Turn Your Cat Into Your Friend And Save Your Furniture. Give Him A Cat Scratching Post

One of the best companions you will ever have is a cat. A cat makes a good pet, both for adults as well as children. But one annoying habit that all cats have is that they love to scratch the furniture.

At some time or another all cat owners find that their cat is scratching. I don’t mean that they’re scratching you, it’s much more likely that they’re scratching the legs of your furniture.

It’s a question asked by so many cat owners. Why do cats scratch and can a cat scratching post help protect the legs of my furniture from all those claw marks?

It’s perfectly normal for cats to scratch. It’s an instinctive habit for cats, it helps to sharpen their claws. Chances are you’re not likely to stop your cat from scratching. Instead direct their attention to scratching a dedicated cat scratching post, and this will preserve the legs of your furniture.

The way you do that is by making it less pleasant for the cat to scratch your furniture and more pleasant for him to scratch something that can be damaged at no cost to you. A cat scratching post is a piece of cat furniture specifically designed to be scratched so that your favourite feline can relieve his need to sharpen his claws in an appropriate place.

A scratching post isn’t complicated A dedicated scratching pole is just something that is covered in a material that cats love to claw such as carpet.

So how do you redirect his attention away from the furniture and towards his scratching pole? Firstly it’s important to remember that cats respond to positive reinforcement, not negative, so don’t punish him. You can take a simple approach of making it more attractive to him to use his scratch and less attractive to use the furniture, for example by putting catnip on his post so he is attracted to it, and reinforcing his positive behaviour with treats.

Training your feline to direct his attention from one piece of furniture to another is sometimes a difficult task, however can be achieved perfectly easily with some patience and perseverance. If you see him heading towards the legs of your favourite furniture with itchy claws then pick him up, take him to the scratching post to see if he gets the idea.

Don’t even think about de-clawing your cat. It’s a nasty process and something you should never consider. You may however trim his claws from time to time so that he is doing less damage whilst he is being trained. There’s no doubt that a cat makes a fine pet, but like any animal they do have their annoying little habits that you need to deal with. Once you know what those habits are and deal with them appropriately your cat will be a friend for life.