Anxious Cat

[Miss243350]

Hi - new to this forum and looking for advice. I took in 1 year old and 2 year old cats from RSPCA 1.5 years ago. They said the only reason they were looking for a new home was due to previous owner moving abroad. We had usual mishaps with spraying/messing with Tabitha (the oldest) for the first few weeks when we had to keep them in but after being let out, there were no more toilet problems. We could very quickly see that Tabitha, whilst she adored a fuss and was very vocal, she was also quite an axious/stressed cat. Trixie, the youngest (they are not related), whilst being a scaredy cat, settled in fine. Anyway, since then and until now, we have had constant problems with Tabitha (occasionally Trixie) clawing our carpet and rugs. To the point that we now have a hole in one spot on the carpet upstairs and have numerous patches of persistant clawing (quickly turning into holes!) and to be honest, its ruining our house (not meaning to sound selfish!!). We have tried everything with Tabitha. I live with my husband and 7.5 year daughter (who is very calm and relaxed). Its not a busy household. We are out of the house 4-5 days a week for around 8 hours. When we are in they both get lots of love and attention. We have feliway difusers plugged in around the house. Numerous sratching poles and horizontal scratch pads. Nothing seems to deter Tabitha for this habitual scratching. We live in a quiet culdesac with no cats (that we have seen) around. They are microchipped and can come and go as they please to/fom our house. Sadly, we are now at the stage of looking at rehoming them with maybe an adult couple who are in the house more than we are in the hope that that will keep Tabitha calm and relaxed and therefore could be less likely to scratch. I have grown up with lots of cats and adore them and so reaching this decision is a very difficult one.

[booktigger]

I doubt the scratching is anything to do with being anxious, some cats just prefer to scratch carpet rather than scratching posts, in which case you need to put deterrents on the places she scratches (tin foil, food etc)

[Kay]

I would agree with that - I think if I had this problem I would invest in some really cheap secondhand rugs and put them down in the favoureds spots for scratching, as deterring them 24/7 is probably going to be impossible, for you and anyone else with carpets

I myself gave up on carpet when I first had more than one cat, and had laminate put down, which is ideal IMO for anyone who wants pets and an undamaged clean floor

[Miss243350]

Thanks both for your replies. I have got tin foil all around the house where they tend to scratch most and use 'pet behave' spray on the carpets/rugs. Unfortunately, old/cheap rugs can't be the answer as the scratching is so widespread across the house (we have hard flooring downstairs). Yes, you could be correct in that the scratching isn't related to anxiety but she is still an anxious cat regardless. Thanks for your help.