My Cat is scratching my furniture help!
Prevent your Cat from scratching your furniture, if it would be that easy. Scratching is a natural behaviour for cats, no matter how it might impact the fabric on your $5,000 new sofa or any other expensive furniture your cat finds attractive. Your cat isn’t scratching to defy you – she is sending you a message that says, give me something to scratch “I need it “
Why does a Cat need scratching?
It is very simple …It lies in their Nature and it is a natural urge. It symbolises for your cats a lot of different things. The cat is scratching your furniture... because it is a natural instinct not because she like the launch it suits a purpose.
a. To mark their Territory
Scratching is an instinct by which cats place their mark and establish this is my Territory. Did you know that cat claws do have a scent, the scent comes from their paws which have glands and the scent is released when they scratch leaving a distinct mark at the most visible portion of your Home? Your Cat is just adding her personal touch to your furniture. It is her way of doing Interior design.
b.Cats do scratch for exercise.
It is like stretching it keeps your Cat in shape. With scratching the front part of your cat’s muscles will be worked. Visual it looks like Yoga and gym workout.
c.Cats do scratch for sheer pleasure.
It is a great feeling for a cat to scratch, it releases some happy hormones in your Cats body, so give it up to try to change your cat’s behaviour. Your Kitty’s behaviour for scratching is normal and she is born with it and will not change. The best thing is to accept it and provide her with a scratch solution that makes both of you happy.
Learn the language your cat speaks and start training your cat. ( don’t laugh it is possible to train a cat and for you to learn how to speak cat)
When the urge appears to scratch and that will happen a few times a day, your cat will be not too picky on what to scratch unless you provide your Cat with a solution what is similar to nature.
In the wild, everything is fair game. In the wild, a cat might use a tree trunk or a fence post for scratching. But since your living room probably lacks those things, the next best thing is something precious to you, but suitable for your cat.
You can stop your cat from scratching your valuable items when you provide an adequate substitute for your cat.
Bear in Mind that stopping a cat from scratching, takes passion and some effort. In short, it can work if you learn how to speak cat. A better solution is to find something your cat loves to scratch and both of you are happy.
Personally, I have given up on buying expensive Cat trees and placing them in my home, they are just neglected by my cats. Leo and Minka. I will tell you later my secret what I use for my cats to avoid them scratching my furniture.
A different solution to stop your cat scratching.
One of the cruellest one is declawing a cat. Declawing your cat requires major surgery and will leave your cat as long as she lives in pain. There are different ways to solve it. In most of the countries, declawing of cats is forbidden. Except for America, Canada and Africa, those still have not banned cat declawing or made it a law.
This is such cruelty that it hurts me when only writing it. Imagine someone takes off all your finger knuckles.
Please let me tell you declawing is not a solution and not the only way to protect your furniture.
Instead of going to this extreme, set up a few standing scratch posts around your house and spray them with Catnip. Cats love Catnip. They are somehow attracted to it. Scratching is more to your Cat ( I can not stretch this more than enough) than just trimming her claws. It is being playful and it can be a pretend playmate for your cat. Cats need to conquer perceived foes. Your Cat will take on the scratching post with her claws and wrestle it into submission. A scratching post can also be a great stress reliever for your cat. ( Don’t scratch your head, yes cats can also be stressed)
One small piece of advice. Make sure the post is anchored solidly. If the post is too easy to tip over, your cat may ignore it in favour of that nice, stable dining room table leg. If your cat plays with the scratching post when you’re home, but returns to the chair when you’re not around, you may have to resort to a trick.
Knowing that your cat has a very keen sense of smell, hang bold fragrance room deodorizer or commercial cat repellant near the chair. Your cat will not enjoy scratching in that location anymore.
Place the approved scratched post in a location where the smell factor is neutral and where there’s some privacy so your cat can sneak up on the post as a pretend prey. When the scratching post looks worn out, don’t be so quick to toss it.
Instead, put the new post beside the old post until your cat starts to use it. After you see some wear on the new post, then you can throw away the old one.
Here you see a picture of a self-made Cat scratching post if you have someone who can do this one for you do it yourself. Your cat will love it.
I am going to punish my cat for scratching my furniture, that is a no no
Did you know or realise that Cats don’t understand physical punishment. Hitting your cat does and will not work it just makes the situation worse.
