<shrug> Long, long ago I decided that the cats (and my peace and quiet) were a lot more important to me than the furniture. For keeping them away from things that could be dangerous to them, or keeping them off cooking/eating areas, we start with loud, unpleasant noise and taper off once they get the idea. It only took two months for us to train our youngest this way: now all we have to do is look at her when she climbs on the table and firmly say, “Down.”
The “divine punishment” approach sounds pretty good. But if the cat is deterred from the couch or carpet because of that approach, then where will it scratch? It needs to scratch somewhere or the cat will relieve that anxiety some other way that will drive you nuts. Even if you have tried scratching posts in the past, if you get a scratching post during this new training (a tall cat tree is probably best), the cat will be more motivated to scratch there if there is no place left to scratch. Along with the Horrible Noisy God trick or the Water Squirting God trick, the owner should make sure nothing bad happens next to the Right Place To Scratch. No punishment, no surprises, etc. And praise the dickens out of the cat when he uses the Right Place. Or give good treats right next to the Right Place. Hopefully and eventually the cat will associate the Right Place with Good Things and the Wrong Place with Bad Things.
Man, I am loving this-I am actually laughing out loud at the back and forth between Eva Luna and all the members. I tell friends all the time there are some very witty people posting here.
Here is what I tried with my cat: the nail clipping thing I modifed as he got older as he never liked it at all. I took to shutting him up in a small room (bathroom) so he couldn’t get away, then swaddling ( I really like that word!) him in a big towel. I would hold him securely on my lap and gently pull one leg out from under the towel at a time and clip. He was unable to kick or bite. Then, I decided to introduce cat treats. Before during and after the procedure he snacked. In fact, he learned that he earned a treat per paw. Also, the eating distracted him from what I was doing. He actually learned to follow me in and stand still for the swaddling (that word again).
The scratching thing was repetition, consistency and determination. I got him a scratching post or block and would ALWAYS take him to it when I caught him. I would rub his feet in a scratching motion and he would begin. Much praise and glorification followed. He would actually look at me with a “look Ma!” expression and continue. Now, he did make rather a mess of a small area on my steps but all other things were intact. Guess it is their nature, the steps were of little concern for the most part. Doesn’t everyone have their faults? I loved him more than all the world.
I tried the YELL technique once when one of my cats was hell-bent on climbing up to an old bird box in my garden.
I waited until she was halfway up the tree in question, before bellowing NO!!! at the top of my voice.
All I got for my trouble was an amused look from my cat and a next door neighbour with a “I… I… I was just digging the garden!” look on his face.
Ah, well.
Well, I bought the spray stuff yesterday. It apparently struck fear in my Fatso’s little kitty heart, because he ran away as soon as I took it out of the bag. (How cats know what we’re up to, I have no idea; I must have a dozen other aerosol bottles around, but he somehow knew this one was for him. Of course, he also knew the last time I was going to put him in his carrier for a move.)
I sprayed the couch, and so far, so good. Of course, I’m out of the house most of the day; maybe I’ll install a kitty surveillance camera. A Webcam, maybe, like some daycare centers are now doing?
I’ve had the “sofa/scratching post” problem for some time, myself. But this weekend, I got one of those cardboard scratching pads, and put it right next to where Coppelia likes to claw, and she’s been ignoring the sofa ever since.
If that keeps up, I’ll let you know, but you might want to give it a try.
It’s really important to find an object for kitty to scratch that’s ok, or otherwise none of the other things will work for very long. Kitties NEED to scratch. All of them like different stuff too. I was ready to take one of mine back to the animal shelter until someone who does behavior mod for cats told me to try wrapping sisal rope around one part of the cat tree that kitty was ignoring. We were not even finished wrapping the rope when the little (expletive deleted) started scratching on it madly. He has not scratched the sofa or anywhere else forbidden since. A MIRACLE. The notes about watching to see if the cat likes to stretch or lie down are important too. Also, those cardboard ones have catnip in them and that’s great for cats who react to catnip, but they don’t all. Anyway, there is always a cure so don’t cut off kitty’s feet.
And thanks to Badbug for the ideas about clipping; however, I have one kitty that does not like any food treats at all; what to use to motivate this one? He is basically not very interested in cat food and not at all interested in people food. Not to worry tho – he weighs in at 17 lbs so I guess he eats enough to sustain life!
I’d never cut off kitty’s feet! Just can’t make myself do it; living creatures are ALWAYS more important than sofas. I’ve tried just about every scratching and nail clipping alternative known to man: posts, sisal, carboard boxes, catnip…I’m about at wit’s end. He also seems to like scratching the front door, which is more or less OK (it was a crappy door to begin with) if he could only refrain from doing it at 3 am and waking me up.
I’ll keep trying…