Every Cat

As an owner of a cat, one of your main priorities will be to train your cat to prevent it from scratching your furniture. This will not only prevent stress for you, it will enable you to form a better bond with your cat.

First of all you need to have an understanding as to why cats scratch. It's not a question of your cat not having a taste for your furniture, or that your cat wants to irritate you. The simple fact is that cats love to scratch. You can't stop a cat from scratching because it is a natural behavior for it. You can train your cat not to scratch your furniture by giving it something else to scratch instead.

It is healthy for a cat to scratch. Scratching is neccessary for a cat so that it can keep its muscles in good shape. The paws of a cat contain scent glands, which leaves their scent on objects that they scratch. Your cat will also scratch as a means of keeping their claws sharp and clean. Obviuosly there are reasons as to why a cat needs to scratch. Instead of preventing this type of behavior, it should be encouraged, although on your terms.

When your cat scratches your furniture, don't even think about punishing it. Cats will not respond to punishment and will increase your cats problems. Your cat will try to stay out of your way all the time if you try to punish it in any way. If you shoo your cat away if you see it scratching your furniture, it will only carry on doing the same thing when you are not around. The only way you can stop your cat from scratching furniture, is by the correct training.

The first thing that you must do when you get a cat is to buy a scratching post. Even better would be to have more than 1 scratching post, as this gives your cat plenty of options. Although a cat can be trained to use a scratching post at any age, the earlier you can start to train your, the better it will be for you, your cat, and especially your furniture.

The scratching posts should be in places that your cat likes to go. Placing a post near where your cat sleeps is advisable. A good scratch and a good stretch is cat's first port of call after it wakes up. I think we all share this particular trait. Once your cat becomes used to using scratching posts, it becomes a habit, and cats are creatures of habit.

The area of the house where your family sits is also a good place for a scratching post. Cats do want to spend time with their owners, even though at times it seems that they are not really bothered. If your cat decides that it wants to use your lap for a bit of a snooze, it will be handy to have a scratching post nearby when it decides to wake up.

Making a scratching post familiar to a cat is the best way to get it to use it. Try playing with your cat by moving string up and down the post, so your cats claws come in contact with it. You could tie some of your pet's favourite toys onto the post, this will encourage your cat to make contact with the post with its paws. Just by using these simple methods you will easily be able to teach your cat to use the post instead of your furniture.

Ensure that the post is pretty stable and of a good length. Cat training is not difficult if you use the right methods, and it is easy to train your cat to stop it from ruining your furniture.

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