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                               Scratching Posts

An essential item in the house as cats love to keep their claws trim, and they are not too fussy where they sharpen them. We do have 2 scratching posts but our youngest cat (Treacle) insists on using the bottom stair as her scratching post and the carpet is really suffering as a consequence.

Whenever your cat looks as though it is going to claw the furniture, reprimand it and gently put it in front of the scratching post so they will learn that they are allowed to play with that piece of furniture. You can make the post more attractive by rubbing or spraying catnip on it - most cats love the smell of catnip.

If you have a bad problem with the cats scratching carpets and furniture then you could use a "pet behave spray" which is basically a spray that can be applied to any soft furnishing - carpets, stairs, settees etc and will deter the cat from going near as they hate the smell. We use a lot of this whilst training the cats!