Confessions of a Cat

by Right

I am a scratcher, I will shred anything I can get my paws on. I ruined a chair, a living room carpet and all the scratches they bring into the house. It is said to eliminate unwanted scratching, your human should provide an approved scratching post or other item. They should issue a firm "no!" on unapproved items. They can also spray Bitter Apple or Bitter Orange (available at most pet stores) on your favorite items that you are particularly stubborn about. Your human is supposed to praise you and give you a cat treat when you use the approved scratching material. My favorite part is how they are supposed to demonstrate how to use the post by (yes) going up to it and scratching it like you would. Then you are supposed to come over to investigate their scent and then leave your own.

Pepper (black, white, or cayenne) can be applied to furniture and plants to discourage scratching. This does not deter all cats though, doesn't bother me, even Tabasco Sauce doesn't stop me. They can also cover areas with double-sided tape (sticky on both sides, I don't like that) to discourage unwanted scratching, that is good to stick to the side of a chair of sofa. (Always be sure the humans provide an alternative scratching item.)

In general, cats will either use a post a lot or never use it. The deciding factor can be the material that the post is made out of. It has to be fairly smooth, they say that cats usually don't like plush carpet, but that isn't true because that is what I shredded at my house. It also shouldn't be a material that we can get our nails get stuck in. Once that happens, you may not use the post anymore. Natural fiber rope wrapped tightly around the post appeals to many cats (we like that). Some cats like plain wood; a two-by-four made available may work well. Other cats prefer the kind of "scratching posts" that are horizontal rather than vertical.

Left has a favorite scratching thing, it is called a Turbo Scratch er, he just digs and scratches with much gusto, we all use it, but it is commonly know as Left's scratchier because of his fondness for it. He even gets a new one every Christmas because it is usually pretty beat up by the end of the year. This year he got a "Big Mama" Scratchy Box by Kitty Hoots. It has yellow tassels, bright colors and it is BIG! He loves it of course, Jessie sleeps on it just to make him mad, I dig around in it a lot because of the catnip, but this scratchy box belongs to Left. I am afraid that it won't last until next Christmas as it isn't hard plastic but Mom doesn't care, she will just buy him a new one.

My favorite thing is carpet. After I destroyed our living room carpet they put in hardwood floors, then I didn't have anything to dig on so I went after the sofa, Mom didn't like that so she bought a large area run and that made me very happy, I dig away, Mom tells me to stop, I wait till she is at work and dig some more. I believe she knows I do it behind her back because one day I heard her say MY carpet was pretty ragged and she would have to go to the discount store and get another one. We aren't spoiled, really we aren't. We just have well trained humans.

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