How To Stop Your Cat From Scratching The Door
Scratching the furniture is one thing, but why is your cat clawing the door?
Are they using it as a scratching post? Are they trying to get inside or outside? What’s their problem with the entrance, the bedroom, or the living room’s door? How do you prevent them from scratching it?
It’s quite simple, really. 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 it home alone to go to work or run some errands. The cat is basically trying to make you start petting, playing, or feeding it.
As fascinating as felines are, all they really want is food, satisfactory playtime, and somebody to love them.
So how can you make them stop?
There are a few ways to make the kitty stop scratching the door 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. In fact, you’ll need to forget about the negative techniques just as well. If you’re scolding and punishing your cat or yelling at it, it will still be getting some attention from you.
This will make the kitty think that the scratching is doing the trick, and it will keep doing it to get what it wants.
If you’re trying to prevent the cat from further scratching by giving it food or treats, it will also start doing it more often because it will associate the scratching with a rewarding experience.
The best way is to start ignoring it altogether.
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 it, it will feel hungrier and less energetic. As a result, it will feel the need to take a nap after each meal.
Switch the kitty’s feeding regime and schedule lengthy play sessions before meals. Give the cat its last meal just before you go to bed.
Your furball will need a nap after it eats and it won’t have the energy to claw at your door all night long. It’s a simple but effective trick.
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 active itself when it detects the feline’s movement and will release an odorless burst of air which 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.
>> Click here to read more reviews and see today’s best price on Chewy.com <<
You can also use double-sided tape for your doors. Cats hate the sticky feeling and they’ll easily be discouraged from clawing anything that’s sticky. Furniture strips can also do the trick as they can be placed on any type of surface – from soft fabrics to wooden counter tops.
Of course, your pet may simply be scratching the door out of the need to exercise and maintain its 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.
Last Updated on
