Daily Kitten Chat Forum » Cats & Kittens

1. 

   Adopted an adult cat to add to our family. She was at foster where she had nothing to scratch since she didn't get along with the other cats and took to scartaching the box spring. How do I teach it to scratch on the scratching post. She hangs out by it, rubs herself up to it, but so far no scratching!

   Posted 2 years ago by iliketea #

2. 

   Rub it with cat nip. That did the trick for my cats. You can buy spray cat nip as well. All mine liked that cardboard scratching post best. Hopefully she will take to it in no time!

   Posted 2 years ago by SoxsMom #

3. 

   Hopefully! Can I use a spray bottle to deter her form scartaching my couch? Or should I just move her when she is scratching the couch to the new post?

   Posted 2 years ago by iliketea #

4. 

   I am a HUGE fan of Smartykat products !!

   I use the catnip mist spray, to attract them to new toys and their scratch post.

   http://www.worldwise.com/catnipmist.html

   They also have a products that deter kitty from scratching.

   http://www.worldwise.com/sc.html

   Posted 2 years ago by spanky_mouse #

5. 

   And should I punish her or just move her to the new area when she starts scratching?

   Posted 2 years ago by iliketea #

6. 

   Don't punish her, she won't understand. It's never a good idea to 'punish' cats -- whatever you mean by punish. Just say no firmly and move her or distract her. Give her lots of fuss (petting, praising) when she uses her new scratching post. Good luck.

   Posted 2 years ago by jcat #

7. 

   have you tried putting the scratching post right in front of what she normally scratches? catnip helps a lot too! try put some double sided tape over spots she likes to scratch but isn't allowed too.

   Posted 2 years ago by furryfriends50 #

8. 

   When you say "punish" are you referring to maybe a squirt bottle ? If so sure, but I would never advise you to spank your kitty - she will remember that you have violated her trust !!

   Posted 2 years ago by spanky_mouse #

9. 

   By punish I mean either a sharp "HEY!" or "No!". She normally runs off right after. Just wondering if I need to squirt her! I feel so bad, I bought it out but couldn't bear using it on her!

   RIght now i Just moved the scratching post she uses sometimes next to where she scratches, hopefully she'll get the idea.

   I lover her so much...lol funny thing today, I was thinking...well it IS just furniture. But I have a feeling i should get her off this habit so if we buy new swanky stuff in the future she won't go at it!

   Posted 2 years ago by iliketea #

10. 

    Happy to report i Found a new way to get her intested. I use a laser pointer! When she is crazy and chasing it..I get her to chase it acroos the room and right up the post and she lunges and invariable scratches it...seems like she is getting the idea..will repeat it a few times later this week and report if it acutally helps!

    Posted 2 years ago by iliketea #

11. 

    Cool! Sounds like you've found a great, fun way to show her the benefits of a scratching post. Tricky and effective!! It's never easy to outsmart cats!! =D

    Posted 2 years ago by Karenopa #

12. 

    wohoo!! she totally scratched on it all by herself today when I got home from work...without any laser pointer to lure her there!

    Posted 2 years ago by iliketea #

13. 

    Wonderful! What a clever meowmy she has :)

    Posted 2 years ago by jcat #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.