Scratch the Surface: Why Cats Scratch and What to Do About It

*This special guest post and infographic is courtesy of Petco® & designed by Ghergich & Co.

Have you ever gotten frustrated with your cat for scratching? You’re not alone: Losing a piece of furniture or another special object to your cat’s claws is not something you want to deal with—especially because you love your cat.

So what can you do? Well, for starters you can understand that there’s no intent behind the scratching, other than satisfying a natural urge and need. Your cat needs to sharpen its claws. It needs to get rid of old skin. It needs to stretch. And it can do all of those things by the very innate ability to scratch.

If you can’t change your cat, then you need to adapt. For starters, you can get your cat’s nails clipped to keep them as short as is humanely possible. You can also protect very special things in your house with natural cat-scratching deterrents.

What else works? This graphic outlines the options.

For a more in depth discussion as to why cats scratch and how to solve this issue. Click on the infographic above.

Comment and share below. What methods do you use to keep your cat from scratching the furniture?