Cat Training

Posts Tagged ‘cats problems’

As an owner of a cat, one of your main priorities will be to train your cat to prevent it from scratching your furniture. Not only will this save you money and a great deal of irritation, you will also have a better relationship with your cat.

First of all you need to have an understanding as to why cats scratch. Your cat doesn't do this because it wants to annoy you, nor does it purposely set out to do this because it dislikes the furniture you have. Not only do cats like to scratch, they have to scratch. You can't stop a cat from scratching because it is a natural behavior for it. However you can train your cat to scratch something else, other than your prized furniture.

Cats need to scratch in order to stay healthy. Scratching allows a cat to stretch and exercise their muscles. The paws of a cat contain scent glands, which leaves their scent on objects that they scratch. A cats claws are kept healthy and clean through scratching. So you can see that a cat has its reasons to scratch. Rather than trying to limit this cat behavior, you should encourage it, but 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. If you try to punish your cat, all you will do is show the cat that you are someone who must be avoided. 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. Try putting a post near the place your cat sleeps on a regular basis. The first thing that a cat likes to do when it wakes up, is to stretch and have a good scratch. I think we all share this particular trait. Using a scratching post soon becomes a habit, and your cat will happily continue to use the post in the future.

The area of the house where your family sits is also a good place for a scratching post. Cats do like to socialize with members of the family, even though at sometimes seems not to be the case. 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. Try tying some toys that your cat likes onto the scratching post, the enables your cat to touch the post with its paws and claws. These easy techniques will allow you to train your cat so that it no longer uses your furniture for scratching.

Embed the scratching post firmly so that it cannot fall, and make it a reasonable 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.