How to Protect Your
Furniture from Cats

The kitties practice the art of keeping his sharp nails sharp very soon. Since it is necessary to have them inside house – at least until it has finished to vaccinate, although there are many owners who have them a few weeks more, until the kitty is enough big as to defend himself in the exterior world –the most probable thing is that they take the habit of scratching the furniture and the carpets. It is possible to avoid this providing to the kitties something for itching, it can be a scratch post bought in a shop of pets or some done by ourselves, rolling a thick cord around a piece of wood: it is necessary to encourage to the kitties to scratch it , if you catch the kitten by surprise in the moment of scratching a furniture, scold him strongly or give him a few claps; this is in the habit of being enough in order that they stop doing it, but it is not necessary to punish them. Also we can ask the veterinarian to cut the nails. This does not finish with the custom, but it minimizes the damages.

It is possible to make that an adult cat learns not to look in the furniture providing an attractive alternative to him. There is necessary  to see what is in the habit of itching out of house and doing to him a scraper of the same material. For example, if he likes the bark of the trees, it is possible to put a just piece of bark in front of the surface of the house where he likes to scratch more. Once he accustomed to scratching, moving him to a better place, far from the furniture. Whenever you surprise him scratching where he shouldn't has to do, we will say to him coldly " not " and we will turn his attention toward the object that we want.

Q/A A friend told me that I can get ill with a scratch of my cat. Is this true?

Yes. If the scratch of a cat becomes infected, it can produce a sickness that is known in the man as " scratch disease of cat ". There was tough before that  the microbes were transmitting through the counterfoil of the nails of the cat, but now it is known that they are in the mouth and that they go on the nails when the cat is polishing himself. It is necessary to disinfect well any bite scratch with an antiseptic . If swelling or pain appears, consult with your doctor.

What do you think about the practice of taking the nails from the cats in order for them not to destroy the furniture?

To take the nails from them is very debatable. There are many veterinarians who believe that it is a cruel and unnecessary mutilation and their professional associations do not participate to this practice. There are national associations of cats that do not allow that the cats without nails should go to the exhibitions. This practice is more extended in the United States, where most of the cats are inside the house. Consult this with your veterinarian when you buy your kitty. Also it is possible to try to put them in the nails- some tops of plastic- in order that they destroy less. But to cut the nails to the animal occasionally and a post puts scraper, are much softer ways of avoiding the problem of the scratches.