Ok, so I normally do not write any reviews or blogs, but after I have tried for so many years to keep my cats off the furniture and stop my cat from scratching the carpet, I had to share my findings with all the other desperate pet owners!
No more:
Cat scratching the furniture
Cat eating plants
Cat jumping on the kitchen table/counter
Cat meowing in front of the door at night
Cat pee outside the litter box
Cat peeing on furniture
Cat poo in the bed or on the couch
Dog eating trash
Dog on the couch or bed when you are away
Normally google is my best friend in finding things. If I need to know something, I google it! This time, sadly, googling for advice on how to keep my cats off the counter and stop them from scratching the furniture did not give me the answers I hoped to find. Instead I found blogs telling me to monitor my pets at all times and spray water at them whenever they get on the counter or scratch the furniture. One lady even told me it is all my fault because the cat is bored. Bored?! My cats are very spoiled and get so much love and play time...boredom cannot be a possibility! Plus I have to work, so I cannot be with my cats 24/7 to monitor them with a water bottle. Another thing I really don't like about the water bottle trick is that I could not use it when I found cat pee in my laundry basket. It is embarrassing, but yes, my cat pees on my cloths! So how could I spray my cat with water when the crime happened hours ago? What a silly idea! In the end, my cats got scared of the water bottle; however, that did not stop them from jumping on the counter or kitchen table, scratching my couch, and peeing on my cloth. They simply committed the crime and ran off whenever they saw me with the water bottle.
So what can you do? Nothing I thought and tried to live with it--until Christmas. The cats knocked over the christmas tree so many times this year that I started to look again. No turning back this time! And I did well...
After trying various products I found two products that do not harm my little babies but work WONDERS AT THE SAME TIME!
One of them is the Battery Operated Scat Mat.
This magic mat will respond to your cat or dog's touch with a light static pulse. Depending on the size or stubbornness of your pet you can either have the level of intensity on low, medium, or high. They are made out of plastic and only require a 9v battery, so you don't have to worry about electric cords or using it in the kitchen or bathroom. I placed the mat on the spot where the cat peed and on the edge of couch where they liked to scratch. You can put it in front of your trash can, bedroom door, to cover the spot your cat used to pee on (check out our cat urine remover page to get some tips on removing the pee), on the edge of the couch where your cat likes to scratch, or wherever you want it to be. A little indicator on the mat will show you when your pet does no longer test the mat and gave up on scratching the couch or peeing on the spot. I found that my cats learned VERY QUICKLY THAT THEY HAVE TO TURN ON THEIR GOOD-MANNER-MODE INSIDE THE HOUSE AGAIN. And the really good news is, cats and dogs are creatures of habit! After using the mat for a while, I could remove it without any problems. The cats unlearned the habit of scratching the couch or peeing on my cloths, so they were not interested in doing so any longer.
If you are having trouble with keeping a bigger area under control, you can either get a bigger mat or buy the SSSCAT. The SSSCAT is a can of compressed air attached to a motion detector. Whenever little kitty or doggy will get close to an area that is a no-no zone, the SSSCAT will spray compressed air at them. It is odorless, stainless, and completely harmless to your pets and furniture.
I use this product to keep the cats away from the christmas tree and also put it close to my bedroom door so my cat does not sit in front of it at night anymore to meow. This little can is a miracle! No more kitty on the table or counter, my plants are finally safe, and I can sleep at night again!
Both, the mat and the SSSCAT are very effective products to finally protect your furniture and teach your pets some manners. My husband and I can finally relax again and that alone is worth every single penny!
Also, it might be an important part of the training to redirect your cat's scratching behavior to somewhere else. Although the mat and the SSSCAT will prevent the cat from scratching or peeing at a certain spot, the cat still has the urge to scratch. I got my cats a Cardboard Scratcher with Catnip. They LOVE IT and do not scratch the couch anymore although I removed the mat and the SSScat from the area. Could I have just taught them to use the scratcher without the mat? No. Here is why. Without the mat the cat will scratch both, the couch and the scratcher. With the mat the cat will get into the habit of only scratching the scratcher, and that is what we wanted to achieve so desperately! Change the cat's HABIT. It is as simple as that.
