How to teach my kitten to use his scratching box?

Artchic528

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Oct 27, 2020
Messages
31
Purraise
91
Ollie is about 6-8 weeks old and I’m trying to teach him to use his cardboard scratching box. It came with a small bag of catnip so I tried sprinkling that on it but he just ignores it. As declawing is a barbaric thing to do, I want him to know he has places where he can scratch that aren’t the furniture. Any ideas?
 

susanm9006

Willow
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
13,153
Purraise
30,221
Location
Minnesota
Six to eight weeks old is very young to use a scratcher and young to be away from mom for that matter. I doubt they will scratch but you can leave toys on it and they will eventually start to play on it or attach it vertically and they may try to climb it.
 

klunick

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 22, 2020
Messages
4,358
Purraise
12,149
When he starts scratching on something you don't want him to, you need to distract him with a toy. Or place the scratching box by the thing you don't want him to scratch so he scratches that instead. Or clap your hands loudly and say No! when you see him doing it. If it startles him enough, he may learn to not do it if he is constantly getting scolded.
 

ZombieTiger

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Sep 23, 2020
Messages
250
Purraise
605
Mine was several weeks older when I got him but didn't know what a scratch box/board was and didn't react to catnip either. Putting a toy on/in front of the scratch board and showing him how to use it as well as removing him from things I didn't want him to scratch worked.

I think that it also needs to be placed somewhere that feels natural and not hidden away.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

Artchic528

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Oct 27, 2020
Messages
31
Purraise
91
Six to eight weeks old is very young to use a scratcher and young to be away from mom for that matter. I doubt they will scratch but you can leave toys on it and they will eventually start to play on it or attach it vertically and they may try to climb it.
Ollie was found by himself on the streets by a neighbor of mine. I would love to have him stay with his mom and siblings longer but that wasn’t in the cards for him I guess. I’m guessing he was dumped as he’s very friendly so he’s been around people for most of his life.

I guess I’ll just keep the scratching box around and throw crinkle balls on it every now and again as he grows and hope he starts using it.
 

susanm9006

Willow
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
13,153
Purraise
30,221
Location
Minnesota
Ollie was found by himself on the streets by a neighbor of mine. I would love to have him stay with his mom and siblings longer but that wasn’t in the cards for him I guess. I’m guessing he was dumped as he’s very friendly so he’s been around people for most of his life.

I guess I’ll just keep the scratching box around and throw crinkle balls on it every now and again as he grows and hope he starts using it.
Thank you for taking him in. How about getting a heavy duty cardboard box and cutting some holes in it. It not only makes a play fort but gives him something that he may scratch on as he gets older. You can also introduce scratchering on cat trees. Some cats prefer wood or carpet over cardboard so providing all three surfaces will eventually get him scratching.
 

cataholic07

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 28, 2014
Messages
1,502
Purraise
1,691
I have never had a kitty who likes scratching the cardboard ones. None of my fosters did either. You can try carpet scratching posts, most like that, some like sisal. There is that vespar kitten playstation one that i've used with all my itty bitty fosters.
 
Top