Preventing Cat Scratching

Video Transcript

"Next we wanted to talk about any particular problems the cat has and some ways that we could adjust this kitty cat's behavior so there aren't problems involved at home. As far as cats are concerned they have a tendency to be destructive at this age because they want to sharpen their claws and everything. And so there are several approaches that you can take to that. Is this cat going to be an indoor cat? Yes. Ok that's a whole other topic but cats that stay inside lives twice as long as cats that are outside. Cats that are outside can get into all kinds of trouble with coyotes and dogs and cars and a lot of trauma outside. But cats that stay inside don't get a lot of diseases. They also don't get a lot of trauma so I'm glad you've decided to do that. Sometimes it's hard with cats that are inside because they can be destructive. And so I wanted to introduce you to a few products that sometimes really can help you with that. When these cats start to do some clawing behavior with inappropriate objects in the house, one thing that you can do is you can provide some place where they can claw. And so if you catch them clawing where they are not wanted, you can either take some coins and put them in a can and just shake it and the cat will stop doing what they're doing. Some people actually use a squirt gun and so what you do is the cat should learn that no means stop what you are doing and check in with whomever said no. And so my philosophy is for the scratching behavior is that it's a really, really good idea to try and train the cat properly. And so if you train your cat out of it, that's the best way. If your cat is one of those cat's that's just so wild and you can not convert him and he is ruining your house there is some, maybe one or two percent of cats that will actually ruin your house then I am not against de-clawing if it's done right. De clawing is really thought poorly of in the cat world but I think it's a lot less traumatic to lose their claws then to be thrown outside because they're destructive. So if he gets to the point where you really want to throw your cat outside because he is wrecking your house, I'd rather have him de-clawed and keep him from wrecking your house and keep him inside where it is safe."