How to teach kitten not to scratch furniture (and bite)
Robyn Rhudy
I've had an 8 week old kitten for a few weeks now. She's entering
her hellion months. She runs like a mad cat, chews everything, eats paper
and plastic, bites my fingers, clothes, and arms, climbs up things, falls
off them, and basically scratches and bites everything. I've started just
today trying to teach her not to scratch furniture. As she was doing it,
I simultaneously said NO sternly and sprayed her with some room
temperature, plain water. Instead of stopping, she liked it! My kitten
likes being sprayed with water! Are there other methods to teach her NO.
I haven't had a kitten in the house for 13 years. At that time, I was
young so my parents had our two cats then declawed. I don't want to do
that to Polky. I know she'll most likely grow out of biting me and acting
crazy, but scratching will stay with her all her life. She loves her 3
scratching posts but everything else is good to try to for an inquisitive
kitten. If you have an experience with training kittens or advise, please
E-mail me. This group is WAY to large to check, even daily. Thanks very
much.
Patricia DiGiacomo
Hi Robyn,
You might try afixing some aluminum foil or plastic wrap to your couch -
or whatever she is scratching. Just be careful of the plastic wrap -
don't leave it up when you are not around, she could suffocate if she
decided to play with it.
Another trick I have learned is to rub the "fun to scratch" places with
some plain vinegar or regular flavor listerine. The scent will diminish
quickly to a point where you cannot smell it, but the cat will still be
able to. Cats as a general rule hate the smell of those two things. I
think it almost burns their mucous membranes - kind of like you smelling
horseradish.
My kitten is five months old and also loves to get wet. As for the
biting, a previous message had a great idea - make a sound like a cat
would if its tail was stepped on. Your cat will realize that she is
hurting you and hopefully will stop. Good luck.
Patricia
Phyllis Lee
Robyn Rhudy <rrh...@gl.umbc.edu> wrote:
> I've had an 8 week old kitten for a few weeks now. She's entering
>her hellion months. She runs like a mad cat, chews everything, eats paper
>and plastic, bites my fingers, clothes, and arms, climbs up things, falls
>off them, and basically scratches and bites everything. I've started just
>today trying to teach her not to scratch furniture. As she was doing it,
>I simultaneously said NO sternly and sprayed her with some room
>temperature, plain water. Instead of stopping, she liked it! My kitten
>likes being sprayed with water! Are there other methods to teach her NO.
>I haven't had a kitten in the house for 13 years. At that time, I was
>young so my parents had our two cats then declawed. I don't want to do
>that to Polky. I know she'll most likely grow out of biting me and acting
>crazy, but scratching will stay with her all her life. She loves her 3
>scratching posts but everything else is good to try to for an inquisitive
>kitten. If you have an experience with training kittens or advise, please
>E-mail me. This group is WAY to large to check, even daily. Thanks very
>much.
*****************************************
Hi Rhonda,
I had my first cat declawed because I didn't realize that this surgery was actually an
amputation. Now five years later, with our kitten and a different Vet, we've been
successful in training him to use specific areas for scratching rather than the couch,
etc.
The Vet showed me how to clip the tips of Sput's claws which greatly reduces shredding and
scratching in the house. I've also found that positive reinforcement works much better
than the water bottle.....Sput thought the water bottle was funny so we had to switch to a
different method. Now I pick him up when he starts to scratch furniture, and move him to
a big wooden cabinet in the kitchen and place his paws on that, telling him this is the
okay place! He knows what I'm talking about and scratches away happily. :-) It took
several weeks of reinforcing the idea and of lavishing praise on him for this to be
effective....now he automatically goes to the wooden cabinet or heavy cardboard boxes I
leave out for the cats and scratches on them.
Cats are so smart.....everyday I find out just how smart they are! I think you'll find
teaching your new kitten to scratch in the right places is not as difficult as it may
sound....I wish I'd known about clipping their claws with nail clippers and teaching them
where it is ok to scratch back when PrettyBoy was a baby.
Good luck.......purrrss,
Phyllis Lee, w/PrettyBoy & Sputnik