Cat scratch fever! It’s a Motor City Madman song, a real disease (I’ve had it!), and a cliche way to start an article about cats and their scratching habits. Whether you have an adult cat that you would someday like to wean off your 15-year-old couch in hopes of getting a new one, or you’re adding a kitten to the family, knowing why they scratch and what you can do to ensure they use what you want them to use is a big issue. One option that isn’t on the table: Declawing. And we’ll talk about that too.
So, just as with chewing behavior in dogs, you need to know why cats scratch to get inside their inscrutable minds and find out what they’ll enjoy scratching on the most (besides every piece of furniture you hold dear). The main reason: Communication. Cats have scent glands on their paws that emit a distinctive smell that they assume tells all members of the household that this is their territory, or possibly just that a cat lives in that house. Scratches also leave a distinctive mark for olfactorally-challenged cats.
In addition, the mechanism that retracts and extends claws is made possible by many tendons and ligaments that cats need to stretch and tone by scratching, just as they love to stretch after a nap. Simply put, they do it because it feels good, as you might after a vodka tonic yoga class. Though scratching does also sharpen claws, as far as many animal behaviorists can tell, that’s the secondary or even tertiary reason domestic cats scratch.
Given that cats scratch for reasons that clearly have an innate importance to their well-being, it’s simply never an option to declaw. Here’s the thing: does it sound like a great idea to amputate your fingers at the first joint? It does? Well, you’re a masochist, missy, and cats are not masochists unless warm rays of sunshine hurt them in ways we haven’t discovered.
If the idea of intentionally mutilating a defenseless animal isn’t enough of a
deterrent, consider a few more things: First, your cat should be indoor only, but if it ever gets out, a declawed cat is in significantly more danger because it lacks its first line of defense (either for fighting or for scrambling up a tree to safety). On that note, if you take away that first line of defense, what is a cat going to use when it’s irritated or angry or for God’s sake will you STOP with the petting already, you’re so needy? Its mouth. Something to think about if you have small children.
Also, here’s a little food for thought: After amputating part of the cat’s paws, the area is often very sensitive, even painful. No way to say just how painful, but based on the amount of nerve endings there, we’ll guess very. That’s one of the reasons that vets recommend using shredded newspaper or other soft materials in lieu of litter after the procedure. The bad news: some cats experience enough pain scratching to cover their waste that they associate that pain with the litter box. And then you’ve got a cat that isn’t going to scratch your couch but is going to urinate on your carpet. Do a quick cost-benefit analysis on that and see if that seems like a good trade-off. I’ll wait.
It’s not? Yeah, I’m glad we see eye-to-eye. I’ll be honest with you because I like you: the litter box issue doesn’t happen to every cat, or even a lot of cats. But who’s to say whether your cat will be the one that has the problem?
Botched declaws are surprisingly common. If the procedure’s done wrong, it can lead to chronic pain, malformation of the toes and tendons, inability to walk or balance correctly, and a whole host of other issues that should never be a side effect of an elective surgery. In fact, declawing is considered inhumane. It’s illegal in most first-world countries, excepting the US, naturally.
Lasers are considered the latest and greatest in declawing procedures. Many people are under the impression that it’s less painful. It’s probably not. How many times am I gonna type the word “amputation”? (Just once more.) The laser simply cauterizes the point of amputation and doesn’t actually make it any less painful in the recovery. It’s a cleaner wound, but that’s about it.
“Shut up about cutting off cats’ toes!” you yell. Fine. So, how do you teach a cat to use a scratching post?
- Get a few different posts. Some cats like sisal, some like corrugated cardboard, some like carpet. Hedge your bets and get a few different ones. Make sure that at least one post is tall enough that your cat will still be able to fully extend its body to stretch and scratch as an adult.
- Put them in appealing spots. Put one where the cat prefers to sleep, or near a favorite window. If they like to hang out in a particular area anyway, they’re more likely to use a post in the neighborhood.
- Make the post itself appealing. Sprinkle some catnip near the post. Use or place favorite toys near it. Use a pheromone plug-in like Feliway near the post to make the area a soothing one.
- Reward the cat for using it. Praise and pet the cat when it uses the post and not your leather chair. If your cat hates to be touched, give it a treat like cooked chicken. Do a delightful jig; whatever you and your cat are into.
A couple quick “don’t”s: it’s intrusive and counterproductive to put your cat’s paws on the post. Don’t force it. Also, using a foul-tasting spray on objects you don’t want the cat to scratch won’t work very well; they don’t scratch with their mouths, stupid.
These tips will definitely help teach an adult cat to use a post, too. But if you have a cat that’s used to ripping up an object you’d rather keep intact, there are a couple more things you need to do.
- Make that object undesirable. There are a lot of ways to do this, and you can find a thousand suggestions. Ultimately, what you want to do is change the texture of the object in a way that deters the cat from touching it. You can use double-sided tape or plastic sheeting.
- Make the object unavailable. If it’s possible, move the chair or whatever so that the cat can’t get to the side that it typically scratches on. It will make it easier to substitute the appropriate object.
- Put the post next to the favorite scratching spot. If there’s an alternative that smells great and looks fun to scratch on right by their most loved scratching spot, they’ll be more likely to use it, especially if you’re able to make their former scratch-crush less appealing by making it sticky or slippery.
In addition, keep your cat’s nails trimmed. Trimming a cat’s nails is approximately 30 times easier than trimming a dog’s. You can find a detailed description of how to do that here. If your cat’s nails are short and well-kept, they’ll need to scratch a little less.
Just like with any training, acclimating a cat to a post will take time and dedication. I’m lazy and let my cat scratch whatever it wanted and now I’m paying for it in a variety of ways. Do as I say, not as I do! These methods almost always work with enough commitment. If you continue to have problems, ask your vet for a referral to an animal behaviorist that can work with your specific issues in your home.
Have more questions? Ask in the comments, find me on Twitter, or email TrainingCornerNerds -at- gmail.
Main image via Flickr
Scratching post image via Flickr
