another new kitty question (kitty vs. the furniture)

[guavagirl]

Hi, everyone,

We're going to be new kitty parents in the coming week, and I fear my anxiety about being ready for her arrival has overridden my anxiety about whether to adopt a kitty. May I impose on all of you Kitty Veterans to share your sage advice/consumer recommendation on the following:

1. The "deterrent" sprays (e.g., Bitter Apple) that are supposed to be applied to furniture to prevent scratching and chewing. Do these work? Any particular brands/types you'd suggest?

2. Scratching posts. I cannot fully accept one of those massive cat castles (frankly, I'd be jealous of kitty!), but I do want to provide new kitty a full range of acceptable scratching options. How tall/long a post is tall enough? What about those scratching pads that hang from door knobs? Any particular materials better than others?

3. Where to shop. I am so far disappointed in the PetCo in our neighborhood. We also tried another pet supply shop, and I came away with the message that dogs matter a lot more than cats in the marketplace. Suggestions for online shopping or in-person shopping (Boston area)?

Thanks all so much. You have influenced changes in my insurance, changes in our home menu, and now maybe changes in the way we welcome our new kitty into our home.

g

[sneezles]

I tried the deterrent sprays but found they did nothing to deter the cat (and the one for the dog must have tasted good because Roxi continued to chew on the outdoor furniture ).

Squeaker only really claws when he wants to go out. We have had many a conversation about sitting by the door and meowing (sometimes he actualy remembers to do it ). He is an indoor/outdoor cat and does most of his claw stretching on the trees outside.

DS#1 took the scratching post for his new kitty that will be an indoor cat. The post is probably 20" tall and DS has had to teach Tux to use it. Tux now likes to perch on top, run around it and run into it but he's young and still working on his skills!

[AndreaU]

I can't offer much advice on cat ownership as I own 2 dogs, but I can recommend an online site for pet needs: Petsmart. I think they also have stores but we don't have one here so I shop online. They have a "quick re-order" feature that lets you re-order items you buy regularly and they also have an "automatic shipment" option on items you'll need on a regular basis. for example, I get rawhide treats shipped every 6 weeks; when the bag is empty, a new one arrives automatically. http://www.petsmart.com/cat/shopping/

[LGBurns]

For scratching: Sticky Paws. These are two-sided clear tape strips (not super sticky so they don't hurt furniture--just sticky enough to be annoying to kitty). When kitty goes to scratch the sticky tape feels yucky and kitty stops. Doesn't look wonderful but doesn't look horrible either. Definitely keeps them from scratching up your furniture. Theoretically, you are eventually supposed to be able to remove it because kitty no longer looks at that piece of furniture as a viable place to scratch but I've never felt brave enough to take it off.

Also, be vigilant about trimming claws (we do it every week). This way, you don't have catches and scratches from kitty just jumping on or off the furniture or (as our cat does a lot) kneading the couch with pleasure when you pet her.

Scratching posts: Be sure that it is sturdy and tall enough for your cat to stretch his/her whole body along it (part of scratching is for the pleasure of stretching). I really like the cardboard scratching pads but my cat is both a vertical and horizontal scratcher. I don't think those are as good for vertical scratching. The big thing for scratchers that go on the floor (meaning horizontal) is that they shouldn't slide around too much because then the cats reject them because they can't get a good scratching/stretch in (don't use plastic ones for this reason).

I would invest in at least one nice scratching post/perch so that your cat has a place that s/he feels is really his/hers--this keeps down their tendency to coopt other pieces of furniture you'ld rather they left alone.

Final note on scratching, I'm a bad cat mother in that I have some chairs that seem to take the scratching without any damage and I let her go ahead and scratch on those too. Theoretically, you aren't supposed to do this because they tend to then think that all furniture is up for grabs but my experience has been she attempts the couch less if she has the chairs to attack.

Enjoy your new kitty--they really are the most fascinating wonderful creatures. I love my sweet Celie and can't imagine our life without her.

[Elisabeth]

Gotta second the recommendation of double-sided tape on the furniture. The sprays don't seem to work at all--and no amount of screaming, yelling, crying, moaning, and pleading worked either. But my cats HATE double-sided tape and won't touch the couch where we had it. I did remove it from the downstairs couch after a few months; neither of them goes near the couch.

One of them loves to sharpen her claws on wood (the molding and dining room chairs took quite a beating!) so DH made her a homemade scratching post out of a small tree trunk; she loves it. The other one prefers carpet, so I let her go to work on my bedroom rug which is ugly anyway!

[luv2cook]

the way I trained mine was to never let them have free reign when you're not there. The minute they started to scratch, I grabbed them and at the same time said "NO!" and put them on their cat tree. After a few tries, they got the idea.

