Getting cat to use scratching post?

Rub the scratching post with fresh catnip. ;-)
I can guarantee that will get a good response from most cats!

I grow my own...... so always have access to it.

K.
--
^,,^ Cats-haven Hobby Farm ^,,^ ^,,^

"There are millions of intelligent species in the universe, and they are
all owned by cats" -- Asimov

Custom handcrafts, Sterling silver beaded jewelry
http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAP...s&userid=katra

wrote in message . ..
I'm the one who has considered bringing in a stray, and did not want
to declaw her.

Before I commit to letting her in full time, I've been letting her in
for short periods (an hour or so), supervised.

I bought a sisal scratching post, and one of those cardboard
horizontal scratching pads.

When she comes in, she goes straight for my recliner and starts
scratching it.

I gently pick her up and set her next to the post.
She hasn't used it once.

This is no big surprise.


But 5 minutes later, she goes back and scratches the chair.

I can't let her live inside until I can trust her.
How do I train her to scratch the post?

She needs a tree. A substantial, LARGE, cat tree - 5 ft tall or more,
that she can climb on, sit on and destruct. Cats won't use anything
they feel is unstable. She may also need various textures (wood,
cardboard, sisal, fiber board) to get her interested, or keep her
interested. I have found that any cat will accept a cat tree - I
haven't encountered one yet that hasn't. My own used them with no
training at all. IMO the smaller posts are useless, the turbo
scratchers (horizontal) work for cats that like hori surfaces, and the
sisal things are useless.

Good luck,
-L.

wrote in message . ..
I'm the one who has considered bringing in a stray, and did not want
to declaw her.

Before I commit to letting her in full time, I've been letting her in
for short periods (an hour or so), supervised.

I bought a sisal scratching post, and one of those cardboard
horizontal scratching pads.

When she comes in, she goes straight for my recliner and starts
scratching it.

I gently pick her up and set her next to the post.
She hasn't used it once.

This is no big surprise.


But 5 minutes later, she goes back and scratches the chair.

I can't let her live inside until I can trust her.
How do I train her to scratch the post?

She needs a tree. A substantial, LARGE, cat tree - 5 ft tall or more,
that she can climb on, sit on and destruct. Cats won't use anything
they feel is unstable. She may also need various textures (wood,
cardboard, sisal, fiber board) to get her interested, or keep her
interested. I have found that any cat will accept a cat tree - I
haven't encountered one yet that hasn't. My own used them with no
training at all. IMO the smaller posts are useless, the turbo
scratchers (horizontal) work for cats that like hori surfaces, and the
sisal things are useless.

Good luck,
-L.

wrote in message . ..
I'm the one who has considered bringing in a stray, and did not want
to declaw her.

Before I commit to letting her in full time, I've been letting her in
for short periods (an hour or so), supervised.

I bought a sisal scratching post, and one of those cardboard
horizontal scratching pads.

When she comes in, she goes straight for my recliner and starts
scratching it.

I gently pick her up and set her next to the post.
She hasn't used it once.

This is no big surprise.


But 5 minutes later, she goes back and scratches the chair.

I can't let her live inside until I can trust her.
How do I train her to scratch the post?

She needs a tree. A substantial, LARGE, cat tree - 5 ft tall or more,
that she can climb on, sit on and destruct. Cats won't use anything
they feel is unstable. She may also need various textures (wood,
cardboard, sisal, fiber board) to get her interested, or keep her
interested. I have found that any cat will accept a cat tree - I
haven't encountered one yet that hasn't. My own used them with no
training at all. IMO the smaller posts are useless, the turbo
scratchers (horizontal) work for cats that like hori surfaces, and the
sisal things are useless.

Good luck,
-L.

"-L." wrote in message
m...
wrote in message
. ..
I'm the one who has considered bringing in a stray, and did not want
to declaw her.

Before I commit to letting her in full time, I've been letting her in
for short periods (an hour or so), supervised.

I bought a sisal scratching post, and one of those cardboard
horizontal scratching pads.

