Posted on 12/01/2015 8:04:21 AM PST by Vigilanteman
Freepers are such good sources of information (with an ocassional goofball mixed in) that I thought I'd reach out to get a little additional advice.
Recently, my daughter got a major job promotion which includes a transfer to Japan. One problem with the transfer is that they couldn't take their cat whom my son-in-law, she and our two young grandsons adore.
So we offered to take her for the duration of the assignment, probably about one year. She is a wonderful cat, sweet with the boys (doesn't bite or scratch when they get rough with her, just walks away and hides for awhile) and getting accustomed to us. After pouting and hiding for most of the first day with us, she has picked my Mrs. as her favorite person and sleeps at her feet.
We believe she is a Chartreaux cross as the description at the link fits her nearly perfectly, but she is not a purebred as our daughter adopted her from one of those pet store rescue programs, which is not a logical place for a purebred Chartreaux. She is spayed but not declawed; they advise against it for an adult cat as it cause arthritis later in life.
She is clean, litter box trained and very low maintaninence except for wanting to play laser tag and get petted which we all enjoy even if her timing isn't always best.
Only complaint is that we can't seem to get her interested in her scratching pad. She prefers the carpet or, worse yet, one of our reclining chairs. She does stop when we yell at her but, of course, often goes off to pout for awhile. Other than two active little boys who play rough with her at times, we have tried to duplicate her environment at home as nearly as possible, right down to the cat tower, scratching pad and design of the litter box.
My advice...get a dog.
Some catnip on the scratchpad usually gets their attention.
lol..beat me to it.
Sprinkle catnip or tuna oil on the stuff you want them to scratch. That draws their attention. Could be the material too, different cats like to scratch different stuff.
Put some catnip on the scratch pad.
Kitty advice ping.
I have a damn cat from hell who won’t touch the pad either. She prefers to the door jambs. On nearly every doorjamb in the house. One by the kitchen has claw marks 1/4” deep. Do you want her? I’m about at the de-claw stage now, or introducing her to winter outdoors and Mr. Coyote.
Keep her claws trimmed, and the damage will be minimal at most.
Sautéed with mushrooms and onions. (sarc)
One, if you play laser tag with your cat, make sure she “wins”. Because since there really is nothing for her to catch, it can frustrate the cat. I always give my cat a treat when she “catches” the dot.
And two, regarding the scratching post. I had the same problem. I suggest a carrot-and-stick approach. Put a small treat on the scratching post. And keep a squirt bottle of water handy. Give the cat a quick squirt when she tries to scratch anything inappropriate. Cats do learn fast.
Just be sure you clean that squirt bottle out first.
If she has a favorite spot on your furniture, put two sided sticky tape on it for awhile. For carpet, you can try a boundary spray, but they often repeal people, too. Otherwise, use “No” with a water pistol or air cannon to train her to stop.
My cats prefer a carpeted post to scratch than a flat pad.
Conversely, are there smells which cats find offensive which I might put in the corners of the easy chair?
We’re training two young kittens at the moment. They go after our speaker cloth & when that happens I carry them over to the scratching post & mimic the behavior (scratching it with my fingers). They usually follow suit, but being youngsters they forget. Just have to keep reinforcing the behavior you want. And putting catnip on as others have suggested couldn’t hurt.
There are sprays to discourage kitty from scratching.
Also, a water pistol is useful to discourage unwanted behaviour. (I know that is the old way of thinking, but it sure worked with our great cat).
I would say the best solution for any cat issue is getting a large stray dog for the house.
Dang, you beat me to it!
Beautiful cat!
Maybe you should get down on your knees and show her how to do it?
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