Though you love your adorable little furball, you’re also very fond of the new couch you bought using the money you have been saving up – yeah, that same couch that your cat can’t stop scratching.
Cats are generally very well-behaved in other aspects. When they’re not busy sleeping and lazing around, they are playing with random yarn balls and eating their biscuits. Most people don’t face any behavioral issues with them – except scratching.
Some cats are chronic scratchers. They scratch everything; from your furniture and your carpets to your bags. Despite all the rebuking in the world and the availability of all sorts of toys, your cat refuses to get the hint and continues scratching your favorite rugs and furniture.
Every morning, you witness a new claw mark somewhere or the other on your furniture. And at this point, you’re probably wondering whether to just accept it as part and parcel of living with a cat.
However, you don’t have to just accept your fate and move on. No, there are ways to train your cat to
stop scratching your furniture. The best part? Implementing these training methods isn’t even that hard.
Why Do Cats Scratch?
Let’s first take a peek into your cat’s head, and try to understand what makes her such a compulsive scratcher. Does she enjoy annoying you? Or does she want to ruin the aesthetics of your place? What other reason could there be?
Actually, plenty. Cats scratch for very legitimate reasons, and it’s even healthy for their wellbeing.
For the Pleasure
Scratching feels good! One of the simplest reasons for all the scratching is that cats actually enjoy it. It makes them feel good.
To Maintain Their Claw Health
A major reason that cats scratch is to get rid of the claw husk. Have you ever witnessed the shell from their nails coming off after every few days? Cats shed their nail husks like snakes shed their skin. This is important for the cats to keep their nails in check and maintain their claw health. Scratching something generally helps the husks come out faster.
To Stretch
You know the feeling you get when you have a good, long stretch and a yawn? Yeah, cats like that, too. These queens practically sleep all day and need to stretch to keep their limbs in good shape. Scratching surfaces is a good exercise for them, helping them stretch their limbs from head to toe. Unlike dogs, cats don’t need to be walked and get very minimal exercise, mostly through bounding around for no reason at 3 am. This is the only form of exercise they get (or as close as it gets to exercise), and it should be regulated, not eradicated.
To Mark Their Territory
Cats are the jealous, possessive kind. If you have ever tried bringing another kitty home, you’ll know that they don’t like sharing their space with anyone and they make it pretty evident too. They like marking their territories even when there is no threat of another cat around. Their paws have glands that secrete chemicals that help them mark their property. So the next time your cat scratches your carpets, it just might be because she has declared it as her property and you should relinquish control to her.
How to Get Your Cat to Stop Scratching?
Now we know why scratching is so important for your cat, and also, that is more than just a guilty pleasure. Cats shouldn’t actually be discouraged from scratching, only from scratching the wrong surfaces. It’s definitely easier to train kittens and inculcate the habit of not scratching in them, but grown cats can learn too. It just takes a little time and some guided effort.
Get Your Cat a Scratching Post
One of the first things you should get when you bring a cat home is a scratching post. Start young, and show her that the post is the only acceptable place for scratching. Get a post covered in a material that she likes to scratch; be it wood or rope.
Every time you cat scratches anything else, tell her NO loudly and gently carry her over to her scratching post to make her understand that this is the acceptable alternative. Give her positive reinforcement every time she does scratch the post; heap loads of compliments on her, and keep some treats handy. She’ll love the attention and will be encouraged to scratch the post to gain your validation again (or just for the treats).
Show her how to scratch with your own nails; and if she still doesn’t appear interested in the post, add a hanging toy to attract her.
Rebuke Your Cat Gently When It Scratches the Furniture
Rebuke your cat when she chooses to scratch the couch. Make sure you aren’t too loud or angry. This might scare her or make her angry, which will result in other behavioral issues. Be gentle; teach her that scratching furniture is not tolerable, and take her to her scratching post so she can scratch that instead. Everybody learns more quickly and willingly with love.
Citrus Spray
Cats hate the sharp smell of citrus fruits. Make a mixture of lemon juice and water, and spray it on your couches or other favorite spots that your cat tends to scratch. The smell will make her stay away from those spots and look for alternate places. Make sure her scratching post is available and accessible nearby so that she knows that when she can’t scratch anything else, her scratching post is always there.
Don’t Declaw
Declawing is NOT the solution! For some reason, this cruel practice is not yet outlawed in the US, but there are talks that a complete ban on declawing surgeries will be implemented soon enough.
Declawing, like the name suggests, comprises of removing your cat’s claws – permanently. While it is vicious to take away an animal’s only form of self-defense, it is an unbelievably inhumane practice for another reason too. Declawing doesn’t just cut out your cat’s claws; it practically takes off half the ‘finger.’ Imagine someone cutting your fingers up to the first digits of the joint. It is extremely painful, and if you love your cat, you should never even consider it. There are easier and kinder ways of getting your cat to behave itself when it’s around your furniture.
With love, attention, time, and effort, your fur baby will hopefully stop scratching your furniture soon enough, and you won’t have to change the upholstery of your furniture every few months!