When she comes in, she goes straight for my recliner and starts
scratching it.

I gently pick her up and set her next to the post.
She hasn't used it once.

This is no big surprise.


But 5 minutes later, she goes back and scratches the chair.

I can't let her live inside until I can trust her.
How do I train her to scratch the post?

She needs a tree. A substantial, LARGE, cat tree - 5 ft tall or more,
that she can climb on, sit on and destruct. Cats won't use anything
they feel is unstable. She may also need various textures (wood,
cardboard, sisal, fiber board) to get her interested, or keep her
interested. I have found that any cat will accept a cat tree - I
haven't encountered one yet that hasn't. My own used them with no
training at all. IMO the smaller posts are useless, the turbo
scratchers (horizontal) work for cats that like hori surfaces, and the
sisal things are useless.

Good luck,
-L.

I have to agree with you on the tree. I've had scratching posts around here
forever and had mixed results with the cats using them. Tiggy still has her
favorite and is too old and infirm to do much climbing on the tree but the
two younger ones LOVE it. Not only has Isabel stopped scratching the stereo
speaker but it has her exercising! As she was quite portly when we adopted
her 2 months ago this is something she really needed. It's helped wear out
baby boots so we actually get some sleep around here at night. He sleeps on
the bed with us instead of doing laps - on the bed - with us. Kind of a
twofer. It was expensive but definitely worth it and much, much cheaper than
replacing household items that get ruined by the scratching. All three of
them sit quietly to get their claws clipped so that helps too.

Wendy

"-L." wrote in message
m...
wrote in message
. ..
I'm the one who has considered bringing in a stray, and did not want
to declaw her.

Before I commit to letting her in full time, I've been letting her in
for short periods (an hour or so), supervised.

I bought a sisal scratching post, and one of those cardboard
horizontal scratching pads.

When she comes in, she goes straight for my recliner and starts
scratching it.

I gently pick her up and set her next to the post.
She hasn't used it once.

This is no big surprise.


But 5 minutes later, she goes back and scratches the chair.

I can't let her live inside until I can trust her.
How do I train her to scratch the post?

She needs a tree. A substantial, LARGE, cat tree - 5 ft tall or more,
that she can climb on, sit on and destruct. Cats won't use anything
they feel is unstable. She may also need various textures (wood,
cardboard, sisal, fiber board) to get her interested, or keep her
interested. I have found that any cat will accept a cat tree - I
haven't encountered one yet that hasn't. My own used them with no
training at all. IMO the smaller posts are useless, the turbo
scratchers (horizontal) work for cats that like hori surfaces, and the
sisal things are useless.

Good luck,
-L.

I have to agree with you on the tree. I've had scratching posts around here
forever and had mixed results with the cats using them. Tiggy still has her
favorite and is too old and infirm to do much climbing on the tree but the
two younger ones LOVE it. Not only has Isabel stopped scratching the stereo
speaker but it has her exercising! As she was quite portly when we adopted
her 2 months ago this is something she really needed. It's helped wear out
baby boots so we actually get some sleep around here at night. He sleeps on
the bed with us instead of doing laps - on the bed - with us. Kind of a
twofer. It was expensive but definitely worth it and much, much cheaper than
replacing household items that get ruined by the scratching. All three of
them sit quietly to get their claws clipped so that helps too.

Wendy

"-L." wrote in message
m...
wrote in message
. ..
I'm the one who has considered bringing in a stray, and did not want
to declaw her.

Before I commit to letting her in full time, I've been letting her in
for short periods (an hour or so), supervised.

I bought a sisal scratching post, and one of those cardboard
horizontal scratching pads.

When she comes in, she goes straight for my recliner and starts
scratching it.

I gently pick her up and set her next to the post.
She hasn't used it once.

This is no big surprise.


But 5 minutes later, she goes back and scratches the chair.

I can't let her live inside until I can trust her.
How do I train her to scratch the post?

