A Love For Cats

Even though cats can bring us a lot of joy, they can also have some problems that may cause us stress.  Not only does it stress us but it also has the potential for stressing them and any other cats that are in the house.  Fortunately, most cat behavior problems can be handled, especially if they are caught early when they first start exhibiting this behavior.  Here are some of the most common cat behavior problems and what can be done to solve them.

One of the most common problems that cats have is aggression towards other cats whenever they are brought into the house.  This is especially the case if one cat has been living in your home for a very long time and then another cat is introduced into the environment.  The first thing that you need to do is to stop the behavior from happening whenever you are in the area.  Allowing your cats to fight is not a solution to the problem and may, in fact, reinforce the behavior.  In many cases, you can change the behavior of your cat by having them spayed or neutered.  It may also help if you introduce the new cat into the area slowly so that there is not as much of a problem with him taking over the area that has already been claimed by your first cat.

Another one of the cat behavior problems that many people have to deal with is scratching.  It’s a horrible feeling whenever you come home and see your house in tatters and perhaps your favorite sofa shredded.  What can be done in order to stop this problem?  One of the most common solutions to this problem is to have the cat declawed but if it spends any time outside then they should not be done.  You can introduce a scratching post into the area in order to keep your cat’s attention and keep it off of the sofa.  Try to match the fabric of the scratching post to whatever your cat enjoys scratching on the most.  If this fails, and your cat continues to scratch at your furniture then try covering the area of the furniture with something that will be unappealing to your cat, such as plastic or cardboard.  By making a few simple changes, this problem can be removed.

Cat Scratching Post

One of the most difficult behavioral problems that you can deal with when it comes to your cat is that of scratching.  The fact of the matter is, cats love to scratch and they will do so, typically on your favorite sofa.  Even if you have your cats declawed they may still pound away on the side of your couch as if they are tearing it to shreds.  By purchasing a cat scratching post or building one to suit your own pet, you will give them a place to exhibit this behavior without allowing them to continue to beat up on your furniture.

First of all, it’s important to note that many people consider the practice of declawing to be cruel to the cat.  It is, in effect, removing part of their body from them, much like cutting off a finger or an ear, something that you would never consider doing.  It can also be very dangerous for your cat, especially if it is left outside for any period of time.  It’s claws are its first line of defense and if you remove this defense from them then you’re inviting a dangerous situation in which your cat may be hurt or even worse.

In order to save your furniture, however, you are going to need to introduce a cat scratching post into the environment.  The decision on whether to make it large or small depends on the amount of room that your particular home has available.  You will also want to make sure that you place it in the location that is easily accessible by your cat and may be near the furniture that it likes to scratch on.  Keep a cat scratching post by your bed and one at the entrance of your house.  Basically, if you give your cat the option to scratch on something else, they may just take you up on it and leave your furniture alone.

Another thing that is important to take into consideration for your cat scratching post is the material that you would use.  Many people simply carpet the post in order to give their cat something to tear into but a cat may still enjoy taking a shot at the furniture from time to time.  If the cat enjoys the feel of the fabric on the furniture, try covering at least part of the post with this particular fabric.  It may save you in reupholstering costs down the road.

There has been a lot of discussion over the years about whether you can toilet train cat, dog or any other animal.  The fact of the matter is, it is a relatively simple thing to do if you want to toilet train your cat.  As far as getting your dog or other animal to go to the bathroom in the toilet, good luck with that.  If you want your feline, however, to begin using the porcelain litter box then you need to start moving it in that direction slowly.  Here’s how you do it.

The first thing that you need to do is to move the litter box next to the toilet itself.  This will get the cat used to its new area that will be going to the bathroom from now on.  You also need to make sure that the seat is constantly down but the lid is always up on the toilet.  If you have a man in the house that likes to leave the toilet seat up, he needs to be trained as well.  If the seat is up, your cat will not be comfortable walking around on the porcelain rim and it’s not very sanitary, anyway.

Every day, begin lifting the litter box up a little bit closer to the level of the toilet seat.  You could probably add one or 2 inches to the height every day, just make sure that it is always stable as your cat will sometimes jump up into the box and the last thing you want to do is knock it over.  It may take a couple of weeks, but eventually the box will be up as high as the toilet seat itself.  Now it’s time to move your cat over to the toilet.

You’re either going to have to use a metal bowl that is the same size as the toilet bowl or fabricate a wooden box that will neatly fit down into the toilet area.  Fill this box with litter and your cat will begin using it, just like it uses the litter box.  Begin training the cat to keep its paws up on the seat and eventually, you will be able to remove the litter box from the toilet altogether.  Your cat is now toilet trained and you can begin enjoying a litter box free house from this point forward.

There are kits which you can buy that help you with this process – which you can get through Amazon.  Just click on the links below to take a look.

Now, when I was little, we had to construct our own cat houses.  And, they were nowhere near as nice as what is available to buy now!  In fact, I remember building a cat house out of our picnic table and some old sheets.  Since we were using sheets, we obviously needed to have something large and heavy to help hold it all down.  This required some large rocks and whatever else we could find that was heavy enough to stop the sheets from blowing off the table.  My poor parents must have loved our final result – which made the picnic table into something I imagine would have looked better in the junk yard than in our front yard!  And, of course, we didn’t let anyone take it apart, so we couldn’t even use the picnic table for what it was actually meant for.

I don’t know if any of our cats ever actually made use of our little home we built them, but even we understood the need for a cat to have a place of their own.  We knew that they were special to us, and we wanted to give them something wonderful.   The cat houses that are available today are a bit more luxurious and built to a much higher standard.

Another very nice thing about these homes is that they are built to look nice in your yard or your home.  There are many different varieties available, including everything from heated outdoor cat houses to indoor ones that give your cat a space of their own.

Many people don’t realize that a cat has just as much of a need for a home of their own as a dog.  Cat owners have just as much love for their cats as dog owners do for their dogs, so why shouldn’t we be able to find the perfect homes for our pets?  There are cat houses built for every cat, and they don’t require any large objects to hold them down!

Take a look through the selection we have put together – all available through Amazon.com