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Why Does My Cat Scratch The Wall
It is actually pretty normal for a cat to scratch on things: furniture, pillows, walls; almost anything! But what exactly is the reason behind this habit of theirs? Is there any way to keep your cats off the furniture, or the floor, or the wall, or the mats? Or primarily from scratching?
Well, read along and let’s claw our way in to find out why does a cat scratch the wall!
Contents
- So Why Do They Scratch Walls?
- Your wall turned “whetstone”
- A message to other cats
- Cat was here
- Stress relief
- Claws off the wall and how to prevent
- Diversionary tactics
- Repel
- Declawing
- Round Up
So Why Do They Scratch Walls?
There are a number of reasons as to why your cat will scratch your wall – or well, pretty much any surface. Basically, they do so for their benefit, and at the expense of your furniture. But I guess that’s the thing with cats, and when we decided to have them as our fur babies; the best thing we can do now is to learn more about this particular habit of theirs and understand them better.
Your wall turned “whetstone”
For your cat, it does not see your wall as merely being just a wall. It has turned into a whetstone and a gym in one. Very similar to how a whetstone functions, a cat scratching on surfaces wants to keep its claws sharp. You see surfaces, and conveniently your wall, once scratched will allow your cat to shed off old layers of claws to give way to new, way sharper claws.
Imagine that your cat scratching on walls is equivalent to people in the gym trying to buff up. It allows here to simulate scratching on something else so that
A message to other cats
As much as they are sharpening their claws when they scratch the wall, at the same time they are also able to leave “scent messages” of these surfaces. These scent messages aren’t for us humans, as we won’t even be able to notice it, it is in fact for other cats if you have others at home. It is their way of communicating with other cats.
Cat was here
Cats are highly territorial, very much like other animals. They have a number of ways to leave a mark on certain parts of your home and you may not even know it. You might have wondered why some cats pee on your stuff and such, well to tell you the truth they’re simply marking the territory that belongs to them.
In this case, it will be really hard to miss as you will see the aftermath of a cat just had scratched off the wall. Sometimes you would even have your cat caught in the act.
Stress relief
Your cat could also be feeling a bit stressed or anxious. It is a possible reason why a cat would scratch the wall – scratching the walls could be their way of releasing some of the tension and relieving a bit of that stress. You can check for other signs and symptoms if this is really the case.
Claws off the wall and how to prevent
I know, I know, it could really get quite annoying at times; especially if the scratching has become quite a destructive behavior. While it is a natural behavior for cats, it does not mean that there is no way that we can prevent our cats from doing so.
Diversionary tactics
Perhaps your wall has a really nice texture that your cat has taken a liking to. You can prevent your cat from scratching off walls by giving it its own personal scratcher. Perhaps it is high time you should get your cat its very own personal scratch post! There are a lot of cat scratch post out there that could satisfy your cat’s intense scratching tendencies.
Repel
Most cats do not like certain scents. What you can do is find out which scent deters your feline and use that scent to ward it off the wall. Citrus and lemony scents work most of the time. You can also use the same effect by finding out which scents get the attention of your cats and spray it on that scratch post you got your cat.
Declawing
If the first two attempts did not work for you, you can opt to declaw your cat. While most cat parents would not recommend doing so, due to the fact that it could have psychological effects on your cat; only choose this option if there is really nothing that seems to be working.
Round Up
There we go! Nothing so alarming behind the reasons why our cats would scratch our walls. We just have to make sure that there are stimuli in our cats’ environment that will steer its attention away from our walls.
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About me – Rebecca Welters
Yes, I am that weird cat lady with 200 cats and live in the darkest corner of the city where no one dares to go! Joking! But I am a cat lover and have 2 Taby cats called Toby, he’s 8 years old and Dory, she’s 3 years old.