Post apartment move woes.

[ladytimedramon]

Good afternoon.

I finally succeeded in moving apartments with Delilah and Fancy. They spent most of the first night under the bed, but 2 weeks later they seem to have adjusted for the most part. Fancy is back to her normal self, Delilah is a bit more skittish and stand offish.

As much as I would have liked to have taken their old cat condos, they basically fell apart when the movers were taking them out, so I sent them to the dumpster. I brought all the girls cat beds from the apartment, as well as the cardboard scratching boxes. I bought them an array of cat condos, one for each room. Fancy is fine with them, Delilah is mostly ignoring them. She won't scratch on any of the condos or boxes, and I've had to stop her from clawing at the carpet. I do have Feliway going.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get Delilah to scratch at the new condos, or even the old boxes?

 

[verna davies]

Try putting some catnip on them, that might encourage her.

 

[game misconduct]

maybe if she sees and hears you scratching at the new condos. graycie will scratch at her trees/posts anytime she hears or sees me clawing at them dont know why but she does

 

[Alldara]

Do you have some blankets, towels or used clothing you can place on the laying down part of the condos that smell like you/them?

It will encourage her to believe they are hers.

Dry food or treat "hunting" by setting them on different areas of the condo.

If they "aren't hers" then she won't want to scratch them. Scratching is part of territory marking. Carpet smells more like home soon since everyone's feet and such are on it.

The catnip trick and the pretending to scratch it yourself trick are also very good and have worked for me before.

I have also taken a cat to a their new scratcher when scratching something inappropriate.

 

[heatherwillard0614]

Also if there is something that she may be scratching inappropriately move a scratcher to that area.
This is saying no you can't scratch this but here you can.. cats usually scratch something that is important to them.
For instance if she was scratching the couch because it has the scent of her humans and her which she loves her humans so put a scratcher next to it give her a no followed hy a yes.
If you can take a towl and rub the towel all over her then take that towl and rub it on the cat condos this will let her know ok that smells like me that must be mine. Also you after rubbing the cat condos rub her again with a towel and put it on a part of the cat condo so it is heavily scented with her scent.
Also you can place her favorite treats on them (let her see you do this) this should hopefully entice her to start utilizing them
I hope all starts going well. It will just take a little time for her to get used to the new place and all the new smells

 

[Neko-chan's mama]

maybe if she sees and hears you scratching at the new condos. graycie will scratch at her trees/posts anytime she hears or sees me clawing at them dont know why but she does

This is how I got my cat to take to her new scratching post. Once she saw and heard me scratching at it, she had to try it out too.

 

[ladytimedramon]

Thanks all. I tried the scratching on it but she wasn't interested. She finally started scratching back in one of her scratching boxes, which was one I've had since I adopted her. I'll try rubbing her down with a towel and transferring the scent... or rubbing her brush arch onto it. She loves that brush arch. She hasn't tried scratching the furniture. She's just clawing at the carpet, and I don't want that to be a hard to break habit later. Delilah isn't liking the new condos as much as Fancy. Weirdly enough, I find the two of them laying on the floor more than anything, even though it's the same sofa, no changes to my bed, etc.

 

[Alldara]

Gotta get their smell all over the floor. Carpet is a great scent soakers.

 

[ladytimedramon]

Gotta get their smell all over the floor. Carpet is a great scent soakers.

I find it strange because they didn't do it at the old apartment, even with the bedroom carpet or with the rugs.

 

[heatherwillard0614]

Is it possible that whoever was renting that apartment before you had a cat and Delilah can smell it. So she is making her scent known??

I ask because I knew someone who had their own private construction company to buy and resell houses and if the carpets were good, they didn't clean the carpets with a carpet cleaner just vacuumed..

 

[Alldara]

I find it strange because they didn't do it at the old apartment, even with the bedroom carpet or with the rugs.

Could there have been a pet smell in the new apartment? They can smell pheromones even after a carpet has been cleaned sometimes.

 

[heatherwillard0614]

Could there have been a pet smell in the new apartment? They can smell pheromones even after a carpet has been cleaned sometimes.

This is my thinking and if this is the case she feels the need to mark it with her scent.

 

[ladytimedramon]

This is my thinking and if this is the case she feels the need to mark it with her scent.

Very possibly. Both girls are laying on the carpet a lot.

Now I have to use some velcro to secure the cabinet doors. Both of them are obsessed with the cabinet doors and keep opening them.