Q: I adopted a cat from the Humane Society two years ago. Acorn insists on using our sofa and love seat to sharpen her claws. I have tried the following:
• Scratching posts or trays in every room scented with catnip.
• Sticky Paws covering on furniture. She just finds an untaped spot. I would have to cover the whole piece of furniture with this stuff for it to work.
• ScratchNot spray. This only lasts for approximately 15 minutes and she is back at it again.
• Getting her nails clipped every three weeks. She still scratches, she just does not do quite as much damage, but it is time-consuming and costly having it done so frequently.
Do you have any suggestions? Does clicker training really work or does it depend on the cat?
I really don’t want to have her declawed. It seem inhumane to me but we just got a new sofa and love seat and we cannot allow her to destroy them as she did the last set.
Help!
— S. C., Peninsula
A: Scratching is a normal and natural behavior for cats. It removes the nail coverings; stretches and extends neck, leg, shoulder and back muscles; as well as leaving a visual and scent-related communication behind for other cats.
The options you have already tried are ones that occasionally do work depending on the cat. Ultimately we have to find what she likes and what orientation (horizontal, angled, vertical) she wants to scratch at, then replicate it!
Nail trimming is very helpful as you have found. You can teach her to accept nail trims by you at home. We do this by pairing something good, like tuna or canned food, with the nail trim. There is a particular way to do this so that it is successful and you reinforce the behaviors you want. Our clinic regularly trains owners and cats how to do this.
SoftPaws are plastic caps that you can glue over the nail to allow for a continuation of the normal behavior but prevent damage to your furniture. They can be tricky to get on and do need to be re-applied every 4 to 6 weeks or more.
The best option: Keep cushions or cloth material from your old couch that she liked to scratch and put this material on the scratching posts you already have. Acorn continues to use the couch because she likes the texture, feel and orientation of the couch and its material. Cats are very particular about where they scratch and the material they like to use. She may choose not to use the new couch but if the fabrics are similar she may decide to try it.
Your old couch may not be pretty but saving it can save your new couch! Some clients will saw off the arm or area of the couch being utilized and create a stand-alone scratching post out of that. This keeps the orientation of surface that she likes (vertical, for instance, on an arm), height and material.
If you would like to train her to a new post with the old material through clicker training, please contact us and I would be happy to come work with Miss Acorn!
— Amanda Eick-Miller, RVT, KPA CTP, VTS-Behavior, Veterinary Behavior Technician, The Behavior Clinic, Animal Behavior of Northeast Ohio, Olmsted Falls. 440-334-8534, www.TheBehaviorClinic.com.
Please send questions about your pet to Kathy Antoniotti at the Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309-0640; or send me an email to kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com. Please include your full name and address and a daytime phone number where you can be reached. I will forward your questions to the expert I think is best suited to answer your particular problem. Phoned-in messages will not be taken.
