She won't stop clawing the carpet!!!

jessy

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Roxy has destroyed our carpet! She keeps clawing it and in some areas it is just a mass of bobbles!
We have a scratching mat and post, and villy uses both, in front of Roxy.

Roxy will wander around, then stoop down, sniff the carpet and scratch! Her favourite toys are ping pong balls, and when she starts to scratch I throw them for her to distract her, but I don't want her to think that scratching gets her rewarded with toys?

I've tried, when she scratches, picking her up and putting her on the scratching matt, but she just sits down and looks at me like "what did you do that for?"

I've also tried putting catnip on the scratching matt for her, she loves it and she goes on the matt and rolls around in the catnip, but doesn't scratch!!!


What can I do next?! She's so naughty! She looks at us just before she does it sometimes! I think maybe she's a bit bored sometimes, she's only 18 months old.... she has lots of toys though, maybe I need to spend more playtime with her?
 

-_aj_-

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my two do that when i havent spent enough time playing with them, took me a few weeks to realise
 
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jessy

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Thanks, they do have a post and a matt.

I'll try more playtime, perhaps she's telling me she's bored
 

skimble

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I had one that scratched a certain place on the carpet. I moved a scratching cardboard to that spot. That didn't work very well so I kept putting different scratching posts and mats there until I found one he liked. We tripped over it some, but I left it there for awhile until he started using it regularly and then gradually moved it.

After I moved the post, I sprayed Feliway in the old scratching spot on the carpet and put a discount priced throw rug there.

Hope that makes sense.
 
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jessy

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Thanks for the tip! Unfortunately she scratches everywhere - little monkey!!
 

sweetkara

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Both of my cats did that. I have a $200 cat tree sitting there with carpet, sisal and wood and they walk over and claw my carpet...lol...

I think cats do it for attention because they know I'll come over and go "HEY" when they do it


I live in an apartment and I've lived here long enough that they are required to replace the carpet when I leave- so I've just given up.
 

mrbradstewart

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Have you ever drop food on that area of the carpet. I realized when i put her treats on the ground for her, she will go back to that area and claw. Sometimes you do it without realizing it. Check it out, and tell me if it worked!
 

howtoholdacat

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Originally Posted by Jessy

She looks at us just before she does it sometimes!
When Friday was young he'd do the same thing because he knew I'd get up to fuss at him. He'd do it to try to get me to chase him which was and is his favorite game. I had to ignore him which didn't actually stop the scratching itself but it did cut out his using it to get my attention. Make sure that doesn't happen to you too!

I saw a scratching post (vertical) at Petco earlier this week where you could fill it with food and some would drop out when they scratched. I'm not sure how much it releases but it looked like more than what I could have used it for. (Once Hemmy figured that out he'd have dumped all the food and eaten it right away!) However, if you free feed your cat something like that might work for you.
 
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