Scratching Furniture and Cat Scratching Posts

If your cat is scratching your furniture, shredding and destroying your home, you need to realize that your cat needs to scratch and climb. Scratching conditions your cat's claws by removing the old layers of the nails. Scratching and climbing are highly enjoyable feline activities and are part of the essence of being a cat. Since your cat will want and need to scratch, provide her with a variety of scratching posts and teach her to use them. Until your cat can be trusted not to scratch and claw your furniture, she should not be allowed free run of your house when you are not there to supervise her. If your cat has a single favorite scratching site, this may be temporarily protected by covering it with some netting or loosely woven fabric. Cats do not like to snag their claws.

As a temporary measure you can confine your cat to an area where she cannot get into trouble. Confinement is not the answer to the problem, but it can be used to help train your cat to use a post when you are not home to actively train her. The confinement area should be well stocked with a variety of scratching and climbing posts. Since your cat will have no other choice of things to scratch, she will learn to scratch and climb her posts.

You can buy scratching posts at your pet store or you can build one yourself. Rough hewn 4x4's set vertically with a few horizontal resting platforms are ideal. Whether buying carpet to cover a home made post or purchasing the finished item, remember to take along a comb to check that there are no loops in the carpeting which will snag the cat's claws. You can also attach the carpeting underside-up, as the backing has a rough texture that cats enjoy.

Puppies

Passive House Training or Paper Training

While your puppy is confined, he is developing a habit of eliminating on paper because no matter where he goes, it will be on paper. As time goes on, he will start to show a preferred place to do his business. When this place is well established and the rest of the papers remain clean all day, then gradually reduce the area that is papered.

Start removing the paper that is furthest away from his chosen location. Eventually you will only need to leave a few sheets down in that area only. If he ever misses the paper, then you've reduced the area too soon. Go back to papering a larger area or even the entire room.

Once your puppy is reliably going only on the papers you've left, then you can slowly and gradually move his papers to a location of your choice. Move the papers only an inch a day. If puppy misses the paper again, then you're moving too fast. Go back a few steps and start over. Don't be discouraged if your puppy seems to be making remarkable progress and then suddenly you have to return to papering the entire room. This is normal. There will always be minor set-backs. If you stick with this procedure, your puppy will be paper trained.