October 22, 2004

• Dress in a Domokun costume and chase them around the lawn
• I've had the same problem with existing furniture (including an antique chair!) since I moved about 6 months ago. I tossed their scratching couch in the move--we lost room going from a house in Houston to an apartment in New Jersey--and boy, have they let me know that was a bad idea. The advice I'm about to try is to add more scratching posts in different areas of our home. I'll let you know how that works out. In my experience, cats are always interested in new furniture, not just in the claw-it-to-death sense. More like the "I 0wnz0r this turf, not you, sibling kitty!" You just need to redirect the part of that interest that involves physical damage.
• get a cheap water pistol from your local toyshop, and squirt the little buggers every time you catch them at it. it's only water, but they'll get the message. a spray bottle (like for your garden) is ok too but tends to have les range.
• ps: remember to use it when they scratch, not when they sleep!
• Try a box type scratching pad (or two) with catnip you can sprinkle on. And, when they do take on your furniture, smack them lightly on the forehead and say "no" sharply, then transfer them to the scratching pad. On the other hand, when my cat was young and would try to trash the couch, it was really because he wanted to play with me and I was involved in getting ready to go to work. I'd tell him "no" and ruff him up a bit. He'd attack my hand and arm briefly (leaving scratches and bite marks), then, when I went off down the hall to the bathroom, he'd propell himself after me, spanking my ankles the whole way (with no claws out.) That seemed to be all it took.
• Yes, prismatic, that is exactly my quandry: I don't want to discourage them from mellowing or simply playing on the furniture and I'm sure they can't distinguish my ire at their scratching vs. just roughhousing and being allowed to sleep wherever they want to. Thanks, immlass, I will get another, different scratching post and see how that goes. I think they need more toys too, or better toys. They have both ignored my plaything offerings so far (are all cats this picky?). I am thinking of getting or growing some catnip and rubbing it on the posts, the walls, myself to distract them from the apparently orgasmic pleasure of sharpening their claws on my new couch.
• Right, path, I've been busy, tired and distracted lately and their furniture hate has been at an all-time high. I'll spend more time with them when they want it and see what happens. And the scratching box is a stroke of genius: they love boxes of any kind, of course, so I'll build one this weekend.
• i guess the scratching behaviour is different to playing - you know they way they get all tensed up and _really_ pluck at the couch or whathaveyou. cats are pretty bright, so if you zap them when they scratch, they'll figure it out. my former kitten, mog, caught on pretty quick (YMMV)...
• Two words: chilli peppers Well, chilli pepper powder. Actually, chilli pepper powder sprinkled on the floor near the legs of the victimized furniture. Cats hate that. My cats hated it enough to stay away from my furniture. And me, unfortunately. But my chairs don't look like Salvation Army castoffs and that makes it worth it, really.
• I've only skimmed the thread so if I'm redundant, sorry. There is a product sold around here that's composed of several pieces of cardboard set edgewise, with catnip scattered across he top. You can make it yourself for about 300% less than it would cost you to buy, plus you won't have to hang your head in shame for paying cash money for cardboard and dead plant. Cats beneath a certain age don't like catnip, so the bribe won't work with them. I have also found, in my many many years of feline studies, that as soon as you mark something verboten to kitties, they will find it imperative to own it. its kinda like Tourette's. Wrong place to swear? MUST SWEAR! you can cut their little claws, but if you do really icky bugs will crawl into your ear while you sleep and do things you can't fix. beer....canadian beer....lots of canadian beer.....mmmmmmmmmm
• did I forget to mention? I have a friend who actually lost her forearm from cat scratch fever. She was in the hospital for more than a month before they decided the arm had to go. you should have seen the infection.....
• Have you considered SoftPaws? The photo gallery is adorable.
