Cat-O-Rama

This is a REALLY hard decision. My cat is so sweet except she scratches EVERYTHING EXCEPT the cat scratching posts that we have all over the house! We have spent 100s of dollars on a nice huge cat tree and different types of scratching boards/posts around the house. Our other cat uses them just fine, but not the female one. She has dug into drywall, door moulding and furniture. We have tried to discipline her and the stuff you spray on the area to make her not want to scratch there is a joke to her. We are trying to sell our house now and have a TON of repairs all thanks to her. I do not want to declaw her and no one wants a cat. She is 3 y/o and I am afraid to put her outside. I am thinking of a shelter for her.

OK you’ve got good answers already about why you should never declaw a cat,especialy from Everycat who has gone into great detail to help you. You obviously already know how cruel it is and to those suggesting you declaw her rather than putting her in a Shelter, many declawed cats end up in Shelters anyway when the problems from declawing arise and a declawed cat has virtually no chance of being rehomed, so is condemned to an almost certain death.
You say she is sweet,so how on earth can you think of parting with her ? It would be like adopting out a naughty child instead of working with him to help him understand what he was doing wrong.Scratching is natural behaviour to a cat and I don’t know how you’ve disciplined her but the ways unkind people usually suggest such as spraying water, hitting the cat, yelling, shutting her away, are all wrong.You should never ever punish a cat. You teach them by distraction.She is probably bored, some cats need more attention than others, your other cat obviously has a different temperament.If you have been punishing her but praising him, she is feeling jealous and scratching excessively is attention seeking,to get you to focus on her.
Give each cat the same attention, lots of fun and games, have they catnip toys ? When she goes to scratch where she shouldn’t, without saying a word, gently lift her to her scratching post and praise her when she uses it,saying her name a lot.She will soon learn she gets praise for being good.
You can do this, you only need time and patience.I really don’t think you can harden your heart and put her in a shelter ! Being shut in a cage and facing an uncertain future after living in a house is very traumatic for a cat, yours doesn’t deserve that !

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I adopted a one-year-old spayed female cat from the local shelter about two weeks ago. I have several scratching posts and a cat tree (already had 2 other cats), but I have never seen her do the scratching claw-sharpening thing, on the posts, furniture, or anything else. I have noticed when playing, she seems to get her claws caught in the rugs, so I am concerned that her claws are getting too long. She was at the shelter about 3 months, with no scratching post. Is it possible she forgot her scratching instincts ? is is possible she will eventually start again ? I don’t know how well I would be able to do trying to clip the claws. I am curious if anyone else has observed or knows of others wth this same problem.

I really don’t think this is anything to actually seriously worry about. Consider yourself lucky this means she won’t be doing it to your furniture when your not around. I do not think its an instinct cats forget though. My mom has a cat that is declawed and he still sharpens his "claws".

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I am currently considering on buying my cat, caps for her claws as she is outrageously deteriorating our furniture (and big screen television), even though I’ve bought her, her own cat tree, and another cat tree is accessible. She is just over a year old and quite tiny, i know no one can give me a proper estimation, but at least provide me with some information to figure this out.
Please don’t suggest a vet, as the closest vet is 2 hours away, and i don’t want to put my cat through that.

Thank you Just to clarify, please read thoroughly (in regards to vet issue), also i’d like to mention that i do trim both my cats nails when necessary. (Also i am well informed on how to trim a cats nails). She is also an indoor cat

Hope this clarifies some details.

Honestly, if you order them through the vet, they will suggest a proper size, but depending on where you are ordering them from it’s easy for cats they don’t come in many sizes, kitten and cat . . . get the cat ones.

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I don’t think my kitty does it to be mean per se, but she swats and sometimes a claw will catch me. My one hand is sporting many a battle wound. Declawing is out of the question for me - I think it’s totally wrong.
Have you used the little caps? Do they work? If they didn’t, did you eventually find something that did?
Thanks for the advice.
Oh - and yes, I do clip her nails on a regular basis. She has a cat tree with a large scratching post. She doesn’t scratch furniture and she is not mistaking my hands as toys. She’s a little over a year old and I love her with all my heart.
.

i haven’t tried them because my kitty would never stand for it. i heard that they work really well though, but fall off in about two weeks, as for detouring her behavior, i have found that there isn’t much you can do when they are in a playful mood. i have many little unintended wounds on my hands and arms from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. i try not to go in for any contact (petting, etc.) when my cat has that crazy look in his eye and really frisky. that is usually when he gets me.

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get in shape http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKCGe2Ezris with Lil jack

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Hes been acting up lately.Hes chewing on the furniture and hes been braking ornaments on the tree.We tried spray bottles but he thinks its a game,and then goes back to what he was doing.And iI tried slapping him but my mom wont let me(and yet she chases him around with a broom.)So,what can we do to make him stop?

If the behavior is new, it would make sense to ask yourself why he’s doing these things so you get to the root of things instead of trying to control the symptoms.

If something’s changed in the house, something -to him- major, then he might behave differently. Think about that… maybe all the people visiting for the holidays, or all the pre-holiday bustling around or noise is getting to him. Maybe you guys are busy and he’s feeling ignored. Maybe he needs to see the vet for a dental checkup because he’s having tooth pain. Cat usually aren’t furniture chewers or randomly destructive.

But having said that, if you think about this and see some reason for his changes, they could be temporary.

On the furniture and the tree, try one of the repellent sprays if all the above is not working. And any cat owner knows a Christmas tree is a magnet for cats- the stuff hanging off it is begging to be played with. Either get it up off the ground where he can’t get to it, or next year, get a small one you can put out of reach.

Above all, remind yourself that he’s not trying to be difficult. This is minor, keep it low-key. Don’t turn this into a huge "you versus the cat" issue where you have to win. Check his tooth health, give him attention, move the tree, spray where needed, have a place for him where he can go hide if he needs to get away from too much action, and try to relax and have a happy holiday.

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My cat (5year) has decided she likes my furniture. I had a desk chair she scratched and could not hurt. I recently got rid of it and she’s looking for a new place. I’ve tried the "cat tree," the cardboard scratcher, the carpet things which hang from the door. Also, she is unimpressed with catnip. It seems she prefers scratching on my sofa instead. Also, i just can’t bring myself to have her clawed. It seems such an unnecessary pain as she is ideal except for this (hopefully) brief issue. How do i find something which she will like and redirect this?
I am not looking for additional pets or to cover the house in foil.
Please provide scratching alternatives which i may be unfamiliar with.
She is a smart good girl and will redirect her behavior if we can find the right medium for her.
Thanks!
Of course her nails are maintained.
Please suggest a scratching medium i have not tried.
Thanks again!

You should try to figure out what it was about your desk chair that she liked to scratch. What are the similarities of that to your sofa? Hopefully the answers to that question will lead you to figuring out her favorite scratching surfaces.

Some things to consider are:

Does she like vertical, horizontal, or diagonal scratching? If she enjoys vertical, is the scratcher heavy enough to not tip over when she really "digs in"? If she likes diagonal, you can try tipping a traditional scratching post on it’s side to create an angle. Or, I’ve seen the cardboard scratchers in kind of a wedge shape. If she likes horizontal, is the surface large enough for her to get all the way on so it doesn’t move around when she’s scratching?

What kind of texture does she enjoy (cardboard, carpet, sisal rope)? My cats are partial to sisal and cardboard. I’ve also heard of using actual tree stumps (but that might be a bit messy).

Does she prefer certain locations for scratching? Try giving her something to scratch on near where your old desk chair was and near your sofa.

There are so many different options that you are sure to find something that she likes. Good luck, and thank you for not declawing.

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