If you have a cat you will know what good company they can be. A cat makes a wonderful companion. It’s the ideal pet for both adults and children. However cats do have some annoying habits and one of them is scratching.

It’s very common for cat owners to find that their cat loves to scratch. I’m not talking about scratching you, it’s more likely that your cat is scratching the furniture. And most likely is that he is scratching the most expensive and most treasured piece of furniture in the house.

So many cat owners find claw marks all over the legs of their favourite pieces of furniture. Why do cats scratch and how can a cat scratching post help?

All cats love to scratch, it’s perfectly normal. They do it to sharpen their claws. In fact scratching is a perfectly normal part of their behaviour and it’s not likely that you will be able to stop your moggy from doing it. It’s much better to direct their attention to a much more suitable place to scratch, namely a cat scratching post.

How do you do that? You do that by making sure that it is unpleasant for him to scratch the furniture and much more pleasant to scratch the scratching post. A cat scratching post is a piece of cat furniture specifically designed to be scratched so that your favourite feline can relieve his need to sharpen his claws in an appropriate place.

Scratching poles are really very simple. A dedicated scratching pole is just something that is covered in a material that cats love to claw such as carpet.

So how do you redirect his attention away from the furniture and towards his scratching pole? Cats respond to positive behaviour from their owners, so don’t punish him for doing what comes naturally. You can take a simple approach of making it more attractive to him to use his scratch and less attractive to use the furniture, for example by putting catnip on his post so he is attracted to it, and reinforcing his positive behaviour with treats.

Training your feline to direct his attention from one piece of furniture to another is sometimes a difficult task, however can be achieved perfectly easily with some patience and perseverance. If you see him heading towards the legs of your favourite furniture with itchy claws then pick him up, take him to the scratching post to see if he gets the idea.

Don’t even think about de-clawing your cat. It’s a nasty process and something you should never consider. You may however trim his claws from time to time so that he is doing less damage whilst he is being trained. A cat makes a wonderful pet, but they do have annoying little idiosyncrasies. Learn what they are, learn how to deal with them and your cat will be a friend for life. Just make sure he scratches the cat scratching post rather than the furniture.

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Posted by admin on June 29th, 2010 :: Filed under Pets
Tags :: cat scratching, cat scratching poles, cat scratching post, cat scratching posts

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A cat makes a wonderful pet for both adults and children. They are quiet, easy to house and fun to have around the house. They are cheap to feed and will sit on your knee in the evenings. Everyone loves a cat in the house.

However if you’ve decided that as you don’t yet have a cat that you’re going to get a pet moggy there’s a few things you need to think about. One of them is how to keep him happy and entertained. And a great way to make sure you have a happy feline is to provide him or her with a cat tree and scratching post.

A cat tree is something for your him to play on. Cats are natural climbers. If you’ve ever been outside and seen him go up a tree you’ll be amazed at how fast they can climb. Felines just love to climb trees, and of course if he is an outdoors cat and there’s trees around then he can do so to his heart’s content. But if your moggy is an indoors cat then there are certainly no trees to him to climb on, or at least there aren’t unless you buy a cat tree.

A cat tree is a simple thing. It is primarily an artificial tree that lives indoors that is provided for your cat as a cat toy . There are all sorts of nooks and crannies for him to climb into and play on. It’s a strange looking thing but cats absolutely love their own indoors tree to climb on and play on.

It’s quite possible to buy them, or if you’re handy and know the right end of a hammer it’s not that difficult to build one yourself. If you like these things you can try making your own cat tree as innovative as possible.

One of the other things you need to think about if you’ve decided to get a pet cat is to give him or her something to scratch. Cats love to scratch and need to do so to keep their claws sharp. You may not want him to have sharp claws but he will do so anyway, and if you don’t provide him something to scratch then he’ll scratch the legs of your favourite piece of furniture instead. And probably lots of other pieces of furniture as well.

A cat scratching post is a dedicated piece of furniture for your feline which you can damage to his heart’s content. They come as both horizontal and vertical scratching posts but the principle of both is the same, to give your favourite friend somewhere to scratch so he doesn’t ruin the legs of your table.

Cat trees and scratching poles are designed to allow your cat to let his instincts run and do all the damage he wants without stressing out the owner.

But not all cats will immediately take to their cat tree. You need to show him how to use it, by providing him with some positive encouragement, perhaps by leaving a little catnip on the tree or some cat toys hanging from the branches for him to play with.

There is no doubt a cat makes a wonderful pet, provided you take some simple steps to make sure that he is a happy well adjusted cat with lots of things to do. Providing him with a cat scratching post and a cat tree will go a long way towards making sure you have a happy cat.

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Posted by admin on June 22nd, 2010 :: Filed under Pets
Tags :: cat scratching pole, cat scratching post, cat tree, cat trees

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