Methods That Do Not Work
One of the best paths to know what works is to first know what doesn’t work. You could think that an annoyed yell or clapping of hands will scare your cat away from bad behavior, but your kitty won’t learn from this. Anger and intense noises to your cat don’t mean a particular action they actually did is undesirable – it just means that you’re being annoyed and loud or unhappy in general. Cats do not see your outrage at them as a direct correlation between what they are doing and your response. They have to have a rather more precise reply that creates a displeasing experience based primarily on what they are doing.
Spray Bottle
Never underestimate the feline hatred of water. Have a spray bottle in different rooms with clean water in it so that if your kitty does something like jump on the fridge or kitchen table that they recognize doing these actions will lead directly to getting wet.
Lemon for Furniture
Spraying your cat with water when scratching on the furniture won’t have the same effect. You should instead use natural scents like products with lion pheromones or lemon to dissuade your cat from using the sofa as a scratching post.
Reinforcing Good Behavior
Reward your cat and state “good kitty!” every time they use the vehicle scratching post. This will inspire your cat to use the scratching post more frequently and make them less likely to go somewhere else for claw sharpening.
