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Last week I had a very interesting conversation with Holly’s owner. Holly is a two-and-a-half-year-old female ginger cat rehomed from the SPCA when she was four months old.
According to her owner, Holly has turned out to be a super pet, gentle but still very playful and great company. The main subject of the conversation with Holly’s owner was whether or not the cat has caused any damage to the furniture since she was adopted over two years ago.
Scratching is an ingrained and perfectly natural behaviour for cats. The primary reason why they scratch, be it your furniture, curtains or the very clothes you are wearing, is so that they can sharpen their claws.
The body movement they use to scratch also compels them to elongate their body and forelegs and in doing so, they stretch their back muscles and remain supple.
At a deeper level, the act of scratching derives from their natural instinct of marking their territory using the scent glands in their paws. Therefore, rather than trying to suppress or eliminate this natural behaviour, it would benefit both the cat owner as well as the cat itself if this deep-seated activity were to be understood rather than suppressed or, indeed, attempts made to eliminate it.
Dogs and cats have always been the most popular pets by far, with dogs always at the forefront in terms of preference between the two. However, in the more developed countries, the trend over the last decade or so has been that cats are gradually closing the gap.
This trend is reflected in Malta where our lifestyle has become similarly accelerated, living spaces are becoming ever smaller, and an increasing number of people are living alone or tend to be out at work for most of the day.
Under such circumstances, the case for cats as the ideal pet is a strong one since their natural sense of independence means that they are predisposed to tolerate long hours alone at home. They are also remarkably clean creatures and it is fascinating to see very young kittens voluntarily using a litter tray rather than soil the house. Even more amazing that even stray cats taken off the street will generally prefer a litter tray. And yet, cats undoubtedly have certain character traits they are born with, one of which is their inherent need to scratch.
Damage caused to furniture and soft furnishings remains the biggest concern of potential and existing owners of cats who exhibit this trait. Much is said of good puppy training and how it goes a long way towards having a good relationship with your dog.
Much less is said, though, of proper kitten training, to the extent that it is almost as if training cats is something that is simply not done. But kittens can be trained and one of the most important things you can do for your cat is to train it to use a scratching post.
Scratching posts come in all shapes and sizes and may be homemade or commercially bought. It needs to be sturdy so that your cat can put its weight against it, roughly 60-90 cm high, so that it can extend its body and shoulders while scratching.
Posts are made of various materials but wooden posts covered with sisal rope are probably the most practical. Heavy fabric, jute and certain types of carpet-backing may also substitute as scratching material. The important thing to remember is that a scratching post is far more of a functional item for your cat than decor for your home.
A few swipes at it gives Holly a fresh set of claws
When you have a number of kittens in the same room, as may occur at a cattery, the presence of an older cat in the same environment using the scratching post means that the kittens will learn from the older cat through observation. When you have only one kitten at home, it may be a good idea to initially confine it to the same room where the scratching post is kept in order for the cat to become familiar to having it around.
You should spend some time encouraging your kitten to use the post by placing your pet against the post and teaching it to scratch. Rewards such as titbits or playtime after scratching will teach it that it is a good thing to scratch the post. Once it is accustomed to using the post, you can allow your kitten to roam other areas of your house. This kind of incremental training was precisely what Holly’s new owner did to train her cat so well. I asked her about her experience.
“Holly had a bit of a rough start in life. Abandoned and then rescued by the SPCA, she had an unsuccessful trial with one home and returned to the SPCA before I decided to adopt her. However, her time at the SPCA made it much easier on me because she was already used to a scratching post. Although always a cat owner, I never fully appreciated the importance of providing my cats with one. And my furniture suffered dearly for this. So when I took her home, just like expectant parents with a fully kitted-out nursery, a scratching post was ready and waiting for her.
“Holly’s scratching post is located in a quiet spot where she can enjoy the warmth of the sun and a view of the outdoors. It is a familiar and comforting area for her. Besides the obvious benefits of her post, she very often sits or lounges on it. Sometimes, she even hugs it, especially if I would have just cleared it of the remnants of her detached nails. Although Holly’s scratching post is sufficient to suit her needs, it might be an idea that cats living in larger properties have additional posts spread about the place to discourage damage.
“Now that I have a scratching post firmly installed at home, I find that a few swipes at it gives Holly a fresh set of claws, useful for her innate desire to hunt cockroaches and other creepy crawlies. As her owner, it also gives me pleasure to see her amusing herself and destressing by using her post. I thoroughly recommend that cat owners provide one for their pet. Their furniture and fittings will look all the better for it.”
Declawing of cats has become illegal. Just like unnecessary surgery is not permitted on any animal, declawing is also against the law. I am glad that this is something of the past. Besides removing from the cat the means to express itself naturally, it also means removing the cat’s first form of defence against attack.
If your cat is too old to learn how to use a scratching post, there are alternative solutions. You can try clipping the points of your cat’s nails regularly or place purposely designed soft nail caps over the cat’s nails. These artificial nails are attached with glue to the trimmed nail and, if placed on well, should last about a month. These systems may work well for some cats but remain secondary to training your cat to use a scratching post so that it can happily retain its use of claws in case of need.
Holly’s owner was indeed lucky that her cat had learnt the basics of the scratching post from the SPCA, after which this behaviour was continued at her new home. I hope that Holly’s story will encourage cat owners and potential ones to invest in training their cat to use a scratching post .
thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com
Dr Martin Debattista is a veterinary surgeon.