Watch your cat blissfully scratch away on his favorite post!
Good locations for scratching posts are near furniture and one near a favorite napping spot.
Your cat needs his own getaway space.
Once you've brought home your new kitten and he begins tearing up and down your living room couch, climbing your expensive drapes and dragging his claws across your carpeting--that's not the time to start thinking about declawing--it's the time to start thinking about investing in a really good, sturdy cat tree, a sisal post or two, maybe a flat cardboard scratching pad.
Declawing simply is NOT an option!
A cat tree or condo allows your cat to scratch and climb to his heart's content. It's so fun to watch a kitten joyfully playing on a cat tree. When it comes to nap time, often they will climb into one of the perches and enjoy a good long sleep. It's a great place to get peace, too. It's a place he can call his own.
If you don't have the room for a big cat tree, there are plenty of options. Cat trees come in all sizes. We have found that local pet stores don't really stock many cat trees and the ones that they do have just aren't worth the money they are asking. Shop around on the internet. Another great place to look is at a cat show where there may be a vendor selling them.
Although we've found a few fairly good trees at Petsmart, it is usually slim pickings. Generally, the cheaper the tree, the cheaper the carpeting used to cover it. Even one cat scratching it can shred it in no time. A better option for the posts is sisal. Sisal gives the claws a much better workout. It also will help disassociate your cat from your nice wall to wall carpeting or Oriental rugs.
Although pricy, 7th Heaven cat trees are superb. So are the ones made by Angelical. The thing that gets you here is the shipping costs.
We've heard a lot of praise for Armarkat, and they ARE economical, but I wouldn't recommend them for large Ragdolls. The carpeting is not the best, but we have purchased a couple with nice sisal covered legs. They do really great for kittens.
We've purchased several from Drs. Foster and Smith that have held up nicely. The carpeting is a better grade. They have several different models and the sleeping trays aren't too tiny for our big boys. You can also get the posts covered in sisal, rather than carpeting.
You can do your own Internet search and find plenty of sites that sell cat trees and condos. If you are lucky enough to live in a large enough area, you might find a specialty pet store that carries some better quality cat trees.
LINKS To Cat Tree Sites
We get complaints about the cat scratching everything in sight. People make the mistake of purchasing scratch posts that have human--not cat--appeal. Pretty, plush, carpeted posts and trees are aesthetically pleasing to humans, but for cats, not so much. They prefer rough and ugly. Sisal is the best as it fulfills the cat's scratching needs. The roughness of the sisal helps to remove the outer shealth of the nail while also stretching the back and shoulder muscles.
The bottom line: if we are going to keep our cats indoors and safe we also need to accommodate their basic needs that are not going to disappear just because they live indoors. You cannot stop a cat from scratching any more than you can stop him from purring or hissing. It's a built in cat instinct.