How to stop cat clawing carpet on stairs

Soldato
Joined
31 May 2005
Posts
15,640
Location
Nottingham
Just had a new carpet fitted on the stairs and to my horror, the cat has nearly destroyed part of it with his claws.

Now, before I send him to the dog meat factory, can anything be done to prevent this behavior?

He has toys with scratchy things on them, but shows no interest in them.

Do they actually like scratching posts? Do most cats use them?

Please HELP.

Thanks.
 
Gimpymoo said:
Do they actually like scratching posts? Do most cats use them?

My cat's post was sold as "unused" after about two months.

Only thing you can really do is give the cat a tap on the paw and say No, encouraging him to do it outside.
 
In the 19 years that I had my cat, he had to put to sleep in December, we never got him to stop clawing the stairs carpet or the pulling himself along the bottom of the settee and chairs. He also never used any of the scratching posts we brought for him, at best they got a half-hearted swipe and nothing more.

Sorry, but it looks like the cat's won. Then again, don't they always?
 
Use a water spray bottle on it. Have it sat next to the stairs and whenever you hear it clawing, give it a quick spray (not prolongued). It will soon stop doing it when it associates clawing the stairs with taking a short cold shower.
 
I found that if you put a scratching post very close to where they usually scratch, and when they're ripping the hell out of the carpet/sofa/wallpaper, gently take their paws and put them on the post, they learn to use the post instead.
 
Get a spray bottle, fill it with water and spray the cat when it does it.

and buy it a scratch post. Encourage it when it uses the scratch post.
 
Use a spray on the carpet. Something like "Pet Off" or anything that smells of citrus. I have three cats and only one of the buggers knows what the scratch post is for, but regular spraying of lemon or orange air fresher on our soft furnishings eventually stopped the other two from wrecking the house. :) If an arm hanging out of bed isn't available they now go outside and use our fence panels to sharpen their claws.
 
Vanilla said:
Get a spray bottle, fill it with water and spray the cat when it does it.

and buy it a scratch post. Encourage it when it uses the scratch post.

"Go on, you scratch that post, that's right, just like that, you're the BEST!"

:D
 
Don't cats HATE the smell of citrus fruits?

Try rubbing in some orange or lemon into the carpet.

My uncle's cat was weeing in the same spot in the house for months until he did the citrus thing, the cat moved his toilet elsewhere although it still pees in the house, but now my uncle uses the citrus broom on its backside.
 
Reefa said:
Don't cats HATE the smell of citrus fruits?

Try rubbing in some orange or lemon into the carpet.

My uncle's cat was weeing in the same spot in the house for months until he did the citrus thing, the cat moved his toilet elsewhere although it still pees in the house, but now my uncle uses the citrus broom on its backside.
I didn't know that. Will have to test it out.
Citrus broom, lol
 
Reefa said:
Don't cats HATE the smell of citrus fruits?

Try rubbing in some orange or lemon into the carpet.

Or, whenever it goes near the stairs, tie a lemon to the end of its nose and only remove it if he doesnt scratch the stairs :p
 
Our next door neighbours cat (dont ask why it comes in out house! oh go on then, it's to do with the GF feeding the ****** with sainsburys taste the difference ham while i have to make do with Spam!) took a liking to our stairs carpet (luckily it was quite old carpet) so i bought one of those realy cheap ridged door mats and put it at the bottom of the stairs, it can sit there for hours just digging it's claws into that now, slowly moving it away to the front door and it's not gone back near the stairs.
 
Back
Top Bottom