• Glad I could help, Jerry. You should try different toys with the cats, too--they are all that picky. We've bought lots of toys and each of our three babies likes different kinds. If you set aside some time every day to play with them, they will be less likely to scratch. Mine scratch more when they want attention. Good interactive toys are the fishing-rod-style wands with the lures attached and the battery-operated kitty fishing rod that reels the lure back in. My kids will play with those for ages and cry when we put them away. My younger kids (ages 2 and 4) need a lot more play than my older girl (age 9). When the youngest one was a kitten, she needed a LOT of attention, and even the older two couldn't provide nearly enough play. They do settle a bit as they age, though.
• You don't have to build a box. Try a a pet store or Trader Joe's, if that's available. They're long, flat, low boxes with corrugated cardboard inside. Cat love the scratching potential. They also typically come with a baggie of catnip, which you may need to hide somewhere that they can't get to it before you decide they need it.
• Thanks, but no, Wednesday. What gets me and makes me think is that when they are scratching they look to be in some kind of very personal cat-only Nirvana. The bigger one, BB, has the same glassy-eyed stare when he is kneading my tummy and getting ready to curl up against my newspaper and go to sleep. Single minded and beyond care. His little sister looks similarly blissed-out when she is sucking on an imaginary teat in the middle of my duvet. She wasn't weaned properly and this depresses me to no end. :-( This battle is going to take a while and I might lose, but your suggestions are all good and I thank you.
• Scratching is territory marking. Things that work are loud noises, clapping hands, can with coins in it, water etc. Chilli Pepper works sometimes, heard citrus does as well, but really going to have to train them to understand scratching posts are cool, furniture isn't and the "punishment" needs to be as mysterious as possible so they don't associate it with you. One of my favourite tricks is packing tape facing the wrong side out. Ever seen how a cat reacts to something sticking to itself? heh ... The inverse is to praise and reward them with food when they do what you want them to. Might want to check out Brian Kilcommons book, Good Owners, Great Cats for some more suggestions.
• I agree with beeza - packing tape works excellently. Especially facing the wrong side out, cats will get the message quickly. We had the same problem with our cat, but after a while with tape on the furniture she got the message and once we removed the tape she never tried to scratch it again.
• Waterpistol OK only if ye don't aim for the head -- not good to squirt water into cats' ears. Also, cats dislike being hissed at -- its a fairly effective technique for getting cats not to dart through doors, or to stop any undesireable behaviour. If ye hiss abruptly and meaningfully at them they usually catch on pretty fast. The hiss noise is not sss or shh, but like the ch in loch or the German ch, should be short, forcelly uttered, and abrupt. Repeat as needed. Then there's the displacement-of-anger technique which hook-billed birds as well as cats and dogs catch onto pretty quickly. Ye need a rolled up newspaper close to hand. When the offensive behaviour occurs, take the newspaper and whck the nearest flat suface -- ye can act out as much as ye like doing this, yell, wave the other arm, stamp the floor, meanwhile swatting the top of the table, the wall, the woodpile vigorously. No how tempted, do not swat the critter, that is NOT the idea. What ye want to do is put on a floorshow demonstrating your utter frustration and annoyance. They get the idea ye are seriously disturbed and if ye persist in this several times, in my experience stop the behaviour. Doesn't work so well on very young animals who haven't got a clear idea of cause and effect yet, but yours are old enough it may be effective. Good luck.
