New Kitten Doesn't Like Cardboard/Sisal

[Jayskalo]

As the title says, I adopted a new kitten a month ago ~5-6mo.F, and I cannot for the life of me figure out what she needs for a scratcher! She was with a foster the first 4 months of her life, and to be honest, the foster just trimmed their claws and let them scratch her couch. No real scratcher in sight.

I have a million scratchers at my house, 6 cardboard, 2 sisal (one 36 inches, the other 15 ft of straight sisal), but the kitten only likes to exercise her scratching on rugs and our canvas hamper. She loves to climb the 15ft sisal tree, but won't scratch on it. I don't want these bad habits to form, and I am trying to offer a million "yes"-es instead of just straight "no"s, but I can't seem to teach her or incentivize her to scratch.

Beyond the supplies, I have tried getting her to play on her scratchers, hoping she'll figure it out, putting treats on her scratchers, and cat nips (which turns out she is still too young for it to affect her). I am happy to trim her claws, I haven't done it before but since she's used to it I imagine it won't be terrible, but I'd rather fix the behavior overall than put a band-aid on it.

Any advice or carpet/fabric scratchers anyone would recommend?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

There are any number of carpet scratchers on the market, in a WIDE range of prices. Another idea is to check for remanants at a fIooring store, punch two hoIes in it on the top corners, run cord through the hoIes, and hang it, if she prefers an upright scratcher, and since she's used to a couch, she probabIy wiII!