A slightly isosteric topic but an important one nonetheless as you really want your cat to use the brand-new scratching post that has just been delivered from Amazon. One of the fears of cat owners is that their cat won’t use the scratching post that they have carefully selected. They will if it is of the right design and in the right place. And you so desperately want her to leave your sofa alone. Follow the info in the infographic and it will work out well. In parallel with acquiring the right sort of scratcher you should cover the vulnerable areas of furniture with extra-wide double-sided tape which you can also buy on good old Amazon.
Cat scratching posts/boards are as important as food bowls 😎. They are essential. And you’ll need more than one. Catnip rubbed into a new one will encourage its use. Why is a scratching post essential? Because cat scratching is essential to the domestic cat. It is deeply embedded in their psyche. They simply have to do it and do it regularly. It’s one of those little points of friction between human and cat. That friction can be alleviated almost entirely with a good quality cat scratching post.
For a cat, scratching is as normal and as necessary as eating, drinking, urinating and defecating to use the words of Dr. Bruce Fogle DVM.
It is totally hardwired into their brain. They must scratch to exercise their cat claw mechanism, to stretch their back, and deposit their scent on the object that they are scratching as a form of marker. When cats scratch the ground, they create a visual marker. That is why the scratching board is also useful because it facilitates this process.
NEVER, EVER, NO WAY DECLAW YOUR CAT TO ‘FIX’ THIS PROBLEM. PLEASE.
Below are some more articles on scratching. There are many more. Please search.
