My cat Mika is 3 years old. She's gone through some medical issues that we are still in the process of conquering. She's recently been feeling better and acting like her old self again -- some behaviors including scratching on the door frames and ignoring scratching posts.
I picked Mika up off the streets and rescued her so it occurred to me that she never learned to use a scratching post. Now I'm not so sure. Before her illness she lived with other cats and they use the scratching posts just fine. She even watched them do it but completely ignores all the posts that were put up. I tempted her with catnip, pheromones and treats. I ran her paws over it, played around and basically on it but nothing seemed to tempt her to use it.
Now she's gotten back into scratch door frames (which before I considered was a territory thing but she's the only cat in the house now) and is now scratching walls. However, 3 scratching posts later I've got squat. I'm wondering if what I've gotten her isn't tall enough but I don't know how high to buy. She stands on her back legs and uses her whole body to stretch and scratch. Do they make scratching posts that tall?
Other tips and tricks to getting her to stop scratching up the door frames and walls? I refuse to water gun squirt her which I've been told to do. Any tips on getting her interested in actually using her new scratching post?
I picked Mika up off the streets and rescued her so it occurred to me that she never learned to use a scratching post. Now I'm not so sure. Before her illness she lived with other cats and they use the scratching posts just fine. She even watched them do it but completely ignores all the posts that were put up. I tempted her with catnip, pheromones and treats. I ran her paws over it, played around and basically on it but nothing seemed to tempt her to use it.
Now she's gotten back into scratch door frames (which before I considered was a territory thing but she's the only cat in the house now) and is now scratching walls. However, 3 scratching posts later I've got squat. I'm wondering if what I've gotten her isn't tall enough but I don't know how high to buy. She stands on her back legs and uses her whole body to stretch and scratch. Do they make scratching posts that tall?
Other tips and tricks to getting her to stop scratching up the door frames and walls? I refuse to water gun squirt her which I've been told to do. Any tips on getting her interested in actually using her new scratching post?