• Ha! Yes, bees, I have tried all manner sonic deterrants (being a musician this is my first line of defense, and being open to modern music I have quite an arsenal of weird synthesized sounds. That being said, I wish I had a good old violin and some string technique that would screech these cats right out of my hair) and they are all useless beyond arm's reach. These cats are smart and can see my limitations. These cats have sussed out that as much as I yell, scream, hiss (and boo) and speak well-articulated and phonetically bold German and beat the Sunday New York Times against the ceiling I am impotent but for a few square feet in any direction. I swear that they sense and capitalize on my preocupations. They're just like people. To them I am a paper tiger and easily distracted by the other (I swear they tag-team me!). BB seems to make my most intense and threatening (inevitably hung-over) violent outbursts into a sport, and by the time he has won I am exhausted/passed out and he goes to sleep on my stomach. How can you beat that kind of feline mind control? The nose that I try to smack is always a bare centimetre away and the eyes are laughing and more than a bit scared. They don't take me seriously but they know my size and that I can hurt them. BB is incredibly sneaky and subversive and deceptive and he encourages his sister with every sucessful assault. I swear he's had her execute a diversion while he went in for the kill on my right big toe. Even when the situtation is obviously dangerous and the rewards meagre he insists on trying to get into the bag of chips. Reminds me of a certain American president. Then of course they are all love and purrs and me too! We sleep together and wake up all warm. I'll try everything that you all have suggested but I may have to admit defeat. I am prisoner of war whether I like it or not. But I'll fall backk on this: cat's have no God: they are infidels. ;-)
• Listen, cats love to do two things: scratch stinky things, and annoy humans. I know cats better than I know my own kind. These animals have a deeply dark and perverse sense of humour only marginally less acute than their sense of smell, which is approximately 6 times more acute than ours. They are going for the new furniture because it smells *good* to them, and also because of your reaction. It amuses them. Its a game. Scratching posts are no good unless they are as nice smelling as the new chairs. You need to rub something smelly on them, particularly something that smells like cat piss or even human piss. This will, strange to say, make the cats dig the scratch posts more than the new chairs, which probably have some glue or other chemical smell that makes them attractive to the cats, but not to you because you can't smell it, you stupid shaved tail-less monkey. The cats are mocking you. Never forget that. This is war. You must play dirty to win. The water pistol idea is a good one, too. That's the negative-reward that you need to enforce on top of the smelly scratch posts. Until you can get it working, cover the parts of the new sofas with old bits of leather, thick cloth, or carpet until the little bastards stop trying to wreck them. I gave up with new furniture years ago, ditching my chesterfields for crappy old paisley sofas, which have arms stripped to the wood by my 15 yr old black cat Conrad. She will rip at them in the night, just to wake me up, then stare at me, no doubt laughing. You lose, monkeyboy, you lose, she is thinking.
• god i love this place.
• Thanks a bunch, Nostrildamus! This is excellent advice and this coming week will mark the beginning of my offensive against the opportunistic cats. We'll see who's boss. I'll beat them with TLC. I'll make them see the light of scratching something else and beating something inanimate. I've always wanted to build a scarecrow... These cats are in for an October Surprise. Ack, BB is awake and teasing the stray tendrils hanging off my bathrobe. Every time I try to say "Hi" with my hand he runs away (retreat and regroup?) and deals yet another blow to my self image. Bastard. Gotta go. You'd make a great General, Nostrildamus. And thanks to all for the advice. I will evaluate and retrench tomorrow while the two cats are in their predictable tri-daily sleeping mound.
• i use SoftPaws on my (very scratchy) kitten and they work great!! two big thumbs up from SideDish and Hotsy!! really, try them. very cool.
• I've read you should use sheets of aluminum foil to keep pets away from furniture. Cats supposedly hate the noise and the way it feels on their paws. Perhaps your living room will look like the International Space Station for a week, but it would be interesting to see how much foil it would take to cover the new sofa, and it's a great conversation piece. I want to see pictures of the tri-daily sleeping mound.
• My cats have just ruined some expensive looking wallpaper in our new (rented) house. I favour the water pistol method too. They don't like it up 'em.
• No need to surrender, Jerry. Just move everything outside and keep the cats locked in! Or, are beanbag chairs an option? Just kidding. My cat was already de-clawed when I adopted her, so no scratching problems. However, my little battle is keeping her off my bed. She sheds horribly, and the cat hair aggravates my allergies. No problem with other furniture, just stay off the bed! But I can never catch her in the act. When I come down the hall toward my room I hear a *plop* onto the floor. I see the tell-tale furballs on the bed and I give her a nasty look. But she just sits in the doorway sneering. I must look like an idiot creeping along the wall, holding my breath, inching forward on tiptoe. But I can never sneak up or surprise. I've made it into a game for her. I'm very well trained.
