Get Your Cat to Stop Scratching Up the Furniture
- Author: Michael Bordonada
- Posted: 2024-06-08
Cats might be one of the most popular pet choices for people in the west, but they can also be one of the most problematic pets. At their best, cats make great companions and there are millions of people out there who love and cherish these little fluffy animals. At their worst, however, cats can terrorize your home by using the bathroom everywhere, going through the trash, and more. What's worse is that cats may always be at risk of running away and never returning. Though when asked, one of the top problems people cite with their cats is the fact that they scratch up the furniture. Leather, canvas, cotton; it doesn't matter. Cats love to scratch the furniture.
Are there ways that you can get your cat to stop scratching without going through drastic and expensive measures like having them declawed or sent to some sort of obedience school? The good news is that there are a few different things you can do to stop your cat from scratching at your furniture. You will have to be diligent and pay a lot more attention to your cat, but that sure does beat having to buy new furniture. The first step in stopping this behavior is to understand why your cat is scratching at your furniture.
Why Do Cats Scratch?
Cats generally scratch the furniture for three main reasons, all of which are natural behaviors spurred by evolution. The first is that a cat wants sharp claws. This is just something among the entire family of cats, from lions and tigers to the smallest breeds of domestic cats. They want sharp claws. A domestic cat might eat soft canned food, but their genome is that of a predatory animal, and so they instinctively keep their claws sharp. If all they have to hone their claws on is your furniture, this is likely what they're going to use.
Another strong impulse cats have is to mark their territory. Unlike dogs, the good news is that cats aren't necessarily just going to go pee everywhere. They scratch their scent into their immediate area. So, if you have your cat spending a lot of time on your furniture, they may dig into it. The last reason is mostly an accident, as their sharp claws catch the fabric as they're stretching out. Cats constantly stretch. Now that you know why cats scratch, there are ways you can keep them from doing it.
Keep Your Cat Busy
The first way to keep your cat from scratching the furniture is to keep your cat busy and distracted. It's not that cats will scratch out of boredom; it's more that they take their downtime as a good time to sharpen and mark. If your cat has toys, or a companion like another cat or another animal, you will find that they're usually busy playing and thus aren't going to spend their time scratching at your furniture. This isn't something that's going to work around the clock, but it will give your cat more time to do things other than scratch, and it might even help train them to stay away from the furniture entirely.
Try a Scratching Post
The very reason that they sell scratching posts at most bix box stores and all pet supply stores is that cats scratching and tearing up things in people's homes is a widespread problem. The thing about these posts is that the material is like catnip and very much attracts your cat to the post. They will want to rub up against it and sit and lay on it. This also means that they will want to scratch their claws up against it. This will become a fun activity for your cat, keeping them away from your furniture.
Not all posts are the exact same here. The good news is that you can get them in a range of different shapes and sizes. So, if you need a small scratching post for an apartment, you can find one easily. On the flip side of that, if you have a large area, or multiple cats, you can also find a post.
If you're willing to try a couple of different things to keep your cat(s) away from the future, then you can put a stop to their annoying habit of scratching things up.