She needs a tree. A substantial, LARGE, cat tree - 5 ft tall or more,
that she can climb on, sit on and destruct. Cats won't use anything
they feel is unstable. She may also need various textures (wood,
cardboard, sisal, fiber board) to get her interested, or keep her
interested. I have found that any cat will accept a cat tree - I
haven't encountered one yet that hasn't. My own used them with no
training at all. IMO the smaller posts are useless, the turbo
scratchers (horizontal) work for cats that like hori surfaces, and the
sisal things are useless.

Good luck,
-L.

I have to agree with you on the tree. I've had scratching posts around here
forever and had mixed results with the cats using them. Tiggy still has her
favorite and is too old and infirm to do much climbing on the tree but the
two younger ones LOVE it. Not only has Isabel stopped scratching the stereo
speaker but it has her exercising! As she was quite portly when we adopted
her 2 months ago this is something she really needed. It's helped wear out
baby boots so we actually get some sleep around here at night. He sleeps on
the bed with us instead of doing laps - on the bed - with us. Kind of a
twofer. It was expensive but definitely worth it and much, much cheaper than
replacing household items that get ruined by the scratching. All three of
them sit quietly to get their claws clipped so that helps too.

Wendy

In article , k3_e81
@yahoo.com enlightened us with...

IMO the smaller posts are useless, the turbo
scratchers (horizontal) work for cats that like hori surfaces, and the
sisal things are useless.



This is highly cat-dependent.
Rowan prefers vertical sisal, but will also use the horizontal sisal
pads. Occasionally uses the carpet vertical.
Isis prefers the vertical sisal, does not use the horizontal sisal, and
will sometimes use the vertical carpet.
Jeffrey prefers the horizontal carpet, but will also use the horizontal
vertical and occasionally uses either sisal.

Every one of them gets what they like with the cat tree, which has
horizontal and vertical in both sisal and carpet. They use that more
than anything. Second-up would be the horizontal sisal pads. Third up
are the vertical carpet posts.

Any post does need to be very secure, though, or the cat won't use it.
I have big sturdy ones.

--
~kaeli~
A man needs a mistress... just to break the monogamy.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

In article , k3_e81
@yahoo.com enlightened us with...

IMO the smaller posts are useless, the turbo
scratchers (horizontal) work for cats that like hori surfaces, and the
sisal things are useless.



This is highly cat-dependent.
Rowan prefers vertical sisal, but will also use the horizontal sisal
pads. Occasionally uses the carpet vertical.
Isis prefers the vertical sisal, does not use the horizontal sisal, and
will sometimes use the vertical carpet.
Jeffrey prefers the horizontal carpet, but will also use the horizontal
vertical and occasionally uses either sisal.

Every one of them gets what they like with the cat tree, which has
horizontal and vertical in both sisal and carpet. They use that more
than anything. Second-up would be the horizontal sisal pads. Third up
are the vertical carpet posts.

Any post does need to be very secure, though, or the cat won't use it.
I have big sturdy ones.

--
~kaeli~
A man needs a mistress... just to break the monogamy.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

In article , k3_e81
@yahoo.com enlightened us with...

IMO the smaller posts are useless, the turbo
scratchers (horizontal) work for cats that like hori surfaces, and the
sisal things are useless.



This is highly cat-dependent.
Rowan prefers vertical sisal, but will also use the horizontal sisal
pads. Occasionally uses the carpet vertical.
Isis prefers the vertical sisal, does not use the horizontal sisal, and
will sometimes use the vertical carpet.
Jeffrey prefers the horizontal carpet, but will also use the horizontal
vertical and occasionally uses either sisal.

Every one of them gets what they like with the cat tree, which has
horizontal and vertical in both sisal and carpet. They use that more
than anything. Second-up would be the horizontal sisal pads. Third up
are the vertical carpet posts.

Any post does need to be very secure, though, or the cat won't use it.
I have big sturdy ones.

--
~kaeli~
A man needs a mistress... just to break the monogamy.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace