Our adorable cat has a claw problem

[sniffa]

This seems to be something new over the last few weeks but she's been doing it non-stop lately - to get attention she stands on her hind legs and digs her claws into our (mostly mine) legs.

It hurts and sometimes she hits nerves which cause me to shriek. I know she doesn't mean harm but can we break her of this habit? She's incredibly needy.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Scream loudly when she does it (you probably do anyway).

Cats hate loud noises and this might deter her. The other thing to do so you won't get stabbed in the first place is either trim the pointy tips off her claws or put those little nail cap thingies on her.

[sniffa]

3. I usually scream

and it terrifies her.... and I feel bad about it.

[Texasgal]

2. Water bottle.

Get a small spray bottle with water, when she does this spray her!

My queen of a cat used to scratch at my toes, I had several spray bottles stategically placed around the house! It wasn't long before she broke that habit!

[gblady]

4. it works...

the spray bottle, that is...
that's how I trained mine.

[EFerrari]

12. It works great! I don't even have to spray any more, just shake it

and they know that means "Mommy will eat you, stop it".

lol

[gblady]

22. yeah.....

same with my guys....
after a while, just picking up
the bottle did the trick.

[hippywife]

13. I can exactly imitate the sound

the spray bottle makes with my teeth. It's pretty funny to watch them take off running and I don't even have the bottle anywhere near me. :rofl:

[fizzgig]

21. we use that noise with the cats at my dad's house

they know what it means :rofl:

[Midlodemocrat]

5. Get her declawed. That will solve the problem.

:hide:

[Texasgal]

7. Uh oh....

:popcorn:

[astral]

10. No, don't de-claw your kitty!

My cat has razor sharp claws too and is an older pretty mellow cat. I taught him not to 'play with my feet' as I step over him (he generally likes to Lay in My Way -- wherever that might happen to be) and he does occasionally forget.

I don't have no squirt-gun, I got him as an older cat, and he inherited a middle-aged, very Set-In-Her Ways woman as his new servant. So I used extreme firmness, harsh voice when needed, and in extreme cases, a single swat right on the side of his butt for disobedience to my ground rules, which were very simple:

-- STAY OFF the kitchen table, the kitchen counter, and my computer table.
-- DO NOT CLAW ME.

And the VERY rare offense (hey, I DID inherit an older-grumpy-old-man kinda kitty!)
-- DO NOT chomp on my arm if I startle you, annoy you, or accidentally piss you off.

We Git along Great. He is a lovey-dovey lap cat who wouldn't dream of hopping on the table, and he owns the rest of the apartment.

[sasquatch]

17. Nice post Mengele

:P

[emilyg]

32. No. NO!

[matcom]

6. whip out your penis

your legs will be fine

[Midlodemocrat]

8. She probably can't reach that far.

:hide:

I LOVE sniffa!!!!!!

[sniffa]

9. Blisters on my penis are 1 thing

[zanne]

11. I can always count on you, matcom. nt

[JVS]

19. That's your answer to everything

[Fire Walk With Me]

14. The cat where I'm currently staying has learned to not claw for attention

and now is a soft touch, and mellower. I hope that this will also be your experience.

[sniffa]

20. Our other cat never claws us

Even when he does the same things as the female cat his claws stay in.

He occasionally slaps me with his paw (in the face) but his claws are never out.

[DS1]

15. wear leather chaps around the house

[AlCzervik]

16. my neighbor cat Kiro aka Scratchy used to climb up me and then needle.

it hurt like hell but that was just his way. I finally started breaking out the hose on mist mind you not full blast and that seemed to help. He was a nice cat but he got really attached to me---literally.

[JVS]

18. Don't they make mittens to put on cats to get them not to scratch?

[gblady]

23. kittens in mittens.....

LOL!

[Robbien]

24. Get a cat scratcher box

One of those corrugated cat scratcher boxes (about $5-10 at Petsmart). When the cat scratches you, pick up the cat and place it on the scratching box. It will probably start scratching the box like crazy.

The cat just wants the stimulation scratching gives.

I have a scratching box in every room in my house. All three of our cats use them constantly.

[sniffa]

26. We have two of those

Our first cat uses both constantly. New cat rarely uses them.

She prefers flesh mostly, and furniture occasionally.

:eyes:

[wartrace]

25. Kitty mittens.

Just put tiny mittens on the front paws?:shrug:

[Shardik]

27. this is why I am a dog person.

:)

[sniffa]

28. But do you live in a concrete jungle 5 floors above?

We don't have a dog(s) because we live in the city and we're both usually not home.

:shrug:

[Shardik]

33. No, I don't and I can see the difference.

Chihuahua? :)

[LynzM]

29. SoftPaws...

www.softpaws.com

Won't break the habit, but *will* make it much less painful for you... :)

[sniffa]

31. We've been thinking about that

but we're not going to do it ourselves. Just clipping her nails was terrifying. :scared:

How are you? You're thought about here.

:loveya:

[applegrove]

30. Water pistol.