Top 13 Ways To Save Your Furniture From Cat Scratching

Top 13 Ways To Save Your Furniture From Cat Scratching Photo © Trevor Allen – Fotolia.comm

We found a great tutorial on saving your furniture from “cat destruction”. The link is at the end, after our commentary.

You’ve got to admit it. While working at the office or getting your groceries at a nearby supermarket, you quiver at the thought that your household cat might be entertaining itself with its sharp claws while you’re gone. The bad news is that you cannot know when your cat will take a liking to one of the legs of your most precious antique table. It may have cost you a small fortune to purchase that furniture, but to a cat, something that resembles a scratching post… is just a scratching post, regardless of its price.

But before you hurriedly freak out at the wrong conclusion and deliver your poignant “bad kitty” speech, ponder for a minute why your cat committed the scratching incident. The sight of deep claw marks on your wooden furniture must have “scratched” your heart, but punishing a cat for a behavior hardwired into its brain would only make the matter worse and more heart-breaking. Remember that asking a cat not to scratch is like asking a baby not to cry. Cats scratch to condition their claws, get rid of the dead and worn outer layer, and expose new sharper claws. Cats also scratch objects to mark their territory; the highly visible marks on the scratched surface communicate their presence to other cats. Cats also scratch during play, and they do it as well to stretch their entire body and flex their feet and claws. In other words, scratching is a normal feline behavior. It is something instinctive that cannot be driven out of your cat’s nature. However, there are several things that you can do if your furry household member starts to scratch your furniture. The article we found lists many of them – and I was pleased to see that they are against declawing, for reasons of cruelty prevention.

Ok, here is the link to the full article: http://www.allourpets.com/feline/stop-scratching.shtml

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Top 13 Ways To Save Your Furniture From Cat Scratching
Graphic – lovable-cats.com. Image © Trevor Allen – fotolia.com (under license)