OT Kittens scratching sofa

Pinkee Squeeeek-a-Lotta has a round plastic thing with a ball that
goes around when she bats it, in the center is corrugated cardboard
thing for her to scratch on. She scratches through/destroys the
cardboard about every 6 months. The cardboard is replaceable.

She and the other kittens had one to play with at the cat breeders,
and we bought one for her. She's got 2 of them because the ball
disappeared from the first one. It seems that the puppy took the ball
out to play, we found the ball after replacing the toy.

At the age of 4 she still loves it/them, tears at them every morning,
I'm sure that they have saved the sofa.

Bonnie, in MIddletown, VA



On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 13:00:35 +0000, Johanna Gibson
wrote:

On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 07:52:07 -0500, "She in PA"
wrote:

I have three kittens one is 6 months old and the other two are 4 months old.
All of them like to law at the end of the sofa. I have tried spraying them
didn't work. I tried chasing them with a paper bag with noisy things in it.
I just looked like a fool running around the house. Then when I sat the bag
down they would go and play with it. I am getting a new sofa is there any
suggestions besides getting them de-clawed\? I don't like doing that.

She in PA

I used a combination of 1) giving Sasha a scratching post that I
actively encouraged her to use and 2) catching her in the act of
clawing something and squirting her with a water pistol.
For the first one, I had to take her paws and show her how to use
it. Once she got the idea, and that she wouldn't be in trouble, she
loved it. Cats want to sharpen their claws, so get them something
that is going to allow that behaviour.
For the second one, you have to run less with a water pistol than
you do if you are trying to smack a cat's bum. Sadly, you can't shoot
around corners, but it's very effective. I used to shake it so that
Sasha could hear what was coming, and stop if she wanted, then fire
away if she carried on. It got to the point where I only needed to
shake it, then to the point where I only needed to reach for it....
Good luck! It was easier for me, because I only had one kitten to
deal with. I always feel that 2 sort of egg each other on. They have
a little "cat community" of their own.


-- Jo in Scotland