Helpful Tips to Protect Your Furniture From Cats
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Cats make great pets. They love to play, cuddle and purr at their owners whenever they are around them. It’s how they show their affection to their owner’s. But there’s one more thing they love to do, and that is scratching.
Scratching is not a habit but rather a natural cat behavior just like purring. Cats scratch because they need to and not because they want to. It’s not something that they want to do just to aggravate their owners. They scratch because they need to mark their territory. Scratching also helps remove the dead cells from their claws and the nail sheaths. It’s a form of therapy or exercise for their muscles, nerves and tendons of their paws.
Scratching is good for cats. Unfortunately, it’s not so good for their owner’s furniture that is located near their territory. Aside from home furnishings, they will also scratch doorways and windows. If you are a cat owner and having issues with your feline scratching furnishings in your house, below are some helpful tips that will help protect your furniture from getting scratch by a cat.
- Give your cat something to scratch like a cat pole or a scratching board. It will give your feline friend plenty of opportunity to scratch while keeping your furniture safe. Since cats like to scratch before and after sleeping and eating, place the scratching boards and cat poles near their beds or their litter box.
- Use a double sided tape to cover your furniture because cats don’t like anything that sticks to their paws. You can also use foil because felines don’t like the sound and feel of foil.
- Keep your cat active both physically and mentally. Give them plenty of chances to exercise and play to prevent boredom which may lead to destructive scratching.
- If your cat likes to sit by the window and watch the outside, a window perch will give keep your cat entertained for a few hours. But don’t forget to keep the windows close at all times to prevent your cat from falling.
- You can also try spraying orange peels and bitter apple on the areas that your cat scratched to keep them from doing it again.
Image via Laurence Simon at Flickr.com
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