Tips to keep cats happy

If you don't want your cat to scratch your couch or your wing chairs, consider offering alternative cat furniture, such as towers, trees, scratching post and tunnels.

Cats scratch to sharpen their claws, remove old nail sheaths, and mark territory with their scent. Placing cat furniture can divert those scratching and climbing tendencies away from your furniture better than virtually anything else.

Cats are individuals; try many different scratching fixtures letting them tell you what items they prefer.

When buying cat furniture, look at its construction, are there sharp edges, like nails and staples sticking out? Does the carpet pull up easily? Is it sturdy? Does it have replacement parts? Big pieces can run a couple hundred dollars or more. For that price, it should be rock-solid and long-lasting.

Materials and shape are important, cardboard, wood, wood composite, and some fabrics and carpets tend to be scratching attractive. Vertical surfaces should extend high enough that they are taller than the cat when he is standing on his hind legs.

Try to place cat furniture where the cat spends the most time, where it likes to sleep, usually. It may mean providing scratchers in several rooms, and on different floors.

Once a cat becomes accustomed to using a scratcher in an area it might be possible to move it gradually to a more desirable location. Understand it may not be very desirable to you at first but position them to be desirable to your cat, later you may try moving it a little at a time to a more cosmetic location from the human perspective.

Put scratching posts directly in front of spots, such as the arm of a couch, wherever your cat likes to scratch. And position cat furniture so it's the first thing your cat reaches when it walks into a room.

If you put the scratching post in a far corner, Buster may stop at the furniture first and never bother to move on.