Scratching Posts: Your Cats Climb to the Top

Indoor cats have many needs, most of which can be accommodated by a bowl of food, water and daily attention. Although cats are self-sufficient, they do require lots of love and play time by their owners. This helps with their overall moral and happiness that can only be provided through touch and attention. Ever notice their mood after you’ve been away for a day or two?

Cats also have a need to have a scratching post. The post helps them by allowing them to have something to use aside from furniture or draperies. It is their instinct to scratch and by giving your cat something to use will prevent damage done on something else. Claws tend to grow constantly and without having something to scratch on, the happiness of the cat may be altered.

When I first brought my cats to my new place, I did not have a scratching post for them. They turned to my dining room chairs as a resort for doing their scratching. I wasn’t happy with their solution and went and bought them a new post to use. No sooner than I brought it into the house, both of them were all over it. They wouldn’t leave it alone and stood by it and scratched on it for 10 minutes straight. They were in heaven.

Different cats prefer different types of posts. I have seen that the rope style post is the most popular for cats to use. This may be because it resembles tree bark and is a good alternative to actually bringing a tree into the house. You can bring in a log and place it against a wall for them to use, but this may be unsteady unless you can actually secure it somehow in a base. So, by getting a scratching post that is made of rope with a base on it may be the best route unless you are crafty.

They do make scratching posts that are carpet based. This is good for some cats as it provides a place for them to climb on. Cats are by nature active animals and the added exercise that this will give them in beneficial.
I would not suggest declawing your cat as an alternative to buying a scratching post. This is because cats, whether indoor or outdoor, have basic survival needs that need to be met. Their nails are a form of their basic survival, and without them, they could lose that sense of security.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 13th, 2011 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Persian Cats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.