Recently, we got a new couch. We’d had used furniture for a
long time, and in a way, it allowed me to get lax — I never worried much about
whether the cats scratched the furniture because it was ancient anyway, and not
the most beautiful pieces in the furniture universe. I got lucky — I didn’t
have a lot of trouble, though Kali (now deceased) loved to scratch a particular
corner of an ancient futon. We got a washable cover to place on it, which
generally seemed to make the cats want to scratch less, and it made me forget
about the previous scratching.
But when we spent a few hundred dollars on a new couch, I
started thinking more about providing good scratching options for my cats. I
believed that cats would be more tempted to scratch if the fabric on the couch
had an obvious nap (a texture that had something for the cats to grab onto and
dig claws into), so I chose a microfiber that was smooth.
The saleslady (a cat person) said that when she purchased
new furniture, she placed the cat scratching post in a prominent place in the
living room. Picture a room with a couch, and a coffee table in front of the
couch. The cat scratching post would replace the coffee table.
The saleslady theorized that the cats liked being the
center of attention in the room and they would head right to the scratching
post and use it. I wondered whether the cats enjoyed being the center of
attention or the cat scratching apparatus had simply been placed in an area
that was easier for the cats to use. Regardless, we had a few days until the
couch actually, so I took the saleslady’s advice. We had a small cat scratching
post. I knew it was inadequate (not tall enough, not enough scratching area),
though the cats did love the little tube area to play in. I ordered a taller
and more sturdy scratching post. We set them both in the center of the room,
right in front of the couch.
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