Hi

I rehomed a 5 year old male cat yesterday and he is settling in really well. I only have one niggle, he keeps scratching at the one door and carpet, because he knows it leads to outside. It will be a while before he will be allowed out, and I don't want to have to keep saying no to him.

Has anyone got any advice on how to stop him doing this? When he claws the carpet we can't open the door from the other side, so I'm worried he will get stuck in that room

Also, I don't think he has used his litter tray yet, although I may be wrong. he is eating and drinking well.

I've never had a cat before so any advice would be fantastic

I have a lot of foster waifs and strays (shelter cats) come through my home and this kind of behavior is common enough. You can buy things in pet shops called sticky paws (basically strong double sided sticky strips) if you stick them on to the carpet around the door area, that should stop him scratching there, but it will mean you have to jump over them. You can also improvise this and do it with duct tape stuck on the carpet sticky side UP. Another thing you could try ( a lot of people have success with this, but it never really works for me) is aluminium foil placed over the carpet around the door. The theory is cats don’t like tin foil and wont walk or scratch there… I only have success with this on smallish surfaces like shelves. No harm trying though.

I also strongly suggest you do something so if he does claw he can’t actually lift the carpet up… maybe stick the carpet down properly first…. The very fact the carpet is obviously a bit loose at the doorway is …. Well sorry, it’s like an invitation to a cat to scratch.

Best of luck and rest assured these behaviours will pass and they are very normal. Try to pay as little attention to his "let me out" pleas as possible. If you start getting "awwwww you poor boy, it's just for a month or so"... he will pick up on your "feeling guilty" vibes and play on them and increase his behaviour. It's best to totally ignore it.

Thanx hun.

He's been better today, and has used his litter tray I will get some of the sticky paws tomorrow and give that a whirl

every time your cat misbehaves give it an alternative

if you have a good cat tree, teach cat to use it instead of the carpet

it is my experience that cats dont like faux fur and sissal rope so all my cat trees are carpet

when cat scratches carpet, pick cat up and put up against cat tree and take cats paws in your hands and gently make scratching motions without extending claws and repeat in a whisper 'scratch scratch scratch'

and tell your cat what a good kitty it is

during the training do this often and not only as a result of scratchign in the worng place and always make it a special together time

sometimes when you see your cat scratching the tree join in, in a social scratch beside where the cat is scratching .


also use time out cage - the carry cage is a good one for this, you dont want anything that might be interpreted as a reward so that is why I suggest a carry cage which is small and very boring

if your cat does the wrong thing put it in the cage for a bit

some ppl have made the error of throwing their cat outside every time they caught it scratchign the sofa and the cat interpreted that as a good way to get to be let outsidedand they sofa is ruined

so make sure if the cat is doign the wrong thing you do not inadvertently give it something it does want

the time out cage seems to work well

I have successfully stopped my cats scratchign the door during the night

when they scratched the door and woke me i picked cat up and placed in carry cage till morning. if they meowed and carried on i put them in the bathroom inside the carry cage which is small and boring

none of my cats lasted longer than givign me more than 2 nights disturbed sleep as they know they will not getwhat they want - only time out in the cage

the trick is to give the cat something it does not want when it is doign somethign wrong

alas putting cat in toilet will not work because the toilet is roomy and interesting

so carry cage is my best option for time out cage

i need to add here that during the night the time out has never exceeded 3 hours and during the day 30 minute time out is more usual

and it does work and the cats do understand - they are much more intelligent then we think and respond well to being given direction


others also use this method

http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...en.html?cat=53

Personally, I'm not keen on the carry cage time out. We use that for trips to the vet and kittys are stressed enough.
I have read about using citrus spray so we are going to try this on the upstairs door as that's where our cat stands to scratch as she wants to be upstairs. We'll probably try the tin foil too. Good luck

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Me neither, I'm afraid it sounds rather cruel. Akin to locking a child in the cupboard under the stairs, not that I would advocate that either

would it be best to de sensitise your cat from being so anxious about the carry cage?

Perhaps leaving the cage down and open so that kitty can explore at leisure would do the trick - it may make going to the vet in future less stressful

You did what? Oh dear, your poor cat

OP, please don't take such horrid advice. It's just cruel.

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I'm all for de-senstising cats so they like going into their cat carrier

but making a cat feel happy and relaxed in a cat carrier is one thing, encourage them to go in and out of, give them treats in it, etc etc, that's all perfectly fine, even comendable...

but using it as a time out form of punishment place... nope.

Don't agree with that

Totally agree with this post. You can't get your cat to be relaxed and happy in the place you double up as punishment. It's cruel and would cause confusion for the cat