Behavior Issues/responses

[txh976]

My boyfriends cat has always been very independent and will hiss and claw at you if you get too close when he wants left alone or if he is 'over' you petting him and claws all of the furniture in his apartment. His cat is a little over a year old and is very spoiled.

Recently my boyfriend has moved in with me. The hissing/clawing at me doesn't really bother me much, but the clawing at my hardwood throughout my house/furniture does. The one day I caught him and told him 'no' 3xs in a stern voice and the cat responded by hissing at me and running away to hide (I felt soo bad), which was confusing, as I didn't even raise my voice. I am not used to this behavior as my 15 year old cat is well behaved and all I have to do is say no in a stern voice and my cat stops his bad behavior.

Any suggestions on how to curb his clawing items and his response to me correcting him?

 

[susanm9006]

Cats have preferences regarding the material they sharpen their claws on and apparently yours prefers wood. Also, when stressed cats may scratch more than what they usually do. Wood scratching posts may be a little difficult to find but pretty easy to make. If you or the boyfriend are handy build something out of wood that tall with a wide flat bottom,and see if you can direct the cat to this.

 

[maggie101]

My catz love this bed also a scratcher. She plays on it.

 

[maggie101]

Also this one. They don't like the circular scratch posts. Partly because they like to stretch!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Along with the great advice above, can you try playing some low volume music for him? He's in a new environment, confusing to him (he was able to scratch whatever and whenever in the other place) and he may need a little help calming down. Either the app Relax My Cat or kusc.org.

Instead of the word no, could you try a hiss? That would be more of a "language" he'd understand.