I have a cat I've had for 11 or so years. A nice orange cat called Tegris. Over the years our relationship has been varied. At first he was very precious to me and he would sleep with me in my bed which I thought was the most precious thing in the world (I guess I was 16 then) After I came back from boarding school for a year when I was 17 there was only a loose affiliation with the cat for many years. Anyway, he's still around and the last couple years spends more time with me than he used to, even though I have been traveling a lot the last few years. Reason for my post is that he has had some behavioral problems for as long as I can remember. First one is randomly attacking the person who is petting him. Pet him for about two to five minutes and he usually will just randomly become upset like you did some mean thing to him and attack with his claws and jump off your lap with a funny nonplussed, but slightly annoyed air that is typical catness. Nothing too major, but strange unbecoming behavior nonetheless. As he's gotten older he attacks less, and nearly never does it anymore.
The other behavioral problem I'm more concerned with is his clawing the furniture. My dad wants to get rid of the cat now because he's getting new expensive couches and doesn't want them ruined like the last ones. He mentioned euthinasia but I'm not sure how willing he would be to follow through with that. On the other hand, he doesn't want cats in the house anymore, and isn't attached to them the way I am. The other cat is the neighbor's whom we sort of adopted along with their old dog they dejected. The dog is kind of annoying in a needy poor me kind of way (probably because he was so unloved by my neighbor) and the cat (a slender black thing with white on his chest) is also precious because he is very shy and only has become less shy (even found him on my bed once!) since living in my house. Anyway, back to the point: I want to know if I can learn my Tegris to claw the claw pole instead of the couches, which he seems to prefer. Maybe someone can recommend a *good* claw pole? Should i get a water pistol to teach the cat not to claw the furniture? He's also destroyed the corner of the wooden walls of the hallway at the entrance of the living room as well.
You can click on the image for a bigger view.
The other behavioral problem I'm more concerned with is his clawing the furniture. My dad wants to get rid of the cat now because he's getting new expensive couches and doesn't want them ruined like the last ones. He mentioned euthinasia but I'm not sure how willing he would be to follow through with that. On the other hand, he doesn't want cats in the house anymore, and isn't attached to them the way I am. The other cat is the neighbor's whom we sort of adopted along with their old dog they dejected. The dog is kind of annoying in a needy poor me kind of way (probably because he was so unloved by my neighbor) and the cat (a slender black thing with white on his chest) is also precious because he is very shy and only has become less shy (even found him on my bed once!) since living in my house. Anyway, back to the point: I want to know if I can learn my Tegris to claw the claw pole instead of the couches, which he seems to prefer. Maybe someone can recommend a *good* claw pole? Should i get a water pistol to teach the cat not to claw the furniture? He's also destroyed the corner of the wooden walls of the hallway at the entrance of the living room as well.
You can click on the image for a bigger view.
