Cease Your Cat From Scratching Furnishings With These Science-Backed Methods

Scientists are working arduous to unravel one in all life’s best issues: a home cat with a nasty behavior of tearing up the furnishings.

In a brand new research Wednesday, researchers have recognized a number of key elements that seem to foretell undesirable cat scratching. These embrace having younger youngsters in the home, the type of playtime they get, and their total degree of stress. Not less than a few of these features will be tweaked to maintain your cat’s clawing in verify, the scientists say.

The research was carried out by veterinary scientists from Turkey, Portugal, and France; it was additionally funded by the French animal well being firm Ceva Santé Animale. The staff had over 1,200 cat house owners in France fill out a web based survey, which included questions on their cat’s house surroundings, day by day routine, and scratching behaviors.

General, the staff discovered that some cats had been naturally extra liable to scratching, resembling felines that had been described as “aggressive” or “disruptive” by their house owners. However there have been different outdoors parts linked to undesirable cat scratching, significantly having youngsters at house, taking part in with the cat for lengthy intervals of time, and usually being extra energetic at night time.

“It underscores the multifaceted nature of undesirable scratching conduct and emphasizes the significance of comprehensively understanding each the person traits of the cat and its surroundings to successfully handle this conduct,” the researchers wrote about their findings, published Wednesday in Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

Clearly, having younger youngsters or a grouchier cat aren’t issues that house owners can change on a whim. However some issues recognized by the staff level to emphasize as a significant exterior issue for cat scratching that may be higher managed. An excessive amount of playtime without delay, for instance, can grow to be overly stimulating for a cat. Added stress may additionally clarify why having youngsters round is linked to cat scratching as effectively, although the scientists say extra analysis is required to know for sure.

So discovering methods to cut back your cat’s stress ought to then assist reduce down on their undesirable scratching, they are saying. This will embrace ensuring your cat has loads of nooks and crannies to chill out in with out being disturbed, in addition to excessive spots from which they will perch and observe their kingdom. You would possibly need to additionally area out your playtime into brief bursts of exercise that extra mimic pure looking conduct. And from the survey knowledge, the staff discovered that leaving out scratching posts in locations that cats go to often appeared to assist preserve them from clawing different extra treasured furnishings.

“Our findings may help caregivers handle and redirect scratching to acceptable supplies, which may assist foster a extra harmonious dwelling surroundings for each cats and their caregivers,” mentioned lead writer Yasemin Salgirli Demi̇rbas, a veterinary researcher at Ankara College, in a statement from Frontiers, publishers of the journal.

Implementing these findings may shield your favourite possessions. Simply don’t let your cat catch you studying this—until you’re prepared to elucidate why their favourite couch is abruptly off-limits.