• I'd rather have wrecked wallpaper than a de-clawed cat. Where's the fun in having a kitty that coudn't disembowel you at a moment's notice should the chunks in jelly fail to appear on time? Living with cats is all about living with a furry UXB ticking away at the end of the bed for me. If we don't have to go out and hunt wooly mammoth any nore, it's the next best thing. Keeps you on your toes. Cynn - I realise you didn't do it, just saying I never would. Peace, love and horribly scratched arms to y'all!
• I don't see why more people don't go for de-clawing. I have had 2 cats de-clawed and it impaired them not a bit, while saving wallpaper and furniture. Both still hunted and climbed trees, so the idea that it is cruel frustration for them is bunk. One even ruled the neighborhood for years and years, commonly chasing other cats down the street. She was a mean and aloof feline.
• I'm getting 'the look' right now, just reading about the whole de-clawing thing! Time I went and checked on the ole kitty litter!!
• No, I would never have a cat declawed. Ziggy has her rear claws, so she still scratches my lap when she goes on one of her tears across the couch. I also realize she can't defend herself; even the squirrels would beat her up. Being a strictly indoor cat has made her rather odd, I think. She has developed an obsession with the door to the basement. She will stare at it for the longest time, and sniff at the bottom, like there's someone on the other side. If I ever leave the door ajar, she takes a flying leap at it, slamming it shut. We live in a hundred year old house with a rather violent past, so maybe she knows something I don't.
• Get yourself a loose-fitting couch cover. My cats completely ignored the couch afterward.
• De-clawing is cruel, imho, & seems rather arrogant (no offense meant). I don't really see how a cat is not limited by it, certainly in climbing trees.. they require their claws as crampon-type devices to shimmy up sheer wood. Without them, they just have soft little paws - obviously this would limit their ability. Also, cats sense a lot thru their claws, even tho' there are no nerves actually in the chitin. They're anchored into muscle & bone with a very sensitive bundle of nerves, sensing thru the claws' vibration the surfaces that they touch. If you 'bring up' a cat properly, it will never deliberately scratch you. I've never agreed with declawing & never will. There is no need to declaw them. If you want a cat, adapt to their nature. If you don't like their scratchy ways, don't get a cat. Honestly, all my life I've had cats, and they have never ruined anything I didn't let them ruin. You can adapt their behaviour by care, intelligence & training. The only reason I've had my current sofas ripped is because, to be honest, I enjoy watching my cat's enthusiasm when she does so. case in point: my cat never jumps up on a table or steals food. She was habituated against this in the first 6 months by gentle repetition of clapping, or scolding, and hissing sounds. She's 15 years old and still never jumps up on a dining table, or steals food. You don't need drastic measures, just patience.
• I don't know if it works for cats, but my friend used to hit her dog with a newspaper until her baby daughter started imitating her - then she started shaking a can with dry rice in it. Dogs hate the sound.
• You can also clip their claws like human fingernails, just to take off the sharpest tips. Just be very careful to to catch the quick, where they have nerves. Get someone who has done it to show you, as there's a bit of a trick - but they now have clippers which are much easier to use than nail scissors. I will try the packing tape method myself, as the cat goes after my desk chair. It's not a nice deskchair, but any more and all the of the stuffing will come out. It's bad enough from human abuse (Sally Ann would probably refuse).
• Nostrildamus, you certainly know cats. Any ideas why mine loves to lick white plastic bags (the crinkly kind from the grocery store)?
