wont use scratchinng post

[mandycat]

my 2-11/2 yr old kitty has a nice tall sisaal wrappedd scratching post that she doessn'y use. the only way i've gotten her to even pay a bit of attention yo iy is if i take off my shoess and soert of 'paw' at the ppost with my stocking feet. then she gets all excited an rolls around on the floor. she will pat at the post but never puts out her claws to scratch it. ib fact she hardkt ever puts her claws out. she weigh 12 pounds aand when i try to carry her she starts slipping from my arms. when that happens she never puts out her claws to try and catch herself from falling. she just makes a pathetic little mmeooww; sounds like aa frightened baby kitten.
any ideas on whar i can do to help her learn how to use her claws. she doess use them from time too time to scratch the carpet. since she seems to like the horizoontal suefaace i got her one of those cardboard scratchers. she loves it but rarre;y scratches it. she like too lle on top ofd it to naap.

any idesas or is my kitty just weird. she waas taken deom her momma too soon so hassn'ttt had aany good examples of scratching behaavior. do you suppose that is the main probllem here

 

[princess purr]

maybe she just doesn't feel the need to claw. If she isn't doing any clawing that is hurting anything I wouldn't worry about it. She might not like sisal. Maybe try a post that is covered with carpet instead. She sounds like a sweet kitty.

 

[sandi]

I've heard that rubbing catnip on it may help the cat to investigate the scratching post and possibly use it.

What I did was use a feather toy up against the sisal (sp?) rope and when she used the post to scratch (really going after the feather), I praised her and did it again - this time moving the feather toy up so she'd use the post and then she just started stretching and using it and I praise her (emphatically) everytime she uses the post. I did the same thing with Lucky.

I'm not sure if that will work as quickly with an older cat, but give it a try and if it works out - great!

Good Luck to you!

 

[hissy]

It could be location, it could wobble when she reaches for it. We bolt ours down on the floor. The post should be near an open doorway. You can try feeding her next to it, or you can invest in a scratcher that lies flat on the floor. Turbo scratchers are great incentives for kitties to scratch on.

 

[mandycat]

it feels quite steady and is near open doorway. will try putting her food nearby

 

[hissy]

here is a link- highly recommended, cats love it!

Turbo Scratcher

 

[sxzwang]

my 2 cents - I have read somewhere that some cats are vertically oriented, and some are horizontal. my cat didn't like a tall scratching post I bought for her either. So I got her a flat piece of board and she loves it.

 

[hissy]

Yep- some cats are ambi-scratherous...

I have three that won't touch the vertical posts but love the turbo scratcher and the skid scratcher- which we put on our stairs, the cats love it, but we don't (not with bare feet anyway.

 

[foofy cat lady]

I'm sure my visitors think I'm nuts for leaving wood (we have a wood-burning stove) in the living room all year round, but it's the ONLY thing one of my cats will claw. The other is a lot more omniscratcherous, and prefers guitar amps. The screening in front of the speaker is pretty heavy-duty, so thankfully she hasn't done much damage to it..