Make sure whatever tree you get does not have a small base. They wobble. Cats like a good pull on something sturdy. That's why the furniture works so well
Also, check out Sonya Fitzpatrick on Animal Planet. She has videos and books you can look at.

Editing to say that I praised them when I rubbed their paws on the cat tree and I did use catnip...

[beckms]

I don't have cats, but I'm a nurse at a vet clinic, so we hear lots about people's furniture woes. As was already mentioned, regular nailtrims are key to keeping your cat from ruining your furniture (and from scratching you). Don't even get me started on the horrors of declawing...but it seems like you've already ruled that out. Good for you.

Anyway, someone suggested to me that if you rub a scratching post or tree with catnip as soon as you bring it home, the cat will immediately gravitate toward that instead of the furniture.

Good luck, and have fun!

[guavagirl]

The endorsement for the tape was a pleasant surprise -- we definitely found ourselves in several pet store aisle trying to distinguish truthful product claims from the wishful thinking. And the tape was one object of our pondering. Thanks! (maybe we should collectively go into business as a Consumer Reports for kitties....)

LGBurns: Where did you get your cardboard scratcher? Perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree (heheheh).

And now for the first dumb question of the day: are people nail clippers fine for Kitty?

[dulcecoeur]

guavagirl: regarding the nail clippers....cat clippers are shaped differently for kitty *rounded* nails. People clippers would like cause kitty's nails to split leaving her VERY unhappy and in a lot of pain!!!

[beckms]

People nail-clippers will be hard to use, IMO, especially if Kitty is wiggly. Nail trimmers for cats are not expensive (they run around $7), and they are designed for a cat's claws and the angle you'll be atwhen you're holding the cat. be sure to make a point of playing with your kitty's feet a lot, since you don't want her to grow up to have a fear of nail trimming. As a nurse, I always greatly appreciate the cats and dogs who are tolerant of having their feet touched.

Have you ever clipped a cat's nails before? Be very very careful. If you've never done it, take her to your vet and have someone show you how to do it. If you cut the nail too short, you'll nick the quick (analagous to the sensitive tissue underneath our nails) and it's very painful. All it takes is one bad experience and your cat will never let you trim her claws again. If you look closely, you should be able to see where the quick ends, and clip just past that point: it's the pink area of the nail that doesn't extend all the way to the end of the nail. You always want to leave a little bit of white past the quick so you're sure to not cut too short.

A long answer for a short question!

[LGBurns]

I agree about the nail clipping -- have the vet show you how. Our cat is great about cutting her nails but we kind of have a system down. My husband picks her up, holding her over his shoulder so that I can access her paws, and pets her until she's happy (she's a really cuddly cat and loves petting so this is quite easy to do). Then when she's pretty relaxed I start trimming her nails and she purrs that whole time and doesn't mind it at all. If your cat isn't into being held or touched it might be harder. Don't know.

As to the cardboard scratchers: all of mine come from Trader Joe's actually and they came with organic cat nip to get the kitty started. The key is to put them in a place where they won't move around a lot. As has been mentioned, kitties really want a sturdy place to scratch.

I also second the advice of sprinkling cat nip on the scratcher. Also, call her over to the scratcher and scratch on it yourself so that she gets the idea. The sound of your nails scratching on it with often get her to try it out too.

[RunnerKim]

I too trim my cats nails regularly (it's more like every other week though). I have the pet nail trimmers. I always have the really yummy dried liver treats out, which they get when they're done (when first starting they got a little bit after every paw). Most of the time the cats tolerate it well - occaisonally they're fussy and I wrap them in a towel to keep them calm (and me protected). I start with back feet as those seem to be less of an issue for them.

I've never had an issue with them scratching our furniture. Once one of them started using a wicker laundry basket (our vet said wicker wasn't fair to cats!) but we just put a scratching post next to it and problem solved. We made our own scratching posts. As was mentioned - make sure it's more than tall enough for them to be able to stretch full height to scratch. We just wrapped a post with sisel rope (available at a hardware store) and nailed the post to a plywood base. I do have something heavy sitting on the base because it was too wobbly - so a heavier base would be better. Once or twice over the past years we've had to re-wrap the rope (use a staple gun to secure it at top - making sure it's tall enough the cat wouldn't snag it's nail in the staple).

I know there are also nail covers for cats - never used them and they have to be put on regularly.

Here's a couple of pet supplies sources I like (and are often much cheaper than PetsMart or Petco)

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/
http://www.omahavaccine.com/
http://www.upco.com
http://www.dogandcatbooks.com/

Kim