Max's Scratches

We are getting a new couch soon and knowing Max's affinity to stretch his toes on the sturdy structure of a big piece of furniture, we have been trying to train our cat to use other sources to satisfy his clawing urges. We've been giving him treats whenever he scratches on acceptable posts and we have a squirt bottle ready to fire should he choose something not appropriate. The only problem is that we don't have much right now that's not okay to claw on, so he hasn't gotten many doses of streaming water attacking him, and whenever he does claw something he shouldn't, he just flops over in a furry heap before we can negatively reinforce that bad-cat behavior.

In the picture above, Max is relaxing on the edge of his very own emery board, given to him by my mom. (Thanks, Mama!) It's specifically designed to help keep those sharp claws in a little duller shape. We also have a special pair of little kitty-claw scissors to trim those pointy daggers--and that's always a fun process we're still trying to master! No matter how much Max enjoys a good grooming session though, I wouldn't have thought he would be so happy to have an emery board or that he would even use it! He doesn't know the emery board's true purpose, you see. He thinks the texture is just awesome and that it has the amazing, magical ability to produce cat nip! He and the emery board are now quite good friends.

,,,,
Dawn