• Your cat probably enjoys the texture of the bags, & very likely the taste of some kind of chemical residue left over from the manufacture process. I'm willing to bet it is new bags, rather than old ones that s/he prefers. Cats have very acute taste & smell, & I note that lots of them seem to enjoy chemical tastes, such as my one which obsessively licks my wife's feet after she's been to the pool, cos of the chlorine (although this puss is a genetic licker; she will groom my hands & her mother would lick people's feet). It really depends on the cat. One of the things I like about them is that they are often as unique as humans in their likes & dislikes, whilst still retaining a certain predictable nature. I note that many cats enjoy drinking from brackish pools more than they do from a clean bowl of water, etc. They can often be found eating or drinking rather strange things. I've heard people talk about cats drinking bleachy water or from pools with sump oil in them. I have no idea why they do this, tho it doesn't seem to be overly harmful. My one also likes to roll around & pat at plastic grocery bags on the floor. I suspect she likes the ruffley sound. Difficult to say.
• Have never had a cat declawed, but did rescue one, a big grey tabby tom, that had been declawed. His poo-for-brains prior owners had had him declawed instead of neutering him. Then after he was declawed, they discovered he was spraying and got rid of him. Turned out he had bladder problems -- once that was cleared up I had him neutered, which happily stopped the spraying. I'd thought of him as relatively defenseless because of being declawed, but he afterwards killed a rat with swift dispatch when one found a way into the house. But he was always somewhat clumsy in jumping onto things, I think he needed his claws.
• Thanks, Nostrildamus. I actually did an experiment, and she will only lick white bags -- no other color. I'm thinking I spend too much time with my cat.
• I know you're only joking, but to my mind, there is no such thing as spending too much time with your cat (unless you're one of those animal hoarders, I suppose). They are spiritual creatures, & despite what people say, if you give them their space & care for them unconditionally, they will become deeply connected with you, & look after you in their own way. It has always moved me that the little dead mice etc they leave on the doorstep are offerings to us. Also, the purr of a cat has been shown to have some kind of aid in healing. Forget where I read this. I think it's the frequency or something. It's also said that petting a cat (or any animal) will lower ones' blood pressure, inducing calm, thus benefiting health. So they're really lengthening your lifespan. Which is good! My cats always sit on my bed when I'm ill. They seem to sense one's emotions. Skeptics scoff at this, saying that they are just concerned about getting their food, but it's not the case.
• Anyway, your guess is as good as mine, with the thing about the white bags. That's odd. I can only guess that perhaps there's something different about the taste of the white ones? I don't know. Cats do all sorts of strange things. I had one that used to play soccer with toilet rolls. I'd come home to a streamer of torn & shredded bog roll all up and down the hallway.
• Mine used to do that too Nostrildamus. Eventually had to hide the toilet paper when she was a kitten, though from time to time have to admit "accidentally" forgetting to put it away and watch her play. Her oddest reaction is to the smell of bleach, forget catnip this cat goes nuts over clorox.
• What's with cats and chemical residue? Are they trying to clean up after us?
• Holling, I second the idea of a loose couch cover (or just a huge old king bedspread from the thrift store) MOST cats will back off the scratching. But of course, I had one that would burrow under the cover and play Mole. If you "pounced" on her with your hand, she'd roll over and claw/bite through the cloth. She only tried to claw the couch once or twice while she was under the cover--I wadded her up in the material and shook it hard, and that seemed to do it. (didn't hurt her, she just didn't like it)
• He thought he took them in. After that they bullied him.
• cynnbad, I thought my Gizmo was the only cat who liked to eat plastic bags! He'll go after any plastic bags, and if we're not very careful, will actually ingest them. I came home one day to see him with a plastic bag on the floor, with one entire handle eaten. One woman said he must have a deficiency in his diet. I wondered what he should be eating that will have the same ingredients as plastic bags... Jerry, if you find a method that works, let me know. We've tried the squirt bottle (he runs when it's shaken, but doesn't stop the scratching), making loud noises, smacking his paws, and picking him up by the scruff & removing him from the furniture. The absolute worst is when he claws the box spring in the morning. The sound reverberates through the bed, and is a most unpleasant alarm clock.