away in layers. An excellent scratching session is a approach for the cat to take away the broken outer layer and sharpen the claw.
- Mark their territory – Like many different predators, cats are territorial by nature. Scratching is a approach for them to mark their territory, each visually and by scent. At any time when your cat scratches at an object, the scent glands of their paw pads launch pheromones. These pheromones warn different animals that they’re within the cat’s house turf.
- Stretch their our bodies – Any cat proprietor is aware of that cats love stretching. Most scratching periods are accompanied by a great stretch. Many cats will scratch whereas stretching, reaching far above or in entrance of themselves. Consider it as a human stretching whereas digging their toes into the carpet.
- Relieve boredom – Scratching is an efficient approach of releasing extra bodily or emotional vitality. Feminine cats in warmth can also be stressed, and can are inclined to climb and scratch at issues.
How Do You Preserve Your Cat From Scratching Furnishings?
We’ve received a few ideas that, when utilized in mixture, will assist with scratching behaviours.
1. Preserve your cat’s nails trimmed
Setting a daily nail-trimming schedule is an effective way to maintain your cat’s scratching behaviour below management. Most cats will begin scratching at round eight weeks outdated, so beginning younger is a good suggestion. It might be more difficult to get mature cats to take a seat nonetheless as you clip their nails, so a visit to the groomer might assist get them used to it. As soon as they’re extra comfy, you may try and do it your self. A nail trim each two to 3 weeks works for many cat homeowners.
2. Make the furnishings much less interesting
There are a few strategies to make your furnishings a less-than-ideal place on your cats to scratch:
- Apply cat scratch tape – You need to use both cat scratch tape or double-sided tape. Most cats discover sticky surfaces annoying, so it’s a great deterrent to scratching. Nonetheless, this answer is probably not viable for surfaces that aren’t easy, resembling couches and different upholstered furnishings.
- Apply a cat scratch spray – There are each industrial and home made variations of cat scratch spray. Most are supposed to make the cat suppose that they’ve already put their scent on the thing that’s been sprayed. This technique takes a while to be efficient, as you’ll have to make use of the spray every day till the cat stops scratching.
- Apply vinyl panelling – That is the drastic possibility for cats that merely gained’t cease scratching. Vinyl panels are not a deterrent, they’re safety on your furnishings. Panels of assorted sizes can be found, and most screw on to your furnishings.
3. Present scratching posts
Most cats will scratch objects in the event that they’re appropriate for scratching. You’ll be able to place scratching posts scattered round the home close to furnishings they normally scratch. Pay attention to the sorts of surfaces that your cat enjoys scratching. Scratching posts are made of assorted supplies, and it must be attainable to search out some that match your cat’s most well-liked kind of furnishings.
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Typically it takes a bit coaxing to get your cat to make use of the scratching put up as a substitute of the furnishings. Constructive reinforcement is an efficient approach to get them to make use of the put up – every time they take note of the put up as a substitute of the furnishings, give them reward and a reward.
One other technique is to sprinkle some catnip round and on the put up itself. Some cat homeowners have had success with taking part in with a wand toy close to the put up, then directing the cat’s consideration to the put up as soon as they’ve began chasing the wand toy.
Let Your Cat Be A Cat
Let’s keep in mind that scratching is a pure exercise for cats. Most cats might want to scratch at the very least among the time – so as a substitute of seeking to eradicate the behaviour utterly, it’s finest to direct it to things which can be designed to be scratched resembling cat furnishings and scratchers. In case your cat has moved on from furnishings to the partitions, we’ve an article on how one can cease cats from scratching partitions as nicely.
Creator:
Elsa Smith