You love your cat, but you’d be forgiven for finding cat scratching one of the most annoying habits that your furry friend has. Unfortunately, it’s a natural part of a cat’s behaviour.
Why does my cat scratch my furniture?
Cats are, by their very nature, hunters, and the clawing motion helps to exercise the muscle groups they need to climb and pounce on their prey. As cats have become domesticated, they don’t need to hunt every day, but the clawing instinct has become ingrained.
Your carpets can sustain particularly heavy scratching damage because scratching these soft surfaces can help cats get rid of worn-out claws and reveal the fresh, sharp ones underneath. You might have noticed these small, clear fragments of claws when you vacuum your nice, thick rugs! It’s also common for cats to scratch when they are marking their territory, and you may find that they do it more frequently if other cats are in the area that make your cat feel stressed or threatened.
Is there a way to stop my cat from scratching things?
Scratching is a natural behaviour, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t prevent your cat from doing it, particularly if they are doing damage. Some cat behaviourists also suggest that scratching may be something that more social members of the cat world use to seek attention, or as a precursor to playing. If you spot this behaviour in kittens or young cats, you can help to distract them or deny them access to furniture that they are doing harm to. If your adult cat displays clawing behaviour, it can be more difficult to train them out of it, but there are ways you can help reduce scratching!
Certain changes to your home environment can help reduce the impact on your furniture and carpets. This can include providing additional scratching posts and making sure that your cats have lots of opportunities to play and climb, via toys and cat towers. However, whilst this might distract your cat from directing their scratching at your family’s furniture, it won’t remove the risk altogether. Pet Remedy calming products can help, as they provide a natural way to calm your pets without sedation. This can help attract your cat to new scratching posts, and away from your sofas and chairs!
How Pet Remedy products can help your cat
Our natural calming products help stressed pets to become more settled and receptive to their owners, which can be very helpful as you try to move them away from scratching your beloved furniture. If your cat doesn’t immediately take to their new toys, scratching posts or cat towers, calming products can help your cat relax and explore the new items, to help them quickly get used to them.
If your cat is scratching as a mechanism of warding off a rival by marking their territory, our calming sprays can also quickly and easily relax your pet and reduce the stress that is causing them to scratch things in the first place. Browse our range today.
