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Quick Cat Behavior Consult #2: Destructive Scratching The PPG Cat Committee presents the second in their series of quick feline behavior consults, focusing on the common feline behavior issue of scratching
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cratching is a commonly reported behavior issue in cats. Scratching is an innate feline behavior, whereby an owner’s soft furnishings may sometimes come off slightly the worse for wear. That does not need to be the case, however, and the behavior can quite easily be redirected to a more appropriate — in the owner’s eyes — location.
Important Reminders about the Behavior Scratching is a normal, natural behavior for cats that serves many purposes: • To communicate and modulate social interactions with other cats by: o Leaving behind a long-lasting visual mark (claw marks) and an olfactory mark by way of the interdigital glands. o Being seen physically marking an area (e.g., a confident, assertive cat might scratch in front of a less confident cat). • To remove the layered sheaths that comprise the claws (claw maintenance). • To stretch the muscles in the backs, shoulders, legs, and paws by digging in the claws and pulling back (the only way cats can exercise the muscles in their back and shoulders). • For balance and climbing (important to a cat’s sense of safety). • To relieve pent-up emotions and stress, and to express excitement. You cannot remove your cat’s wild instincts, but you can orchestrate where they are acted out. Accept your cat for what she is – a cat – and that cats come with claws and a drive to use them.
© Can Stock Photo/okssi68
Scratching is a natural feline behavior that has many functions; individual cats will have varying preferences regarding the location, position and substrate for their scratching posts
Management Techniques* •
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Determine your cat’s scratching preferences: o Position: vertical, horizontal, angled. o Substrate: sisal rope, sisal carpet, hemp, fabric, wood, cardboard. Provide various cat scratchers that are similar to the cat’s current preferences and place them in areas where the cat normally scratches. Cats often stretch or scratch when they wake up so consider placing one near where your cat sleeps. Others scratch when in a tense situation or as a way to displace anxiety. Locate and place scratchers in all the areas where you think your cat would appreciate them most. Place additional scratchers in pathways leading to and from the areas where the cat normally scratches and in core areas of the home—where cats instinctively do most of their scratching. Scratching posts should be at least 6 inches taller than the cat when she is fully stretched and should have a large, stable base that prevents the post from wobbling when the cat uses it. Make the scratching areas you want the cat to scratch more
BARKS from the Guild/September 2019
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appealing. You can do this by placing catnip or silvervine near them or attaching toys to the scratching place. You can give your cat treats and play with her on or around the area too to help create a positive association with the scratcher. After providing appropriate scratching items, as described above, clean the items you want the cat to stop scratching and make them less appealing: o Use an enzymatic cleaner to remove the scent marks left behind by the cat’s scratching. o Spray the items with Feliway® (a synthetic, odorless version of the pheromones cats use to spread their scent) twice a day to promote facial marking instead and consider plugging in a Feliway® diffuser in the area to reduce stress-related scratching. o Drape the items with a thick blanket or shower curtain, being sure to secure it at the bottom so the cat cannot crawl underneath and access the item. Trim the cat’s claws regularly. You can condition this using treats the cat loves to help make the experience more tolerable and less stressful.
*These management techniques and the behavior modification skills outlined below must be implemented simultaneously.
