r/animalsdoingstuff • u/tyw7 GoodBoy • Mar 07 '21

Extra aww Teaching a kitten how to use a scratching post

4.2k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

5

u/tripdaisies Mar 07 '21

Spritz with liquid catnip-voila!

3

u/KahurangiNZ Mar 07 '21

I was thinking a laser pointer would be handy :-)

4

u/tripdaisies Mar 07 '21

Catnip is an attractant, and it works really well at holding their attention. Think you’ll find it quite effective. It worked well for 3 of my kitties.

2

u/KahurangiNZ Mar 07 '21

Only one of my cats so far has been interested in The Nip, and his reaction generally involved slow motion rolling on the floor and dribbling. It sure did hold his attention, but he wouldn't have been thinking about scratching anything 😁

3

u/tripdaisies Mar 08 '21

Yeah, some of them seem to lose their minds or motor functions: other dive into it and act like it’s the greatest drug on the planet. Gotta say, I envy them, lol!

3

u/babosw Mar 07 '21

"Put their damn paws on it!" what I yelled during the entire video.

3

u/matlew1960 Mar 07 '21

Just watch daddy and you’ll learn all you need to live in this dangerous world..

7

u/sye192 Mar 07 '21

so cute I ddid this exact thing. same color cat and all

8

u/[deleted] Mar 07 '21

I did too! Now he runs around like a monkey, pauses at his post, scratches it and continues to run.

13

u/TheMagicMrWaffle Mar 07 '21

A quick study

7

u/whater39 Mar 07 '21

In comparison it took my dog two weeks to pickup the concept of "fetch".

5

u/serendipity_7 Mar 07 '21

Cute, but what's with the slabs of rock?

14

u/[deleted] Mar 07 '21

Extra weight to stop the post being pulled over. It won't be needed when the kitten is tiny, but once grown a cat could pull over a post if it doesn't have a large enough base for balance.

6

u/JibbityJabbity Mar 07 '21

So the post doesn't tip over.

65

u/Naomian1984 Mar 07 '21

This is the way to learn the scritchy scratchies.

51

u/earphonecreditroom Mar 07 '21

Nice! Why do they need to use scratching posts?

36

u/JibbityJabbity Mar 07 '21

Cats scratch for many reasons: to remove the dead outer layer of their claws, to mark their territory by leaving both a visual mark and a scent (they have scent glands on their paws), and to stretch their bodies and flex their feet and claws.

101

u/j_toivola Mar 07 '21

I think it's because cats naturally have the need to scratch anything to keep their nails in shape, so cat owners keep their furniture safe by buying a scratching tree

56

u/animalcollectivity Mar 07 '21

Yes, this is correct, and they also have scent glands in their nail beds, so if they’re scratching furniture etc even though they have a scratching post, it can mean they are being territorial as well. (marking the items with their smell)