Dood is a 5 year old male cat who has a horrible habit. He plucks. Plucks everything! The couch, ottoman, mattress, carpet... everything BUT his cat tree and scratchers.
We rescued Dood when he was approx 9 months old and he is my big sweetheart. But his one bad habit is plucking the furniture for attention. It isn't a full fledged scratch at first, he uses 1 nail and inserts it into the couch while staring at my face for a reaction, if I don't react he pulls the nail out and inserts again while still staring at me, repeat 3 or 4 times until it turns into all nails plucking and if that doesn't do the trick, a full scratch with both paws commences.
He has a cat tree and at least 1 scratch pad in every room in the house (other than kitchen and bathroom). We have tried all of the different scratch pad materials, shapes, sizes and horizontal, vertical and angled. This has been going on for YEARS despite positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and every suggestion from the vet, websites (including those i've read here) and friends and family.
He always makes eye contact whilst plucking and tends to only do this when he is being ignored or wants something, particularly if I am sitting on ANY part of the couch but one specific cushion, whilst I read or watch TV and while speaking on the phone. This isn't a once or twice thing, this happens dozens of times a day every day (17 times since noon today for example)! He is killing our furniture which was an anniversary gift from my parents and my back aches due to sitting (and sleeping) on one part of the couch at all times. Is there something I may have missed on breaking a bad behaviour? While I don't recall ever encouraging him into thinking this was okay, I also know how cats can be.
He is an only child , healthy, neutered, nails are trimmed and healthy, he eats well (diet does not change the habit , he does pluck for food as well, but it is a different type of scratch). As far as we can tell, he never scratches furniture in any room that I am not in.
I would love any suggestions, even if it is a repeat of what I've tried in the past, this is putting a major strain on the household because I have to sleep on the couch every night due to my husband's bad temper when Dood plucks the mattress at night.
Thanks in advance!
We rescued Dood when he was approx 9 months old and he is my big sweetheart. But his one bad habit is plucking the furniture for attention. It isn't a full fledged scratch at first, he uses 1 nail and inserts it into the couch while staring at my face for a reaction, if I don't react he pulls the nail out and inserts again while still staring at me, repeat 3 or 4 times until it turns into all nails plucking and if that doesn't do the trick, a full scratch with both paws commences.
He has a cat tree and at least 1 scratch pad in every room in the house (other than kitchen and bathroom). We have tried all of the different scratch pad materials, shapes, sizes and horizontal, vertical and angled. This has been going on for YEARS despite positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and every suggestion from the vet, websites (including those i've read here) and friends and family.
He always makes eye contact whilst plucking and tends to only do this when he is being ignored or wants something, particularly if I am sitting on ANY part of the couch but one specific cushion, whilst I read or watch TV and while speaking on the phone. This isn't a once or twice thing, this happens dozens of times a day every day (17 times since noon today for example)! He is killing our furniture which was an anniversary gift from my parents and my back aches due to sitting (and sleeping) on one part of the couch at all times. Is there something I may have missed on breaking a bad behaviour? While I don't recall ever encouraging him into thinking this was okay, I also know how cats can be.
He is an only child , healthy, neutered, nails are trimmed and healthy, he eats well (diet does not change the habit , he does pluck for food as well, but it is a different type of scratch). As far as we can tell, he never scratches furniture in any room that I am not in.
I would love any suggestions, even if it is a repeat of what I've tried in the past, this is putting a major strain on the household because I have to sleep on the couch every night due to my husband's bad temper when Dood plucks the mattress at night.
Thanks in advance!