Question:
My 1 year old kitten Tiki has what seems like a common problem, but I can not find a solution despite many google searches and I hope that you can help.

Tiki is a big scratcher and i have bought soft paws to keep him from destroying my furniture (further). They seem to work fine as far as furniture goes (hard to tell though since his favorite scratching places are pretty torn up ). It's worth noting that despite efforts to get him to become attached to his scratching post he just doesn't seem interested. My next purchase will be a large cat tree that he can share with his sister, we will see how that goes.

The big problem is (what I think) seperation anxiety or something similar. If I shut him out of the bedroom in the morning (standard excitement, playing with blinds, jumping on our heads and generally being annoying) he starts scratching under the door to get in. I have tried spraying him with water, clapping my hands and yelling, double sided tape, stuffing towels under the door where he scratches and plain old ignoring him; all to no avail. He scratched the carpet in my old apartment into shreds and I would like to avoid that in my new place. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks!

Answer:
Very common problems! For the scratching of the furniture, I find that cats love to scratch sisal. You can get rolls of this at any dollar store and using hot glue, can wrap it tightly around a board which you can bolt to the wall. You can also try double sided tape on the furniture, and a repellant spray sold at pet stores. It smells pleasantly like citrus to us, but cats hate it.

Cats will not scratch anything that is not rock solid so make sure any scratching posts are not wobbly. Put some catnip on the scratch post and gently show your cat how to use it.

For the bugging in the mornings. If you sometimes let the cat in the bedroom, he'll want to get in there all the time. One tactic I used was to get up, pick up the cat without saying a word or reacting, deposit him in the bathroom and leave him there until you get up. This may not work, and I had a cat who had to be locked up every night for 18 years, or he WOULD wake us up at 3:00a.m. like clockwork.

Your cat is very young, and hopefully will outgrow this behavior. The playing with blinds, jumping on your head, etc WILL stop as he matures.

Answer:
Lucky Rescue:

Thanks for your reply! I am going to try some methods to get him to enjoy the posts (i like the sisal attached to the wall idea... i think my older cat would really enjoy that too) however, i feel like this under-the-door scratching is less about scratching (ie. him enjoying the scratching post would not solve it) and more about the behavior. He wants to be close to us. Locking him in the bathroom is a great idea, but he scratches under there too. I tried that in my old apartment but the door never quite closed right and my older cat would let him out (helping out her little brother i guess )

I guess what I am asking for help with is solving the behavioral aspect, like how can i train him not to 'dig' under the door? I would think that not rewarding him by opening it would be a solution, but wouldnt fare too well on my rugs, is there any other method besides ignoring (i am willing to put time into this) that would train him not to try to dig his way into my bedroom? I have thought about hiding and then spraying him repetedly while he cant see me, would this work... grr.

This is especially on my mind today because I tried to lock them away so the exterminators could spray but he started digging right away. The office was supposed to call me to tell me when they were ready to spray so i could come home from work and pick up the cats, but they didnt and instead they sprayed the house while the cats were free to roam around. Humans are supposed to stay out for 2-4 hours after spraying so i really really hope that my kitties dont get sick. :(

I know that eventually the crazyness will go away (in fact, i miss the crazy behavior of my older cat, now she seems mad at me all the time, unlike the cuddly kitten she used to be) but what can you do!?

Answer:
I think you better call your vet right away. Cats are very sensitive to chemicals and might well be affected by the spray!

As for the carpet under the bedroom door, try getting some of that plastic that comes on a roll and has a spiky side that goes over carpets. Put the spiky side up on the carpet on both sides of the door. Your cat will find this very unpleasant to walk on.

Answer: