How To Keep Cats From Scratching Furniture

Hi, my name is Karen. I'm one of the vets at Cats Protection, the UK's leading cat welfare charity and I'm going to talk to you today about some aspects of cat care. Hi, I'm going to talk to you today about how to stop your cat from scratching your furniture.

Cats need to scratch. It's something that they need to do for multiple reasons. First, they need to keep their claws clean and healthy so scratching is one way of doing that.

Another thing they need to do is actually express the scent glands on their feet and they use scratching as a time to do that. And they're actually using scent from these glands to signal things to other cats, things like a territory ownership, that kind of thing. If your cat has chosen to do these activities on your furniture, it can be quite a problem to you.

It's always best to remember that the cat is doing it for a reason, they still need to do it so you just may need to tempt them away to use other things that are a bit more appropriate rather than your soft furniture. Providing them with scratching posts is really essential and there are lots of different kinds of ones on the market and you may want to find one that suits your cat. Some cats like to have a good stretch when they scratch, so finding something that is nice and high ad stable is a really good idea.

They tend to scratch downwards so having something that goes down with their claws is a really good idea too. Some cats like to scratch horizontally or on the floor, so they may be using a corner of your carpet. It's a good idea to watch your cat, see what it does now or see what part of the furnishing it's doing as to what kind of posts it's going to like.

Some scratching things like these cardboard disposable ones can be placed horizontally on the floor so they can still use their normal behaviour that way. So, maybe you've bought your cat the best scratching post you could possible find but it's still using your furniture. It may be because of where you put the scratching post.

We tend to like putting these in out of the way corners where they don't get under our feet but that may not be where the cat likes to have a scratch. Cats like to scratch and stretch often after they have just woken up, so sometimes placing the post near to where they sleep is a good idea. If they've particularly enjoyed scratching on one piece of furniture, you may need to protect that piece of furniture with thick plastic or sometimes tin foil can help persuade the cat.

But place the new scratching post in front of it and move it very slowly day by day inch by inch away to a place that's more convenient. But always remember why the cat is scratching. It's doing it for its claws but also for scent marking, so it may be that the scratching post needs to be in a place where it's still having that option and showing their communication to other cats.

If you want any more information on the subject, log on to cats.org.uk. .