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Re: 3 Year Old Domestic Short Tail Cat

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Posted by kittyluvr on September 08, 2002 at 19:12:34:

In Reply to: Re: 3 Year Old Domestic Short Tail Cat posted by phwildcat on September 03, 2002 at 05:49:54:

A month ago I got 2 maine coon babies.....They are now 20 weeks and 11 weeks old. Kellie, the 20 week old started showing signs of scratching (the walls) pretty quickly. I bought a kitty condo. They are small, and the kitties probably won't fit in the cubby holes for much longer, but the main reason for that 'post' is for scratching. It worked wonders for me in the past with kitties who liked to scratch. When I got the condo home, I tried to introduce them to it by using my own hand to scratch/rub it, up high so as to let the kitties 'attack' my hand......you know how most kitties like to attack that moving hand. Well, much to my surprise, Kellie (the older one) went to go after my hand, and once her feet hit the carpeted post, she was more interested in scratching it. Forget my hand, she immediately enjoyed that stretching and scratching. From there on, she uses the condo to scratch, and of course her younger sis (the 11wk old) has to copy her, and now they both use it for scratching.

For those who think "I can't afford one of those kitty condo's"......think again......it will cost more to get your kitty declawed than it would be to invest in the posts. If your kitty is already set in its scratching ways, put the post/s where they like to scratch and entice them to stretch up on that post (by rubbing/scratching your hand on it) and let them 'feel' that post under their feet.....more than likely they will prefer to scratch there than where they were scratching prior. I also found that if I hung throw blankets over a chair/couch, that would deter them from scratching it, as they couldn't get the 'feel' of the furniture with the blanket in the way. It sorta made it feel like loose upholstry (sp?) and their grip to scratch wasn't as much fun, and certainly lost its purpose.

Give it a try. There is nothing more enjoyable than watching your kitty scratch in an appropriate spot, as they seem to really enjoy it, and more than likely, you will too! :-)

Best of luck!

Rose
momma to Kellie and Kasey

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