Question:
We used the exact technique that you described to teach our cat Shadow what a scratching post is for. We didn't really get anywhere until we substituted treats for praise, with results that you might have predicted. She uses the scratching post if she feels like it -- or if she wants a treat.We successfully used the praise-only technique with Squeaklet, a young cat rescued from a terrible barn-cat situation.We have found Feliway to be excellent at keeping the cats from scratching furniture without keeping them from lying on it. We spray it just around the areas prone to being scratched.All but one of our four cats enjoy scratching cat condos, to the point of destruction.Our most amazing success, though, was with the cardboard scratchers from Cat Claws. Sunshine, our then 9-year-old Persian, was a notorious scratcher and was impervious to any kind of training. Finally, we got some scratchers and a wooden inclined plane that can hold one scratcher at a slight angle. Sunshine and all the other cats love the scr
P.B. & J.J., Virginia Beach, Va May 21, 2006
Answer:
I appreciate your feline insights. Other readers who want to stop their cats from scratching furniture and other materials and surfaces will benefit from what your cats have taught you.I hope your insights will also help convince people not to have their kittens and adult cats declawed. This routine procedure is cruel and unnecessary, with various harmful consequences, and is considered unethical by veterinarians in the United Kingdom and by a growing number in the United States.
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