author Cathy Foldesi RagaMuffin lover
Beware of where you put your cats scratching post. You might regret your location choice. In our bedroom our cats have each chosen a piece of furniture to scratch even though we do have scratching posts available for them in other rooms. Our oldest cat sometimes scratched an old chair that my husband used to set cloths on. We really don’t mind him scratching that chair. It is not an important piece of furniture. If we tell him to stop it he does quit. Ragamuffin Windsor on the other hand. had to pick another piece of furniture to scratch in our bedroom. He likes needling a bench we have a dog crate on. I tried to discourage him from his scratching choice but of course failed at my attempts to redirect his behavior. So, one day I was at Home Goods (one of my favorite stores) and found a small scratching post, for cats, with a bell and a ball on it designed for cats entertainment. It was only $10 so I bought it figuring if the cats did not like it I would not have wasted a lot of money. To keep it steady I used a small rope to tie it to the bottom of the bench where Windsor liked pruning his nails. It worked. He likes it. The only problem now is he plays with the bell and ball as he uses the post and sometimes it gets a bit noisy and quite loud while we are sleeping. Not so much fun for us, but after all cats tend to be a bit nocturnal so his play time choices are a bit different then ours. Honesty, I fuss a little but really it’s okay as we are glad he likes it and is no longer scratching the bench. I could cut the bell and ball off of the post but I am afraid if I do he would no longer like it anymore. So sometimes we all have to be a little flexible and understanding to each other’s needs, desires, and pleasures. The truth is I love watching Windsor being a kitten and he really does nothing that is seriously wrong. So, we let him have fun, even if he wakes us up, and we have saved our bench too. YAY!