Why Is My Cat Scratching the Furniture? Vet-Approved Solutions

Having a company of cats is lovely but their habit of scratching can be frustrating. As a cat owner, you must be familiar with frayed curtains, scratched couches, and wooden furniture. You might think this is aggression and mischievous behavior, but it is a natural and essential activity of cats that helps them stretch, mark their territory, and sharpen their claws. Understanding their need to scratch and taking precautionary actions will help you save your furniture while allowing your cat to do their essential activity. If you feel like your cat’s behavior of scratching is more than just an instinct, consult a veterinarian in Kitchener to professionally assess them and take action carefully. Before that, read this blog to learn about the methods you can apply to save your favorite furniture.

Why Do Your Cat Scratch?

Before you implement strategies to redirect their habit of scratching, understand the reason why they do that. Cats are territorial creatures, which is why to claim ownership they use their claws to scratch which helps them leave a mark and smell as they have scent glands in their paw. This behavior will be more frequent if you have other pets with them. Another reason is sharpening their claws, it is one way of maintaining their claws for indoor cats especially, as scratching helps them remove an outer layer of their claws and give them sharp and healthy claws, if they leave their claws untrimmed their claws will grow abnormally giving them discomfort, hence this is an important process. Though cats are not as interested in physical activity as dogs do, they do love a good stretch. Scratching allows their body to stretch as this movement lets them extend their legs and claws giving them a good stretch which feels good to them and helps them to be agile. Sometimes, changes in their emotions also play a role in these habits. If you are moving to a new house or introducing a new pet, they will release the anxiety and stress they feel by scratching.

Give Them Better Alternatives

Because this is a natural and necessary habit of your cat, redirecting their habit with alternatives is the way you can save your furniture. Use alternatives like scratching posts of different types vertical, horizontal, and angled that are made from a rough material called sisal, which your cat will love to scratch, these posts will give them the feeling of scratching on furniture. Place them near the furniture where you notice your cat loves to scratch the most. They will be more likely to use them as they are located in convenient places. Use sturdy posts as they do not like wobbly places. To attract your cat toward scratching posts use catnips or other attractants. Install a cat tree in your home that will fulfill your cat’s needs for stretching and playing around.

Save Your Furniture

After giving your cat convenience for scratching, it is important to make sure your furniture is less appealing. Use slipcovers or protective sheets to protect your fabric furniture. You can also use materials that are scratch-free for your couches which will also help you in cleaning pet hair while being resistant to scratch marks. Cats do not like sticky surfaces therefore if you will apply double-tap on the arms and chairs of the couches and chair the areas where your cat loves to scratch they will quickly move away from them. The smell of citrus and eucalyptus is hated by cats, which is why you can use a deterrent that contains such a smell to spray on the furniture you want your cat to be away from.

Take Help From Your Vet!

Even though scratching is your cat’s natural behavior if your cat is doing it in a more than natural way consult with your vet to analyze the situation and help your cat calm down.