How To Stop Your Cat From Scratching The Door

Scratching the furniture is one thing, but why is your cat clawing the door?

Is he using it as a scratching post? Is he trying to get inside or outside? What’s his problem with the entrance, the bedroom, or the living room’s door? How do you prevent your cat from scratching it?

It’s quite simple. Your feline pal is trying to get your attention.

Whether it’s in the middle of the night while you’re trying to sleep, or when you’ve left him home alone to go to work or run some errands, your cat wants yout to notice him. Your cat may be hungry or wants you to pet him or play with him

As fascinating as felines are, all they really want is food, satisfactory playtime, and somebody to love them.

So how do you stop your cat from scratching the door?

There are a few ways and most of them include various methods of discouragement.

Don’t Pay Attention To The Scratching

Since attention is what your feline furball is seeking, you will need to start ignoring its attempts to claw its way into the door.

Positive cat training practices won’t do the trick as you’ll need to stay away from all types of positive reinforcement. You’ll also need to forget about the negative techniques. If you’re scolding and punishing your cat or yelling at him, he will still be getting some attention from you.

This will make your kitty think that the scratching is doing the trick, and he will keep scratching to get what he wants.

If you’re trying to prevent your cat from further scratching by giving him food or treats, he will also start doing it more often because he will associate the scratching with a rewarding experience.

Play With And Feed Kitty Before Bedtime

If ignoring isn’t working, you’ll need to switch the feeding schedule. If you play with your pet each time before you feed him, he will feel hungrier and less energetic. As a result, he will feel the need to take a nap after each meal.

Switch your kitty’s feeding regime and schedule lengthy play sessions before meals. Give your cat his last meal just before you go to bed.

Your furball will need a nap after he eats and he won’t have the energy to claw at your door all night long. It’s a simple but effective trick.

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Make The Door Less Appealing

Discourage your kitty’s destructive clawing by making the doors in your home less appealing. Here’s one way to do that:

PetSafe’s Ssscat Cat Deterrent

You can make the doors at your house or apartment less appealing to your feline pet with PetSafe’s cat deterrent “sssCat” spray.

This product resembles your typical automatic air freshener spray system. However, it’s much more effective for cat training and it’s also completely harmless to your kitty.

The cat deterrent spray is motion-activated and covers a distance of up to 3 feet. All you need to do is place it in front of any door which your kitty likes and let it do its magic. It will activate itself when it detects the feline’s movement and will release an odorless burst of air that will repel your pet.

The unpleasant feeling of the sudden air burst will keep the cat away each time it tries to scratch the door and your pet will eventually learn that approaching the door isn’t in its best interest.

The product is affordable, effective, and easily replaced with a refill.

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You can also use double-sided tape for your doors. Cats hate the sticky feeling and they’ll easily be discouraged from clawing anything sticky. Furniture strips can also do the trick as they can be placed on any type of surface – from soft fabrics to wooden countertops.

Of course, your pet may simply be scratching the door out of the need to exercise and maintain his nails. Keeping your cat’s nails in good condition is an essential part of the mandatory grooming process.

Buying several scratching posts and making your home cat-friendly with lots of cat toys, scratchers, and cat trees will guarantee that your feline furball will be well-entertained and less tempted to claw the doors.

Whichever method you decide to choose, don’t ever opt for declawing your cat.

It will affect the kitty in negative psychological ways and the physical pain will last even after the surgery. Your pet’s health and well-being should always be your priority, so choose wisely.