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 most likely already puzzled 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’ll be able to start to know the right way to hold your cats from scratching the furnishings.
Why Do Cats Scratch?
Scratching and clawing at objects is solely one thing that every one cats do. In the event you watch large cats reminiscent of lions, tigers, and jaguars, additionally 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. A great 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. Every time 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 very good 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 effective approach of releasing extra bodily or emotional power. Feminine cats in warmth might also be stressed, and can are likely to climb and scratch at issues.
How Do You Preserve Your Cat From Scratching Furnishings?
We’ve acquired a few suggestions 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 Most cats will begin scratching at round eight weeks outdated, so beginning younger is a good suggestion.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’ll be able to 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 to your cats to scratch:
- Apply cat scratch tape – You should use both cat scratch tape or double-sided tape. Most cats discover sticky surfaces annoying, so it’s a very good deterrent to scratching. Nonetheless, this answer will not be viable for surfaces that aren’t easy, reminiscent of couches and different upholstered furnishings.
- Apply a cat scratch spray – There are each industrial and do-it-yourself variations of cat scratch spray. Most are supposed to make the cat assume that they’ve already put their scent on the item 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 received’t cease scratching. Vinyl panels are now not a deterrent, they’re safety to your furnishings. Panels of varied 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 possibly can place scratching posts scattered round the home close to furnishings they often scratch. Be aware of the forms of surfaces that your cat enjoys scratching. Scratching posts are made of varied supplies, and it needs to be potential to seek out some that match your cat’s most popular sort of furnishings.
Courtesy of: Unsplash
Generally it takes slightly coaxing to get your cat to make use of the scratching submit as a substitute of the furnishings. Constructive reinforcement is an effective method to get them to make use of the submit – each time they take note of the submit as a substitute of the furnishings, give them reward and a reward.
One other technique is to sprinkle some catnip round and on the submit itself. Some cat homeowners have had success with taking part in with a wand toy close to the submit, then directing the cat’s consideration to the submit 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 least a few of the time – so as a substitute of trying to eradicate the behaviour utterly, it’s finest to direct it to things which are designed to be scratched reminiscent of cat furnishings and scratchers. In case your cat has moved on from furnishings to the partitions, we’ve got an article on the right way to cease cats from scratching partitions as properly.
Creator:
Elsa Smith
