Friday, August 31, 2007

Cat Scratching Training is Rewarding

One of the major rewards of training your cat to scratch where you want it to is the connection it gives you with the critter.

When you achieve your goal and the feline or felines in your life scratch only where you want them to, you will feel a major sense of accomplishment. You have communicated with your pet in a new way. It has understood and is doing something you want it to do. Something a little complex.

That's a nice feeling, and it's a lot easy to achieve than you might initially think.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Cat Scratching Problems Can Be Solved

The primary ingredient in solving cat scratching problems is the human not the cat. Cats will do pretty much what they are permitted to do. Without training, they will scratch whatever they are moved to scratch at any given moment. This is no different from the kind of behavior a toddler will exhibit if not taught there are acceptable actions and those that are unacceptable.

Although humans regularly witness the results of animal training--from dolphins jumping out of the water and through hoops to raptors returning to a falconer’s glove--they somehow think it must be *really* difficult. It is challenging but not that hard if you know what to do, do it consistently, and do it with love.

After I developed Natural Scratch I soon realized that I would have to supply a guide to training with it if was going to help preserve claws and solve scratching problems. It's a great post but it is not a set-and-forget solution to cat scratching problems.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Cat Tree From Natural Scratch

Another product I would someday like to develop is a Natural Scratch tree. Objective would be to make it entirely out of white cedar and have it ship disassembled. No carpet or other materials would be included.

The Natural Scratch cat tree would have several platforms that cats could climb to and rest on. Cats in my experience enjoy high places.

It would also feature large expanses of scratchable surfaces. Customers could place it in front of a window. Cats could claw their way up to a balcony seat and watch the world go by.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Cat Scratching Plank

A customer with a cat called Diva (great name!) wrote to me recently wondering if I had a horizontal version of Natural Scratch.

She'd had a Natural Scratch post since 2001 but said her cat never used the post itself--rather it had dented the base pieces through regular clawing. I've heard similar stories from enough customers that I am currently developing a horizontal version of Natural Scratch. I put together a simple white cedar plank, sent it to this customer, and her cat likes it a lot, which is great.

Someday I hope to make a living off of Natural Scratch but until then the satisfaction it has brought cats, the problem it has helped humans solve, and the tens of thousands of claws it has preserved are more than enough recompense.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Cat Scratching Requires Stability

Watching cats scratch Natural Scratch is fun. It's amazing how deeply they dig in and how much joy they get from it.

Our three cats scratch the post regularly, at least several times a day. They often squint their eyes some and get this faraway look. It's easy to imagine how good it must feel to them.

Regardless of how hard they claw Natural Scratch, though, the post barely moves because the effective footprint supplied by the 32-inch-long base pieces is large.

Not once since I began selling the post in the nineties has anyone written to say her or his cat was able to tip it over. More later...

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Cat Jail

Cats who scratch where they shouldn't need to be discouraged, for their sakes and yours. With some, one *no* sharply stated will do the trick. (Many felines truly are fraidy cats and don't like any disapproval.) Others require considerable negative conditioning--none capable of harming the cat in any way naturally.

Cats who consistently misbehave despite attracting unpleasantness ranging from shaker-can rattles to water gun squirts might need to spend some time in cat jail. Any small uninteresting room--a bathroom for example--will do the trick. Before locking the furry felon away, make sure nothing in the jail threatens the cat's safety. For example, in a bathroom, make sure the toilet seat and cover are down.

Most cats hate having their freedom restricted and will stop doing things that seems to earn them a stay in an environment they don't like. When other things don't dissuade try giving your beast a short stay in the slammer. More later...

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Wildlife in the Suburbs

We live in a suburb of Milwaukee, just about ten miles from the shores of Lake Michigan, and have since 1990. In those 17 years a major change has occurred. Where sightings of animals such as deer and raccoons once were rare now such animals are here in abundance.

