Conference misery::feline_v1

    You might look at note # 15 and all its replies.  It requires a
    great deal of patience!  I used to sit on the floor in front of
    my kitty's scratching post to show him how much fun it was to use
    it, and he figured that since I enjoyed it so much, he'd use the
    couch and let me have the scratching post!  Fortunately, he how
    uses his scratching posts exclusively.
    
    It may just be a matter of finding the right kind of post for Pu.
    Carpet vs. sisal vs. wood....  Good luck!
    
    Mary

    Have you considered rubbing catnip into the scratching post? and
    if the post is near the furniture, the catnip odor may lure kitty
    to the post when the urge to scratchcomes over her.
    
    Deb

    Many cats aren't susceptable to catnip.  
    
    As far as corporal punishment is concerned, I don't believe in sparing
    the rod when it comes to cats.  As long as you don't overdo it and
    make sure you do it in such a way that any cat with an IQ of ten
    could figure out why it was being beat, then I don't think you will
    make your cat paranoid.  When our current cat was 6 months old he
    got it into his head that it was great fun to sneak under the covers
    at night and practice mousing with my feet, no holds barred.  The
    last time he did that he got drop-kicked halfway across the room.
    That was 12 years ago.  He's a happy cat who now doesn't do anything
    under the covers except sleep curled up in the crook of a warm knee.
    

    >Many cats aren't susceptable to catnip.
    
    True, but many ARE. It's worth a try, and it worked with my twins
    Panther and Eirene.
    
    Deb

    i could not disagree with .3 more - .0, you are right to be reluctant
    to hit your cat - you may very well end up with a nasty, unhappy,
    resentful animal (who STILL may not do what you want) if you start
    to do this - i generally feel this way about dogs, too, although i've
    read a great deal in cat books/magazines that strongly support my way
    of thinking, particularly about cats -

    what you CAN do, is a little more difficult to say - i see a couple
    possibilities:

    1) provide lots of 'approved' places - my cats' favorite place seems
       to be a unit with short looped carpet - a firm "No!" should be
       applied when kitty uses 'unapproved' places (most of my cats
       very much want to please, and this is usually sufficient)

       remember, kitty may be bored - make sure lots of play-time and
       play-things are offered

    2) if #1 doesn't work, you could try clipping your cats' nails -
       be sure you leave plenty of margin next to the quick, and take
       it slow if kitty isn't used to this to be sure it is not an
       unpleasant ordeal - if you're patient, most cats will probably
       be very tolerant of this, but BE GENTLE and PATIENT!

                    karen

    Clipping claws doesn't do any good.  As I mentioned, even cats who
    have had their claws surgically remove still "sharpen" their claws
    on furniture (i.e., go through the motions.)  And clipping claws
    will not significantly reduce the damage.
    
    Saying NO! may or may not have any effect on a cat.  I suspect it
    will have more impact if it is occasionally accompanied by a swat.
    I've had many, many cats, and I've never made one mean or paranoid
    by the few swats I've given them.  As I say, the important thing
    is that they know what the swat is for.

    I agree with reply .5.  I found that keeping a rolled up newspaper
    or magazine handy and slapping firmly against MY hand at the same
    time I yell, "NO!!!", does the trick.  The loud noise of the paper
    hitting MY hand combined with the voice works well.  Use the same
    word, such as "NO", all the time so that the cat equates one word
    with disapproval.
    
    Cat may think I'm pretty stupid hitting myself everytime he does
    something wrong, but it does the trick and it's worked for all three
    of them.
    

    I usually yell "CAT!" if one of them misbehaves - they know which
    one of them is guilty.  It took a few months when I first got The
    Fickle (while she was an Only Cat) before she would react to that
    (say, when munching houseplants).  I got them a big floor-to-ceiling
    cat tree when we got a new sofa, and after they got used to it they
    seemed to prefer it (no bumbling humans come along and dump kitty
    on the floor in order to sit up there).  Sometimes I have had to
    whack one or the other kitty on the nose - which is also how they
    discipline each other if one of them (usually Nebula!) gets out
    of line (say, grabbing the dangling tail of her sleeping housemate...).
    They also do not like water being dripped on them - I'm not around
    often enough to sit with a squirtgun guarding the furniture, though.
    As it stands now, the sofa is in pretty good shape, but the kitchen
    chair backs look pretty sad - we ended up putting balloons, which
    the cats do not like, on the chair seats to discourage the kitties.
    They also don't like the smell of "NO!", but neither do I so I seldom
    use it.  Good luck!

    .8 just proved my case.  I've had cats in my house for 16 years
    and I have never had ANY furniture damage.  If it doesn't hurt you
    all that bad to hit your hand with the newspaper then why do you
    think it will hurt the cat that bad to be hit with it.  In fact,
    I am told that cats skin is thicker then human skin.  The cat won't
    like it that much, that's the point, but it won't damage the cat,
    either physically or mentally.  
    
    Now, there are only three corporal offenses in our house: 
    
    	1)  Fighting and biting (beyond play)
    	2)  Failure to use the kitty box
    	3)  Scratching the furniture
    
    There are numerous disdemeanors:
    
    	4)  Chewing electrical cords
    	5)  Walking on dining tables or kitchen counters
    	6)  Sneaking outside (for our inside cat, our outside cat came
    		to us wild and she gets the basement or outside as she
    		pleases)
    	7)  Etc.  Etc.
    
    These are offenses for which the cat is only yelled at and/or chased.
    Our cats never do 1), 2), or 3) except, of course, when they are
    first being trained.  Our cats are ALWAYS doing 4), 5), 6), and
    7).  The reason is obvious.
    
    

    I tried the catnip idea with Pu.  She doesn't seem the least bit
    interested.  Guess she never developed a "taste" for it as a kitten.
    

    
    I picked up a sturdy piece of driftwood at the beach!  All 3 cats
    love it.  Its a bit of an eyesore (in the corner of the kitchen)
    but it sure beats having your furniture torn up.  Especially when
    your not home to correct them!
    
    Pam C.
    

    Our two cats are great around the furniture except for 1 chair.
    We used the squirtgun and loud voiced NO approach with an occasional
    slap at the paws if the first 2 approaches didn't work.  They don't
    bother the chair when we're home, but are clever enough to do it
    when we're not around.  It's at the point where it needs reupholstering
    and I will probably resort to a spray when it first comes back to
    see if I can break the cycle.  We do keep their claws trimmed, but
    that doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference.  I don't know
    what it is about that 1 chair, but they're good about the rest of
    the furniture.  We have 3 carpeted scratching posts located in various
    rooms of the house, and these also get a workout.
    
    Oh yes, we recently brought home a beautiful, hand-knotted (and
    expensive!) wool rug from China.  We left it rolled up and ran out
    to do some chores.  By the time we came back, it had obviously been
    used as a scratching post.  I guess the kitties figured it was new and
    therefore was fair game.  Needless to say, the next time we found
    them even sniffing the rug, all you-know-what broke loose.
                  
                                                     
    Lynne