Bella scratching in inappropriate places

[mary louise]

Our female cat, Bella, has been scratching in places where she shouldn't.  We have discussed the possibility of de-clawing her, which is not a happy thought at least.  I would like some alternatives to de-clawing for her - we love her too much!    

 

[ruaryx]

Hi Mary Louise.  Make sure that Bella has plenty of things that she CAN scratch.  Get a bunch of scratching posts with different textures (carpet, cardboard, rope, etc) to see what she prefers and put them all over the house.  You can also put them in the places that she scratches inappropriately so that she can have alternatives.  You can use catnip on these scratching posts to get her interested in them.  

Have you considered nail caps?  They're plastic coverings that you put on top of your cat's claws.

Declawing is very painful for cats.  Even after they heal from the initial surgery, they will still suffer from pain and go on to do so for their entire lives.  (It's actually illegal to declaw in many places in California.)  Also, declawing may cause other problem behaviors to crop up.  Since they don't have their claws anymore, cats will feel defenseless and will make up for that by becoming more aggressive and biting.  


http://www.pawproject.org