13 Ways to save your furniture from cat scratching

13 Ways to Save Your Furniture from Cat Scratching

Copyright © 2004, Petar Petrov

Cozy Cat Furniture.comCats are great pets. They love to play, they love to cuddle when you are watching TVor sleeping, and they purr for no reason other than being near you. But they also love to scratch. Unfortunately, the things they love to scratch are often the legs of your antique table, yourupholstered sofa, or your expensive carpet. Although many humans do not appreciate when their cats scratch, you have to know that kittens and cats do not scratch to make us angry, they just need to scratch.Scratching is a natural hardwired behavior in cats, just like breathing and purring, and every cat owner must know WHY THE CATS SCRATCH. In the wild, cats scratch around their immediate environment tosignal their presence to other cats and to claim the area in question. The marking takes two forms: visual and olfactory. The visual is in the form of clawing marks and is so obvious that even wehumans can recognise it. The olfactory mark is subtler, involving the release of pheromones. These are substances secreted from the body to be picked up by the number of the same species, causing them toalter their behavior. Scratching has additional function too. It removes the nail sheaths, outer layer of dead cells from the claw. You might thing your cat scratches to sharpen her claws, but itmore likely it provides her with a form of physical therapy for the muscles and tendons of her paws. There are two groups of targets for every cat. The first one is when your cat targets one or two areasin the home, usually near important territorial areas such as: sleeping area, litter tray, hunting or play areas. The second one is where your cat undertakes more widespread and destructivescratching in highly visible sites such as: doorways, windows, prominent furnishings - like sofas. WHAT YOU CAN DO IF YOUR CAT SCRATCHING YOUR FURNITURE? 1. The easiest but the most painful method for your...