Hey guys got my kitten sunday, and as of the past two days we have been letting her roam the kitchen area.

Tonight i was watching her explore. and she has seemed to have found the 6 chairs which are for the dining set which is made of a material which can be scratched.

it seems to feel the same as the scratching pole. whats the best way of letting her be able to use that and making her not scratch the chairs? i have a cat tree coming and a scratching pole

Best way is each time you see her scratching the chairs, tell her 'no' and move her to something that she can scratch - the pole when it turns up, maybe a door mat?

Good luck with this tho - my two have made millions of tiny claw marks and scratches in my 6 leather dining chairs - they continued even tho they knew it was wrong.

Thanks i will try the following, and move her to her little scratching pole she has. hopefully its a case of the pole isnt big enough at the moment. its more of to learn to climb then to run her nails from the top to the bottom if you get me.

Is their any sprays i can use to help keep her away from that area?

When i say NO and put her near her pole, would you suggest me closing the door for 5 mins so she cannot come out and has to have some alone time? or does that not matter?

It's far too early to be shutting her away for exploring. I am not a fan of timeout at all generally but certainly not when you have only just got the kitten. Stress and upset can make them poorly.

I never need to say 'No' or anything like that. I just calmly pick them up and place them somewhere they can scratch. If you make a big deal of it, she will think it's something that gets her attention so will do it more. You can make the chairs temporarily less appealing by draping something over them. Or you can get sticky stuff that cats don't like.

Personally i would refrain at this early stage from any punishment type of treatment at all.

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Lollo

I have a little water spray bottle which I got the tip from this forum.

Zuri scratches my stair carpet so I have recently been squirting her with water... she runs away but is gradually getting the message.

She is now using her scratching post and wicker basket.

Hope this helps

i like the idea of a water bottle, but didnt want to stop her exloring while we have not even had her for a week yet if that makes sense

You need multiple scratching posts. I have several cat trees and Raiden uses all the scratching posts. His favorite seems to be one I bought for $5 from Walmart. It's flat, in a box and when one side is worn, you flip it over. It comes with catnip you rub into the pores.

If you can control this now -- catch it early, your furniture may be spared. If not, you can always put something that scrunches on the floor where they scratch. They don't seem to like the noise.

However, a good "no" and moving the cat away may do the trick. But cats love to scratch and they aren't going to stop, so you need to just divert their attention to something they love to scratch better. Raiden is currently using the box on the floor. Good kitty!

Yeah thanks for the tip

i have a 192cm cat tree which is coming some time this week. wondering if i should put it in the room with the chairs against a wall, which doesnt seem to have a view to the outside window,

or i can put it in the kittens room where she likes to sleep at night, and move the scratching pole i now have into where the chairs are? what would you suggest?

once she is older she will have the tiled area and her cat room to roam while i am at work. then she gets put into her cat room at night. other then that she will be allowed access to the house once her and the dog get along

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The little monsters 3

1. You should probably put the tree in whatever room you spend the most time in, because that's probably the room your cat is also going to spend the most time in (while you are there) and thus get the most use out of the tree. So that's the criteria I would use.

2. Yes, by putting more scratching posts around the house you improve the odds of those scratching posts being used instead of other things you don't want your cat scratching. Which is a good thing. Will that guarantee that the chairs (and other prized posessions) don't get scratched up? Definitely not Like I said, if it's more desirable than your scratching posts, then the chairs will get scratched, and even if it's not, your cat may just enjoy using the chairs as a perch, or as a surface to run up and over while getting from "a" to "b", or just a fun item to play on/with, and scratch it up incidentally in the process of climbing on them. So more scratching posts or scoldings or whatnot is fine if you are trying to train and reduce wear and tear, but it's not a reliable deterrent if the chairs are important that they not be scratched up.

My cats don't sharpen their claws on my dining room chairs, but they love to jump/climb up on them, sit up there, sometimes play up there, knock the chairs over, and thus they get kind of beaten up anyway.[/quote]

I normally spend a lot of time in the cat room, which is/also use to be the study lol. Its where i like to play some video games and hang out in there. so i might put it in there.

Cool ill grab another scratching pole soon then if that is the case. I have not seen the cat sharpen her claws on the chairs yet just stopping her early. I dont mind if she jumped up there but not use it as a scratching pole if that makes sense. at the moment if she jumps up there i just slide the chair and its enough for her to get scared to jump off.

Once she goes to the vet the second time ill get the vet to show me how to trim her claws and ill make a habit of doing it weekly

Cat tree should come this week.

do your cats jump up on things with out their claws when they are older? i think mine uses its claws because she is still tiny

Ohhh I have a new tip...


I was watching a video about the uses of vinegar.. (I know I need help)

But it mentioned spray vinegar on your carpet to stop scratching.

Well it worked... she has stopped scratching my stair carpet.

So how did the fabulous new tree work out? would love to see how your kitten is breaking it in!

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The little monsters 3

Hey forgot to check this, Yeah as soon as i set it up which i have turned into the cat room (i sound crazy) she was up the top of it in 10 mins and now sleeps in the little basket at the top.

She has not tryed to jump on the chairs or even go near them. which is good, i have a feeling she has fallen off them and maybe scared?

Also she likes to jump onto the old leather couches but have never seen her use her claws on them

I uploaded some pics on another post but will upload them to this thread shortly :)