This summer, for example, to my astonishment, a family of foxes took up residence in a culvert pipe under the driveway of the neighbor across the street. Foxes are beautiful animals but this is not the place for them. The mother had at least three kits, but one has died and the remaining two are not pictures of health. Though I hate to, I make a racket when I see them because they need to fear humans and head for the woods.

This morning I had our Sheltie in the front yard and heard a commotion of barking out back. I hustled Comet in and ran to the back of the house where I found a different neighbor who quickly told me her dog had a fox cornered in one of our window wells.

She had been feeding the foxes when one of her dogs got out; it was an ugly site but fortunately neither fox nor dog was injured.

I told this lady pointedly: Please don't feed the foxes. That isn't doing them any favors. More later...

Friday, August 24, 2007

Scratching Post Testimonials Tell The Story

I always encourage people who are contemplating purchasing or have purchased a Natural Scratch scratching post or two to read the Testimonials page at naturalscratch.com.

This helps them understand the range of reactions cats have to Natural Scratch. Some take to it immediately, others require considerable owner involvement and coaxing. All eventually come to realize that it is something in the home or apartment that they can lay their claws into, with full human approval, for all their scratching needs

Never but never do I sell or promote Natural Scratch as a set-and-forget solution. It isn’t and there is no such thing as far as I know. BUT, it does work without exception if customers follow the method presented in the training guide, consistently and with love and patience. This came to mind because I was happy to add two more nice comments from customers yesterday afternoon to naturalscratch.com. More later…

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Cat Scratching Post Debris

Now and then, customers ask whether cats remove materials from Natural Scratch when then claw it.

The answer is yes, which is good. Cedar shavings at the base of Natural Scratch mean the post is being used and that's great.

Cedar shavings are light, can be vacuumed away easily, and do not become entangled in the loops of rugs or carpeting.

More later...

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Cat Scratching Post Materials

Cat scratching posts are available in a variety of materials, today, which is great. It wasn't that long ago that almost all posts were clad with carpet remnants. People thought that if the cat was scratching upholstery, some type of fabric is what it preferred.

The fact that there is no fabric-covered post in the nature makes clear that upholstery is a substitute, not the real thing. Cats are very adaptable, however, just like people, and will make do with what's available provided they are trained to it. I've said for years that training is far, far more important than the material the post is made of.

In fact, enough people have written or called me who have multiple posts that their cats aren't scratching that this year, for the first time, I have made available the Natural Scratch Training Guide alone. It cam be purchased it at http://naturalscratch.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=NSFNC&Product_Code=33 Any cat can be trained to practically any post using the method it contains.

Another important consideration is how the post looks. Over time, Natural Scratch only looks better. Cats whittle away at it and make it their own. This is not true of other kinds of materials which tend to look unsightly with use. More later...

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Cat Scratching Training Is Aided By Treat Rewards

Most animals respond well to food rewards and so do cats. Attracting cats to Natural Scratch is aided by the pleasing odor of catnip but when it comes to reinforcing good cat scratching behavior, nothing beats a treat the cat craves. I have yet to meet or hear about a cat that didn't have a pronounced love of a certain food morsel.

Some cats don't like typically available kitty treats but even fussy critters generally are moved by *some* form of snack. A good example of this is a female black Manx--a tailless cat--that we acquired from the Humane Society that my son named Midnight. In classic cat style, she turned up her nose at typical treats. Complicating matters was the fact that she was a completely solitary creature who didn't like interacting with her companion Twinkles. This was particularly a problem because she didn't like scratching where he scratched. Not good.

I began trying to interest her in various table scraps and finally discovered that she went wild for plano white bread. This discovery quickly led to her becoming a Natural Scratch-exclusive scratcher. Never had a problem with her after. Since I began selling Natural Scratch more than a dozen years ago I have heard from customers of cats who like one or more of a long list of unusual food items, from apples to zucchini. (To help, I am now offering a treat sampler of unusual snacks at http://naturalscratch.com/rewardsampler.html.) More later...

