It is difficult to remember that sometimes today’s naughty kitty is the result of errors made raising said kitty when he was a wee kitten.
For example, this screen shot from an early video of Andy and Dougy shows where I failed to properly bend one of my little “twigs” when he was a very naughty “sapling”!
Yes, that’s Dougy in the circle! Bad kitty! Very bad kitty indeed!
So, since I failed to correct the behavior at the time, should I feel upset with Dougy now when he openly defies me now, and scratches that same piece of furniture?
Dougy being a very naughty kitty…
and enjoying it!
The question was rhetorical. I’m reaping what I sowed! (Or failed to sow.) In Dougy’s defense, he doesn’t do this naughty thing too often.
When you are that cute, you can get away with anything 🙂 And he knows it.
It’s true!
I don’t know Doug….what happens at night when you are fast asleep? If, he has his mind set on scratching your sofa(also called chesterfield in Canada), he will do this when no one is watching. I did have a cat that would just start scratching the chesterfield so I would come after her. It was a game. That was the only cat that scratched furniture. All the rest find other outlets……like the rug. These gals have 2 condos to scratch. I know the gal that’s doing it and she only does it at night.
Jean
He comes into my bedroom and scratches on my bed!
haha…I used to have a small hole in the covering of my box spring and one of my cats would crawl inside! They are weird. Isn’t it odd that he’d scratch the bed….I don’t understand why…..do you?
H does this to get my attention , I think.The timing suggests that, anyway – it’s when I haven’t put out the morning kitty food “on time” by kitty time standards, that is, I try to sleep in!
I bought Coco a scratching post and she uses that….everytime she eats, or wants to have fun.
Andy’s a good kitty about scratching, but Dougy uses anything from the carpet to the settee. Oh, and his scratching posts, too!
We made a scratching post for our a kitty a long time ago and every time she would scratch the couch we would say no and drag her to the post. It worked for her, even though she was about 3 years old at the time.
Doug’s a little over 4 years old, but it might be worth a try. I’ll try it,. anarette!
opps i meant Dougy not Doug-geez
I sometimes call him “Doug”. I sometimes also call him “Andy”! LOL! Andy always is Andy or “Fluffytail”.
Ali has never clawed, nor sharpened her claws our furniture til we recently got new living room sofa and love seat. I have had a heck of a battle with her about it and finally got out the spritz bottle ad after three times, she has decided ti is not worth it.
She has many scratching posts of different heights, sizes and shapes. No need for her to be a butt about attacking my furniture and so far I am winning.
Doug looks in our heaven attacking your sofa and it is kind of hard to try to teach him no when he has done this all of his life.
Fuzzy, our kitty before Ali, was a big, gray tuxedo kitty, and there was not a door frame safe in our apt that she has not changed the shape of from her using them as a scratching post.
We had to pay for them all to be replaced when we moved.
The boys have always had a large selection of appropriate scratching posts, which are scattered throughout the house. It makes no sense that Dougy can’t always use one of those – he usually uses them~ but that settee just has too much appeal for him.
That your cat only attacks the new sofa is due to the unknown scents. It smells foreign to your cat. Your cat now tries to make it smell more common – and on the paws they have glands with which they distribute pheromones. That is why the cat attacks your furniture. And that Dougie does it today still is because of the fleeting nature of those scents.
The settee is really old. I think we got it in the mid-1970s.
I was answering to the other commenter who said her cat only did it after they bought new furniture – and besides, the settee was really new for the boys, wasn’t it?
It was when they were kittens, yes.
Ok and for whatever reason i tis unacceptable and the spritz bottle helps.
LOL! Have to have it handy. He doesn’t do this every day or with any predictability.
The spritz bottle is a good helper. Never said a word against the spritz-bottle! I just wanted you to understand your cat. There is a huge, foreign thing in your room and your cat is intimidated by it. You should be glad your cat is not using urine to overcome the smell.
Ugh! That would be grim!