As an owner of a cat, one of your main priorities will be to train your cat to prevent it from scratching your furniture. Not only will this save you money and a great deal of irritation, you will also have a better relationship with your cat.

There is a reason your cat scratches the furniture and you will need to understand that reason. Your cat doesn't do this because it wants to annoy you, nor does it purposely set out to do this because it dislikes the furniture you have. Not only do cats like to scratch, they have to scratch. You can't stop a cat from scratching because it is a natural behavior for it. However you can train your cat to scratch something else, other than your prized furniture.

Cats need to scratch in order to stay healthy. Scratching allows a cat to stretch and exercise their muscles. Cats mark their territiory through scratching as their paws contain scent glands. Your cat will also scratch as a means of keeping their claws sharp and clean. As you can see, there are a few reasons as to why cat scratching takes place. You need to encourage this behavior in the correct manner instead of preventing it.

Punishing your cat because it scratches your furniture is not going to make it stop. Cats will not respond to punishment and will increase your cats problems. Your cat will try to stay out of your way all the time if you try to punish it in any way. Even if you chase your cat away when you catch it scratching furniture, all it will do is to wait until you have gone, and then continue to ruin your furniture behind your back. The only way you can stop your cat from scratching furniture, is by the correct training.

One of the first things you need to do when getting a cat, is to purchase a scratching post. It will even better if you can get hold of a few scratching posts, as this will allow your cat to have more options to scratch. Cats can be trained at any age, but the earlier you can start, the quicker and easier it will be.

The scratching posts should be in places that your cat likes to go. Placing a post near where your cat sleeps is advisable. A good scratch and a good stretch is cat's first port of call after it wakes up. You could say that this is a trait that the rest of us share. Using a scratching post soon becomes a habit, and your cat will happily continue to use the post in the future.

The room where everybody sits together is another great place to position a scratching post. Although cats give the impression that they are not bothered about people, they secretly love spending time with their owners. If your cat chooses to have a nap on your lap, a nearby scratching post will come in handy.

Making a scratching post familiar to a cat is the best way to get it to use it. Try playing with your cat by moving string up and down the post, so your cats claws come in contact with it. Try tying some toys that your cat likes onto the scratching post, the enables your cat to touch the post with its paws and claws. These easy techniques will allow you to train your cat so that it no longer uses your furniture for scratching.

Make sure that the scratching post is not too short, and make sue that it is firmly in place. Cat training is not difficult if you use the right methods, and it is easy to train your cat to stop it from ruining your furniture.