Don’t Let Your Feline Friend Stop You From Remodeling Your Home
Cats usually have a mind of their own so they are not as easy to train as dogs. You want to remodel your home and get all new furniture but you’re worried you’re cat will love the furniture just as much as you do. You don’t have to feel restrained and keep your torn up couches, scratched walls and broken cabinets. There are ways to make your feline friend happy and away from your furniture so you can have the flawless house you’ve always wanted.
Multiple Scratching Posts
Cats scratch for several reasons.
- To communicate they were at a certain spot and spread their scent.
- To stretch after a long nap.
- To relieve their frustration.
- As a form of playing around.
Having something around the house for a cat to scratch will give them something other than the furniture to dig their claws into. Just one cat scratcher probably will not do the trick. Cats don’t want to be confined to one spot. Adding a few posts will allow the cats to travel around the house and have different opportunities to release their claws.
Aluminum Foil/Citrus
Cats like to scratch soft services but you can add some aluminum foil to the spots they scratch and drive them away because cats hate the sound and texture. This is just a training tool for them so you don’t have to keep foil on your furniture all the time and can take the it off whenever you are expecting company. Overtime they will lose interest in those spots and look for something better to scratch which is why you already have multiple scratching posts. If you hate the idea of temporarily putting foil on your furniture then citrus can be a good alternative. Cats don’t really like the smell of citrus and hopefully will be enough to have them repel the places you spray. It is usually not as effective as foil, but if it works, your furniture will be scratch free and have a great smell around the house.
Pheromone Spray and Plugins
As said before, cats can scratch because they are frustrated or stressed out. Sometimes adding new furniture can freak them out because they are not as adept to change as people. There are pheromone sprays that you can spray on your furniture or plugins that you can put around the house to calm your cat down. They are meant to mimic the pheromone that a mother cat produces to calm and reassure her kittens. Most offer odorless or calming smells like lavender and chamomile that people can enjoy too.
Vinyl Nail Caps
They are caps that cover your cats nails pain free and do not stop the natural extension and retraction of their claws. All you have to do is trim their nails and apply an adhesive before you put the caps on. You can find these caps at almost all animal stores and some will even apply them for you if you find that it is too difficult to do yourself. The caps are supposed to stay on for about 4 to 8 weeks and then fall off naturally. Some people have said that they fall off too easy and don’t last as long but that varies for every cat. If you give your cat some time to get used to the caps on their nails, then you can have a happy cat, scratch-free furniture and an added bonus of having different color cap choices if you want to add some fashion to it.
Don’t let having a family pet be an excuse stopping you from the home remodel you want. Have a home that you and your cat can enjoy. Also, if your feeling extra generous, you can add a little cat space when you remodel so you both can have your own free time.
