Is your cat slowly destroying your home? Are you faced with problems like scratches on the furniture, ripped carpets, garbage can toppling over, and clawed up curtains?
Well you don’t have to bear it all because there are dozens of solutions. With the help of some equipment and a little cat training, you can make your cat be nicer to your house.
Your Carpet and Furniture
Scratching furniture and carpeting is very common for felines. It’s a cat thing. The best way to get rid of this behavior is to use cat scratchers.
Once you set up a premier cat scratchers in your house, your cat is not going to use it right away. He’s going to need some getting used to. Whenever you see your cat ripping away the rug or couch, call your cat, go to the scratcher, and scratch it yourself. Your feline pet will go right over and claw at the scratcher instead.
If that doesn’t work, place the scratcher to the spot your cat has been shredding. Cover the scratcher in catnip. Once it interacts with the scratcher, praise your cat and feed it its favorite treat.
Don’t resort to punishment if your furry pet goes on scratching. Punishment allows your cat to learn that scratching is bad when you’re around, but it doesn’t stop him from clawing things in your absence.
Avoid allowing your cat to scratch an old sofa, even if you’re going to throw it away soon. You’re only allowing your cat to get used to the habit, and thus scratch your new couch.
The Curtains
Curtains are for draping your windows so that they can look prettier, but to your cat, they are toys or a fun thing to shred. If you’re going to discourage this behavior, one option is to use tension rods. The moment your cat climbs the curtain, the whole thing will go tumbling down and crash on your pet. This will make him realize that climbing isn’t as fun and safe as he thought.
The noise from the collapse may be unnerving at first, but this won’t last long. You can replace the tension rod with a regular rod once your cat gets the hint of the danger of climbing the curtain.
Alternatively, cover your windows with vertical blinds instead of fabric. There’s no way your cat will be able to climb that. If your cat does get past the slats, he won’t be able to tear them to pieces.
Chewing House Items
Chewing things in the house is another thing cats tend to enjoy. To solve this problem, cover these things with something that tastes nasty. Spray cayenne pepper, lemon peels, or nail polish as cats usually abhor their scents. One sniff of the stuff in your house and your cat will go “eek!” at the smell. Your cat will never even think about gnawing those items.
You also wouldn’t want the repellents to ruin your house items. So test them out before applying.
The Garbage Can
If your pet likes to dig through garbage, the best solution is to make the garbage bins inaccessible. Hide the bin inside a cabinet or put the bin inside your garbage. If the garbage really should be outside, keep the lid shut tight all the time and don’t use swinging top lids.
If your cat knows how to topple the garbage can over, put a heavy object inside.
Your Counter
You also might want to make your counter off limits to the cat. Since they hate loud noise, leave items that make a lot of noise on your counter. At the edge of the counter, place aluminum cans with pennies inside, or scatter the counter with utensils wrapped with coil paper.
Finally, don’t give up on your cat and ask advice from the local veterinarian. Destructive behavior is one reason why many people surrender their pets to animal shelters.
