Cat Scratch Fever

[*Tanya*]

Sammy has taken to scratching the closet and front doors, obsessively. Just this morning, she's woken me at 1 a.m., 3 a.m., and now again at 6:30 p.m. She's 9 years old and has been spayed since she was maybe 6 months old. She has never been outside since I got her. Lately when I open the front door (I'm in an apartment), she makes a run for it. I let her go, she gets to the end of the hall, and runs back in.

There is nothing in the closet. I've tried opening that door to her too, so she can figure out whatever it is she's trying to get to in there. I open the door and it suddenly loses all its attraction to her.

I used to have a scratching post for her, and she wouldn't even look at it, much less use it.

I wouldn't care so much about the scratching, if I were in a house. I can close my bedroom door to block out the noise. The problem is that I'm in an apartment, and my neighbours across the hall can no doubt hear it when she goes on these scratching sprees. At 3 and 6 a.m., I'm sure they're even less thrilled than I am, especially since I've heard their dog start barking when he hears Sammy doing this.

I have no effing clue what to do. She has food, water, and a clean litter box. She has toys, and a playmate in my other cat, Willie. I'm losing my patience with her, which makes me so sad and frustrated. Not that I would ever give her up, just that I kinda yelled at her today, because I'm soooo frustrated and I don't know what to do. :mecry::sniff::dunno:

Does anyone have any advice? I'll take whatever you've got. Thanks.

[Mandy]

My dad's cat went through this as well. We ended up going with a declaw...for his sake, ours, and our furniture. The vet had suggested buying these little crdboard things and putting them all over the house...some on walls, some on the floor...just so whever he went he had something to scratch on (he told us by sprinkling a little catnip on them, Xander would be more apt to actaully use them). It worked for a little while, but a declaw ended up doing the trick. It stinks to watch them go through it, but in the long run I think he was happy too. The vet said he may have been doing all the scratching because he claws have have been bothering him. :shrug2:

I hope you figure something out soon!! I remember how incredibly annoying that was!!

[wendy9879]

:scratch:

If your cat is scratching doors, there are those cardboard scratching posts that Mandy mentioned that you can hang from all the doors the cat tends to scratch. You could put loose catnip on them (if you cat likes it - a cat will either hate it or love it). They even make a catnip spray.

Do you trim your cat's nails? After I trim them, my cat goes crazy trying to resharpen them.

Sometimes spraying cats with water when you catch them doing something you don't want them to do works. :hehe:

[Kiki]

Okay, here's my advice, because it worked for us. Buy a spray bottle. Fill it with vinegar. When she scratches, spray her. Cats hate vinegar, and if she just gets sprayed for that, she'll put 2 and 2 together and stop. Hopefully. It doesn't hurt them in any way, they just hate it.

[*Tanya*]

Thanks, guys. It's not damage I'm worried about. She's not actually putting scratches in the doors, it's just the noise that is infuriating.

So yeah, I guess I'm going to try the spray bottle thing again. The only problem there is that she knows to run when she sees me coming, so I can never get to her in time. :dunno:

[Kari]

The reason cats scratch is because they are molting their nails so that the new, sharper, longer nails can grow in.. The best way to stop it is to trim their nails once a week. If I miss ONE trimming, Oreo is scratching everything in sight.

[wendy9879]

Thanks, guys. It's not damage I'm worried about. She's not actually putting scratches in the doors, it's just the noise that is infuriating.

So yeah, I guess I'm going to try the spray bottle thing again. The only problem there is that she knows to run when she sees me coming, so I can never get to her in time. :dunno:
Make sure she doesn't see you coming with a spray bottle. :laugh3:

[Jaime]

I hate to admit this, but Cornflake was scratching the closet door at our old apartment. We thought he was just out of sorts, until we opened it one day and found a hole chewed in the cat food bag.. and the swiffer.. etc, etc. We had a mouse!!!

So you might want to double check your closet, if it is only the one closet getting scratched.

[Jessica!]

I got my cats a scratching pad from Target for $10. It includes the catnip. If your kitty loves the 'nip, I suggest this buy. My cats go CRAZY over it. This behavior could just be a random little phase. My cats will do really odd things for a couple of weeks, then get bored with it and stop.

I don't know what other kind of advice to give though. Sorry.

[Poloke]

Another solution to the scratching:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=2975&Ntt=claws&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

[nikkiana]

Another solution to the scratching:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=2975&Ntt=claws&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

I was going to suggest these... I had a friend who was having trouble with their cat clawing things, so she tried these.... Boy was it funny to see the cat try to claw something and then realize it wasn't going to work. :D

[*Tanya*]

Thanks again, guys. Do you think those claw caps would reduce the noise that she's making though? As I said before, she's not doing any damage to the doors. It's the noise that drives me nuts. :)

[Poloke]

they should reduce the noise... since she can't dig her claws in the wood. I guess to be sure you would just have to try them...sorry i'm not much more help with this.