New here, owned by one cat.

[miaomiao]

Hello, all,

My name is Miao (it's pronounced "meow", like the sound a cat makes), and I live in Wisconsin with my cat and owner, Sibylla.

I've had Sibylla for only three weeks, and while I was looking for advice on how to feed my cat and deal with her behavioral issues, I had read many threads on this forum. I decided to join after realizing how much TCS members obviously love cats and want to help others care for them, and knew that I wanted to participate in the sharing of knowledge and experience (as well as, obviously, love for our cats).

Sibylla is a three-year-old domestic shorthair with a tortoiseshell (black mixed with orange tabby) coat. I adopted her just three weeks ago from a shelter, and she has adapted to her new home very quickly. (That's her in my avatar.) She's extremely affectionate (a fact that was clear to me after she jumped on my lap within minutes of meeting me at the shelter), and tolerates well being picked up and having her belly rubbed. She also loves rubbing me and giving me wet kisses with her nose. Unfortunately, she likes scratching the wool area rugs, but I am working on getting her to kick that habit.

 

[catbythesea]

Welcome! I'm rather new around these parts, too. Sibylla is a lovely girl! I like her pointy ears. Also, I have a soft spot for torties. 

Scratching is something that tends to be solvable, I think. She needs to scratch something, she just needs to learn to scratch something that makes you happy rather than sad. Then both of you will be happy! It feels so good to them to scratch, and having a good sturdy post/other approved scratching option in the right location makes all the difference. My two kitties have different scratching behaviors; Brenna is easy, because she takes direction about what is hers and what is ours, but Warbear is a kitten and still needs to be reminded again and again. Good luck, and I hope you're able to find the help you need here! 

 

[mani]

Hi Miaomiao and welcome to TCS! 

Sibylla is certainly a beautiful tortie girl... it's lovely that she's settled in so quickly and so well.

 

[miaomiao]

Hi, thank you both for your warm welcome!

@CatByTheSea: I did provide her with many scratching surfaces, and it's not that she ignores them completely, but that she does still scratch the carpets when she's bored or in one of her excitable moods. I'm going to attempt a citrus-scented spray one of these days and see if that works.

 

[catbythesea]

Another spray type thing you might try is Feliway spray (not the diffuser stuff). What's in the spray is the same pheromone that cats mark things with when they scratch, so when you spray it on something, they think they've already marked there. It has helped with our kitten, Warbear - for a while she thought the corner of the bed was a great scratching place, and over time we've been able to transition her to using a post right next to that corner by using the Feliway spray on the bed corner but not on the post. Also, the usual redirection encouragement and so on. 

Anyway, just an idea! It sounds like you already know what to do, though. 

  Some things just take time.