What has worked for you re: scratching

I have read the sticky on declawing and that the majority of people here do not approve of declawing.

I am wondering if each of you can give me some advice on what has worked for you to stop your kitten/cat from scratching up your furniture, beds, etc. My little one is only 6 - 8 weeks old so I want to do things correctly from the start.

Provide plenty of scratching post that is made for your cat to scratch.. Wall mart has inexpensive ones. reenforce NO and take the kitten away from what ever it is scratching that it should not, and bring them to what they should be scratching... Scratching post ect...Some people use the soft paws.. I myself haven't tried them. And still cats are going to scratch things they shouldn't no matter what you do. Each time they are caught in the act a firm no and take them from what they are scratching. This should help cut back on the bad scratching.. Good Luck I am a firm believer in NOT declawing your cat. Its a mutaltion.. My vet said it is the samething as cutting off a humans finger at the 1st joint! Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and this is one of mine I feel extremely strongly about,,,

Just remember that YOU are the cat's mom/dad and need to teach them what is right and wrong. If you have ever house broken a puppy, you know that you have to watch the puppy at all times and the instant that the puppy starts to squat, you get them outside immediately to reinforce the fact that they have to do their business outside.

Same thing for cats and scratch posts. It's harder to do with kittens because they just seem to get around so fast when they are at that age. Keep a close eye on them and the instant that they start to reach up to scratch something, pick them up with a firm no, carry them to the scratch post and rub their little paws on it, praising them the entire time. Get on your knees and rub your fingers/hands over it with them. Cats learn so much by observation. I can usually tell the minute that the cat *gets* it - it's almost like a light bulb goes off in their head and they think "that's what they want me to do!".

Squirt bottles don't work to train them - it only teaches them what not to do - not what to do. Kittens don't always respond to catnip when they are young, but you might try rubbing catnip on the tree to raise their interest.

The grand sum of my training my kittens not to scratch was.....buying a couple of scratch posts. They've never even tried to scratch the furniture as they have plenty of nicer alternatives!

Try to get different types of scratchers, some vertical, some horizontal, sisal posts, cardboard posts - different cats like different things

Originally Posted by Purity

The grand sum of my training my kittens not to scratch was.....buying a couple of scratch posts. They've never even tried to scratch the furniture as they have plenty of nicer alternatives!

Try to get different types of scratchers, some vertical, some horizontal, sisal posts, cardboard posts - different cats like different things

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They don't have to be expensive ones, just sturdy enough not to be knocked over, and the vertical ones should be high enough that the cat can really stretch to sharpen her claws. Put them in places she walks by all the time, e.g., between her bed and food bowls, or near a favorite window.

Originally Posted by Pugwinkle

I have read the sticky on declawing and that the majority of people here do not approve of declawing.

I am wondering if each of you can give me some advice on what has worked for you to stop your kitten/cat from scratching up your furniture, beds, etc. My little one is only 6 - 8 weeks old so I want to do things correctly from the start.

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I find the best way to approach this is to give up on having nice furniture HAHA. (You can tell who rules the roost in my house) But seriously Cat trees are the best. They act as scratching posts and also entertain your kitty.

Other than trimming the nails, when we catch Blaze scratching any furniture, we clap our hands loud and say NO.......we then deture her with a catnip toy.

If your baby has a piece of furniture that she tends to scratch on, make sure you place an appealing scratching post NEXT to this item of furniture to offer her an appropriate alternative. My kitties scratched at the carpeted stairs until I put a large cardboard catnip scratcher along the wall across from the bottom of the stairs. All 3 of them now leave the stairs alone, much to my relief.
Amanda

All good advice above. There is also a spray you can get that will attract the cat to the scratching post. Ask at your pet store. We also trim Bijou and Mika's nails about once every 2 weeks.

I'll agree with everything people have said about teaching cats not to scratch, giving them alternatives and such, but I'll add that 'Soft Paws' or 'Soft Claws' are great, too.

They're plastic covers that you glue onto your cats' claws, and they stay on for weeks. My cats aren't big on scratching furniture, but they keep jumping on and off of me with their claws bared (and they seem pretty unconcerned about making me yelp or bleed), so I put soft paws on all of their claws, back and front. As long as I get them when they're a bit groggy, preferably asleep, putting them on is easy. I was a bit skeptical about them, especially since they didn't seem to fit very well when I was glueing them on, but even on kittens they're just great.

I learned too late what works -- my sofa is already a goner. But here's what I have in mind for the future:

I think what attracts kitties to sofas and chairs that they're large and heavy enough to provide a good stretch and some satisfying resistance when the kitties scratch. Therefore, PRIOR to getting a new sofa, I plan to give my kitties an ideal place to scratch -- not just a two-foot sisal post that tips over every time they touch it, but a tall, immovable object with both sisal and carpet to choose from. A large cat tree, maybe, or just a couple of wide, wrapped boards bracketed firmly to the wall at a bit of a slant.

Just to increase the chances that my next sofa might survive for awhile, I plan to get one that's not upholstered -- a wooden style with removable cushions that can be re-covered if necessary (IKEA has a nice one on their website). And I plan to use a quilted throw over the cushions, because quilted things don't seem to offer enough resistance to be attractive to my kitties.

That's my plan, anyway. Now, about curtains... has anyone found a solution there? My little Pearl not only climbs right up them, but actually LAUNCHES herself five feet off the bed, snares the curtain rod with her front paws, and swings there like a Romanian gymnast going for the gold! Which is adorable, but... AUGH! Is there any way to save my curtains?

thank you everyone!! i have been trying to get my little monster to stop scratching the couch, and sometimes she will even go underneath my futon and scratch the mattress through the slats. makes me soooo mad. I yell "no" and clap my hands and of course she jumps off right away. but she continues to do it.

now i will go out and buy a bunch of cheap scratch posts (even though she already has one, she doesn't use it or seem to be interested in it) and hopefully that will work.

I also have to trim her nails, but i know the whole thing is going to be traumatizing for both of us, so i'm procrastinating.....

Originally Posted by journey

now i will go out and buy a bunch of cheap scratch posts (even though she already has one, she doesn't use it or seem to be interested in it) and hopefully that will work.

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You really have to find the surface your particular cat likes. None of my three had any interest whatsoever in using a carpet-covered one. All three love those corrugated cardboard ones they sell at Wal-Mart. But what they like best of all is the outdoor wood posts with the slots in them or rough cedar boards. If I later made my cats into indoor only, I think I'll make a big, tall, heavy scratching post with cedar boards.

One thing I did to help save my new custom-covered white sofa was to put a big plastic drop cloth over it when not in use until Sheba learned to use the scratching posts. They boys were already trained before I got the sofa, so it wasn't such a temptation for them.