Here are some pictures of the scratcher before and after (MY OH MY, THEY LOVE THIS THING!):
No more:
Cat scratching the furniture
Cat eating plants
Cat jumping on the kitchen table/counter
Cat meowing in front of the door at night
Cat pee outside the litter box
Cat peeing on furniture
Cat poo in the bed or on the couch
Dog eating trash
Dog on the couch or bed when you are away
Normally google is my best friend in finding things. If I need to know something, I google it! This time, sadly, googling for advice on how to keep my cats off the counter and stop them from scratching the furniture did not give me the answers I hoped to find. Instead I found blogs telling me to monitor my pets at all times and spray water at them whenever they get on the counter or scratch the furniture. One lady even told me it is all my fault because the cat is bored. Bored?! My cats are very spoiled and get so much love and play time...boredom cannot be a possibility! Plus I have to work, so I cannot be with my cats 24/7 to monitor them with a water bottle. Another thing I really don't like about the water bottle trick is that I could not use it when I found cat pee in my laundry basket. It is embarrassing, but yes, my cat pees on my cloths! So how could I spray my cat with water when the crime happened hours ago? What a silly idea! In the end, my cats got scared of the water bottle; however, that did not stop them from jumping on the counter or kitchen table, scratching my couch, and peeing on my cloth. They simply committed the crime and ran off whenever they saw me with the water bottle.
So what can you do? Nothing I thought and tried to live with it--until Christmas. The cats knocked over the christmas tree so many times this year that I started to look again. No turning back this time! And I did well...
After trying various products I found two products that do not harm my little babies but work WONDERS AT THE SAME TIME!
One of them is the Battery Operated Scat Mat.
This magic mat will respond to your cat or dog's touch with a light static pulse. Depending on the size or stubbornness of your pet you can either have the level of intensity on low, medium, or high. They are made out of plastic and only require a 9v battery, so you don't have to worry about electric cords or using it in the kitchen or bathroom. I placed the mat on the spot where the cat peed and on the edge of couch where they liked to scratch. You can put it in front of your trash can, bedroom door, to cover the spot your cat used to pee on (check out our cat urine remover page to get some tips on removing the pee), on the edge of the couch where your cat likes to scratch, or wherever you want it to be. A little indicator on the mat will show you when your pet does no longer test the mat and gave up on scratching the couch or peeing on the spot. I found that my cats learned VERY QUICKLY THAT THEY HAVE TO TURN ON THEIR GOOD-MANNER-MODE INSIDE THE HOUSE AGAIN. And the really good news is, cats and dogs are creatures of habit! After using the mat for a while, I could remove it without any problems. The cats unlearned the habit of scratching the couch or peeing on my cloths, so they were not interested in doing so any longer.
If you are having trouble with keeping a bigger area under control, you can either get a bigger mat or buy the SSSCAT. The SSSCAT is a can of compressed air attached to a motion detector. Whenever little kitty or doggy will get close to an area that is a no-no zone, the SSSCAT will spray compressed air at them. It is odorless, stainless, and completely harmless to your pets and furniture.
I use this product to keep the cats away from the christmas tree and also put it close to my bedroom door so my cat does not sit in front of it at night anymore to meow. This little can is a miracle! No more kitty on the table or counter, my plants are finally safe, and I can sleep at night again!
Both, the mat and the SSSCAT are very effective products to finally protect your furniture and teach your pets some manners. My husband and I can finally relax again and that alone is worth every single penny!
Also, it might be an important part of the training to redirect your cat's scratching behavior to somewhere else. Although the mat and the SSSCAT will prevent the cat from scratching or peeing at a certain spot, the cat still has the urge to scratch. I got my cats a Cardboard Scratcher with Catnip. They LOVE IT and do not scratch the couch anymore although I removed the mat and the SSScat from the area. Could I have just taught them to use the scratcher without the mat? No. Here is why. Without the mat the cat will scratch both, the couch and the scratcher. With the mat the cat will get into the habit of only scratching the scratcher, and that is what we wanted to achieve so desperately! Change the cat's HABIT. It is as simple as that.
Here are some pictures of the scratcher before and after (MY OH MY, THEY LOVE THIS THING!):
|
|
Are there any other ways to protect your couch and tables? Yes, there are.
You can try to spray water at them whenever you catch them doing something you don't like.
Pros:
Cheap and easy to use.
Cons:
Ineffective when you are not at home
Cats might get scared of you
You have water everywhere
Declawing.
Pros:
Furniture is safe
Cons:
Some consider it as cruel
There are many other products and things you can do to try keeping your pets under control, but I tried many, if not all of them, and the SSSCat and the battery mat are the only two products that worked right away with little effort and low costs.
In the end it is up to you what you want to use. A pet will always be a pet and there is no way you will turn it into a perfect pet. There will always be fur in your food and they will always do certain things that you will not like, but in the end, it is a small price to pay when looking at all the love and wonderful moments you share with your pets.
Hugs and kisses to your little ones and I hope this article was useful to you!