Your Kitty is clever but she will not understand why you punish her. Your, Kitty, will only understand that she is treated badly and that in return will make her insecure and stimulate as a reaction. Your Cat will properly scratch more or start to develop behaviour problems.
Punishing your Kitty you will eventually lose her trust and security she so urgently needs to feel comfortable and has a good relationship with you. It will go that far that you are not able to catch her anymore going to the Vet or for other occasions. She will hide and run away from you.
Remember a Cats Memory is excellent and she will hold serious grudges against you.
I have two cats both are strays and Minka and Leo decided one day to choose us as their friends. Our cats love to scratch my doormats but seldom started to scratch my sofa or any furniture.
When I saw Minka wanting to start scratching my sofa, I remembered that when she had the accident and she had to go into hospital for nearly 6 months she had always her scratch post in the hospital a total simple cheap one.
I got some of the cheap scratch items for Minka and Leo and both of them love it. Do you want to know what is the secret scratch post of Leo and Minka? Read to the end. I will tell you…
My two cats Minka and Leo sleep not in cat houses they sleep everywhere even on my computer.
When we bought the two beautiful cathouses and 2 scratch post’s both started to ignore them in the beginning and I had to be very creative to make them use those things. I outsmart my cat’s and sprayed them with catnip but soon as the scent wears off they are abandoned.
So I will spray them once a week and they are still in use.
Now to my secret. Our cat’s secret scratching post.
I have to explain that when our cats choose us, they lived outside in the wild and most of the time they were sleeping in little boxes or somewhere higher up.
My cats love carton boxes as scratch posts and they scratch every little layer out of those boxes.
It is a cheap solution and my cats love them. That never happened. I need to change my cheap cat scratching solutions on a regular base as they look really scratched to pieces.
In case you think to buy a cat scratching pole please click here.
Another solution besides declawing your cat
Use the vinyl claw caps for your cat. They are very efficient a bit uncomfortable for your cat but much better than declawing a cat.
Here is a keep off cat deterrent homemade from essential oils.
It also puts a great fresh scent around your home.
Keep off Cat deterrent spray
This is a spray I use and mix myself for my cats and it works.
Here is a recipe for deterrent spray you can use to keep your cat away from furniture and other things.
What you will need
- A clean spray bottle,
- A small squirt of clear dish liquid, (IMPORTANT CLEAR.. so your furniture and curtains do not get stained)
- Lemon Essential Oils (buy here)
- Eucalyptus Essential Oils, and water. (buy here)
- When you use essential oils make sure they are a good grade like DoTerra or young living.
- use 10 drops of essential lemon oil
- use 10 drops of essential eucalyptus oil
- distilled water ( 3/4 of the spray bottle to be filled up)
- clear dishwashing liquid
Preparation:
Fill up the spray bottle with 3/4 of distilled water.
mix in a separate small container the 10 drops essential lemon oil,10 drops essential eucalyptus oil with a squirt of clear dishwashing liquid. ( this is so the lemon oil and the eucalyptus oil is dissolving together before you pour the water.)
Pour the mix of oil and dishwashing liquid in the spray bottle. Close the bottle tight and shake it. Before you use it always shake it.
This will help to keep your cats off the curtain, furniture or any other place. For you, it smells nice and fresh. It is all natural and will not harm you or your cats.
Precautions: NOT EVERY ESSENTIAL OIL IS GOOD FOR CATS. DOGS AND CATS ARE DIFFERENT.
Please do not use essential oils directly on your cats, essential oils always need to be diluted with a carrier oil. Do not spray your cat directly this is for furniture, carpets, curtains etc. NOT FOR THE USE ON A CAT DIRECTLY.
I do hope you enjoy reading this post. Please leave a comment for us and let us know what is your solution for your cat not scratching your furniture, what works for you …share with friends and family.
How to be a responsible cat owner
Essential oils for cats and dogs
Melanie
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To cats it’s natural behavior to scratch. I agree with you on getting few standing scratch posts around your house and spraying them with Catnip
We tried that sometimes and it did worked although there are still incidents of the cat coming once in a while to scratch my furniture
Dear Josh
Cats do scratch and sharpen their claws. It is like for us going to a manicure and pedicure. Nothing less. I have two strays, and there never used a scratch tree until I used to rub it with catnip. When the catnip wears off, they don’t go back to it. I found a simple solution with a carton box, and they love it to scratch it in pieces. It helps me and my furniture. I am glad I found an easy solution.
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day
Melanie