Scientists are laborious at work fixing one in every of life’s best issues: the home cat with a nasty behavior of tearing up furnishings.
In a brand new examine Wednesday, scientists recognized a number of key elements that appear to foretell undesirable cat scratching. These embody the presence of younger youngsters within the house, the kind of playtime they get, and their general stress ranges. At the very least a few of these features will be tweaked to maintain your cat’s scratching beneath management, the researchers say.
The examine was performed by veterinarians from Turkey, Portugal and France, and was additionally funded by French animal well being firm Ceva Santé Animale. The workforce requested greater than 1,200 cat house owners in France to finish a web-based survey that included questions on their cats’ house setting, every day routine and scratching habits.
General, the workforce discovered that some cats had been naturally extra susceptible to scratching, corresponding to cats that had been described by their house owners as “aggressive” or “harmful.” However there have been different environmental parts related to undesirable cat scratching, together with having youngsters within the house, enjoying with the cat for lengthy durations of time, and customarily being extra lively at evening.
“This highlights the multifaceted nature of undesirable scratching habits and underscores the significance of a complete understanding of each the person cat and its setting to successfully tackle this downside,” the researchers wrote of their findings. printed Wednesday at Frontiers of Veterinary Science.
Clearly, having younger youngsters or a grumpier cat aren’t issues that house owners can change on a whim. However some issues the workforce discovered level to emphasize as a significant exterior consider cat scratching that may be higher managed. For instance, an excessive amount of playtime at one time can turn into overstimulating for a cat. The added stress can also clarify why the presence of kids can also be related to cat scratching, although the scientists say extra analysis is required to reply that query.
So discovering methods to cut back your cat’s stress ought to assist curb undesirable scratching, they are saying. This might embody offering your cat with loads of nooks and crannies the place she will chill out with out being disturbed, in addition to excessive spots from which she will sit and survey her kingdom. You might also wish to break up her playtime into brief bursts of exercise that extra intently mimic pure searching habits. And based mostly on survey information, the workforce discovered that inserting scratching posts in areas cats frequent typically appears to assist preserve them from scratching different, extra helpful furnishings.
“Our findings might assist cat caregivers management and redirect scratching to acceptable supplies, which can contribute to a extra harmonious dwelling setting for each cats and their house owners,” stated lead creator Yasemin Salgirli Demirbas, a veterinary researcher at Ankara College, in her examine. assertion from Frontiers, the journal’s writer.
Implementing the following pointers can defend your favourite issues. Simply do not let your cat catch you studying this until you are ready to clarify why her favourite sofa is out of the blue off-limits.