Monday, August 20, 2007

Cat Scratching Post Training

I wish Natural Scratch had magical properties that attracted every cat and compelled it to scratch its cedar flanks and nothing else. But, it doesn't. It's not Merlin or even Harry Potter. Cats, like people, however, respond to training and any cat can be trained to be a Natural Scratch-exclusive scratcher.

Among the features that make Natural Scratch unique, the most important is the training booklet. It presents a simple step-by-step method of training a cat to claw Natural Scratch and nothing else. This works like a charm IN ALL CASES! However, it is completely dependent on humans following the method consistently and for as long as it takes to channel the cat's scratching in the right direction.

Cat scratching behavior as it relates to Natural Scratch falls neatly under a classic Bell Curve. At one end are the minority of cats that begin scratching Natural Scratch as the owner is putting it together. On the other are the minority of cats who look at it and seem to say, Huh?!? As if they don't have a clue what it's for. All other cats are between these extremes.

Even the most evidently dumbfounded or simply obstinate cat, however, can be trained to claw Natural Scratch exclusively provided humans interact with it patiently and consistently and reward any clawing of Natural Scratch with a treat the cat craves. More later...

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Cat Scratching Becomes A Problem

Ursa Major wasn't my or my wife's first cat. Both of us had cats while living with our parents. We knew how they needed to scratch but were unprepared when Ursa starting clawing the mahogany moldings in the doorways of our 1953 house. A book about cats we had mentioned using cedar as a scratching post and we happened to be building a dock out of white cedar at a cabin on Bass Lake in Northern Wisconsin not far from where we Ursa found us. Bingo! He didn't go for it immediately but by using kitty treats as an inducement and rewarding good scratching behavior, he was soon clawing the dickens out of that first post. Not long after, we acquired a companion for him, Star, and she took to the cedar post quickly, too. This was the beginning of Natural Scratch.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Ursa Major--An Amazing Cat Adopts Us

My wife and I acquired--better said, he acquired us--our first cat together more than 25 years ago.

My brother and I were out star gazing in May in Florence County, Wisconsin, when I felt something brush up against my leg. I said to my brother as calmly as possible, "Don't react or anything but I think there's a skunk down by my feet." Just then the critter meowed.

I opened the car door, the dome light came on, and I saw a tiny gray tiger stripe kitten only a few months old who had already struck out on his own, probably from a farm in the area. I gave him a few pets and went back to star gazing under the inky black skies of northern Wisconsin, with the constellation, Ursa Major, The Big Dipper, directly overhead.

When we decided to leave to have dinner at a local bar-restaurant, to my amazement this tiny cat tried to climb into the car, even though the motor was now running and fairly loud. He clearly decided leaving with these big old humans was better than staying in the wild. Given that I couldn't resist taking him along. All I could do was hope my lovely wife, who was almost 250 miles away, wouldn't mind. When I arrived back home in Wauwatosa (a Native American word meaning "Land of the Fireflies") outside of Milwaukee a few days later and told my wife the story she warmed to the little bugger immediately. We named him Ursa Major naturally. More later...

Friday, August 17, 2007

All animals--cats and humans included--will produce wear in the home, inevitably. You can rail against the night or you can train creatures in ways that minimize damage. This is the point of the Natural Scratch scratching post. It comes with an easy-to-use guide that teaches humans how to train their cats to claw Natural Scratch and to leave other scratching targets alone. This isn't as easy as reading a book, but it is fun! Plus it is a great feeling to know that you have succeeded in training an animal to do something you want it to do. More later...

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Natural Scratch Claws In


I don't know a thing about blogs but that won't stop me. Purpose of this is to write about things related to Natural Scratch (www.naturalscratch.com), other cat-related products I have in the works, animals in general, and cats in particular. For starters (and with a nod to Will Rogers), "I've never met a cat I didn't like." Currently we have three--Twinkles, Gemini, and Leo--and fond memories of many more. After the obvious things about cats such as their fastidiousness, beauty, and intelligence, it's good to realize they are far from perfect. When a human decides to reside with a cat (or another critter), he or she has to realize that the old abode will forever change--mainly for the better. But then there are the accidents...more later.