Cat attacked me

[warn81]

I was putting clothes away and he jumped in the drawer on top of my clean clothes. Then he seemed to lie down and get comfy. I didn't want hair on my clothes so I picked him up and put him on the floor. That's when he attacked my arm. It was all scratched up and bloody. He actually jumps and pulls me to the ground. He is about 9 months and neutered. I use a spray bottle and he is afraid of it, but he continues to claw furniture and jump on furniture. I don't want to give him away, but he's becoming a hand full. I had him since he was a few weeks old. What can I do?

 

[marmoset]

The best fix for scratching furniture is to go out and buy a bunch of different kinds of scratching surfaces.  Where is he scratching the furniture?  Is he scratching on a horizontal or vertical surface?  The answer will tell you what kind of posts/ scratchers to invest in.  Right now one of my cats prefers to scratch on posts that are vertical with cardboard inserts or sisal wrapped and my other two like horizontal scratchers that are cardboard or carpet.  So you will have to experiment to find out what is going to be better than the furniture in the cat's mind.  I keep a scratcher in every room the cats spend a lot of time in (basically every room except our bathroom).

Spraying with water is not going to stop your cat from scratching.  It might stop him from doing it when the bottle is around or if you are around.  Once you leave though he will be back to the furniture scratching away.  

Cats do NEED to scratch things, not just for nail health but for their mental health as well.  It is one of the two most common way cats scent mark.  The other common one is face rubbing on items.  Depriving a cat of scent marking in one of these ways could possibly result in them relying on the other way to scent mark- spraying urine.   Even after being fixed cats (of both genders) have the ability to spray.

So, go and be generous with some cat scratchers.  Amazon is a good place to read reviews about different kinds and if money is an issue there are some good DIY options out there.  Search DIY cardboard scratcher or DIY scratch post and you'll find a lot of stuff.

 

[Kat0121]

I was putting clothes away and he jumped in the drawer on top of my clean clothes. Then he seemed to lie down and get comfy. I didn't want hair on my clothes so I picked him up and put him on the floor. That's when he attacked my arm. It was all scratched up and bloody. He actually jumps and pulls me to the ground. He is about 9 months and neutered. I use a spray bottle and he is afraid of it, but he continues to claw furniture and jump on furniture. I don't want to give him away, but he's becoming a hand full. I had him since he was a few weeks old. What can I do?

Does he have a soft place to sleep like a cat bed or something like that? He may be attracted to the clothes because they are soft and smell like you. Maybe get him a bed of his own if he doesn't already have one and  put something like an old shirt of ours on it that will have your scent on it.

A scratching post is a good way for him to do what comes naturally to him but without wrecking your things. As mentioned above, Amazon is a good source to find things like that. Please don't use a spray bottle. It doesn't work and will only cause him to lose trust in you. A cat tree is good also. It comes equipped with scratching posts and provides vertical space that cats love. Some also have cubbies that he can nap and/or hide in when he feels like it.

 

[meshmesh]

for a cat to scratch this bad, i would suspect something is hurting or bothering him.

My 4 cats jump into any drawer, wardrobe or box. It seems cats like a closed place. What is not natural is that he scratched you like this. I suggest you try and find out if something's hurting him or maybe he felt threatened? 

 

[misterwhiskers]

Can you buy him a cat condo?? If you look at it from his point of view maybe it'll help understand his behavior. He's showing you his loyalty and love by snuggling amidst your things, and you react by kicking him out of the club. Give him at least a few places where he "belongs". Maybe a cat condo where you can put an old tshirt or two on, might help.