Uplifting News
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Is the secret just that you socialized them as kittens? We have an older cat that we adopted who is generally very well behaved but loves to sink her claws into whatever she can, so we find little puncture holes in our leather stuff regularly. It is just cheap stuff, so no big loss, but I would love to feel comfortable splurging on something other than the 1-3 materials that are somewhat claw-safe. We try to clip her claws but she does not behave for that at all.
It's a combination of things. We got three of our girls as kittens; in fact, one still IS a kitten. The fourth we got as an adolescent. The only cat that is a challenge is one that we got as a kitten. The rest are happy to decimate their cat tree.
Whenever we caught a cat scratching, we'd pick her up and relocate her to the tree, putting their paws on the sisal rope, then pet them and give them treats after they were done clawing it. After a many rounds (weeks, really) of this, they all started primarily using the tree.
The odd cat out is the most aggressive, dominant cat. She uses the tree the majority of the time but occasionally goes after our rugs, I think as a dominance display. I'm not really sure, she's an asshole. Since love and treats didn't cement the behavior, that kitty gets the spray bottle instead. The frequency of off-target scratching is slowly diminishing.
Thanks. I'll try this in the future. She has scratch paraphernalia of various sorts that I've seen her use and enjoy but maybe the reinforcement part is what's missing.
You're welcome and good luck!
Cats are more intelligent and trainable than many people expect. I have one cat trained to come to the kitchen when it's time for her pills and to hop on the bed at bedtime. She's not exactly doing it on command - she's happily rushing to me on her own because I've taught her that certain actions in certain situations result in her receiving a small blob of melted cheddar (which is how she gets her pills. Don't tell her, she hates pills so it's a secret) and/or belly rubs. I just call her name to get her attention and her routine starts.
I've learned many cats will often happily train themselves if you provide the right encouragement at the right time. It's all about giving them a nicer alternative to whatever bullshit they're pulling.
If you ever have any questions, I'm happy to help.
I caught her clawing the couch this morning. We just purchased a new lovesac with velvet covers, which are pretty resilient to this kind of abuse, because she is so inclined to do this. I think what happened was that she chased her little toy over to that corner and then had pent up aggression or energy that she decided to take out on that juicy couch corner. She has a scratch post on the other side of the couch because she is only very rarely on that side.
I tried picking her up and moving her to this scratch post (she hates being picked up) and putting her paws on the scratch post, but she gave me her most pitiful meow and decided she was done clawing lol. I've caught her clawing the couch on the other side right next to this scratch post, so maybe this scratch post isn't as good as the couch for some reason. We know she likes vertical scratch posts and sisal, and she'll definitely use that one, so beyond that I'm not sure what's wrong with it.
sympathies. my wife and I tackle our cat for claw trims, it genuinely takes two people to manage. But also, one of our dogs requires the same so it's dependent on the animal and experience. ironically, our other dog, a terribly abused animal that came with a food-distrust issue - is perfectly fine with her nails being trimmed and let our daughter paint her nails.
Every animal is different.