13 ways to save your furniture from cat scratching

Written by Petar Petrov


The cats are great pets. They love to play, they love to cuddle when you are watching TV or sleeping, and they purr for no reason other than being near you. But they also love to scratch. Unfortunately,repparttar things they love to scratch are oftenrepparttar 111107 legs of your antique table, your upholstered sofa, or your expensive carpet.

Although many humans do not appreciate when their cats scratching, you have to know that kittens and cats do not scratch to make us angry, they just need to scratch. Scratching is a natural hardwired behavior in cats, just like breathing and purring, and every cat owner must know WHY THE CATS SCRATCH.

Inrepparttar 111108 wild, cats scratch around their immediate environment to signal their presence to other cats and to claimrepparttar 111109 area in question. The marking takes two forms: visual and olfactory. The visual is inrepparttar 111110 form of clawing marks and is so obvious that even we humans can recognise it. The olfactory mark is subtler, involvingrepparttar 111111 release of pheromones. These are substances secreted fromrepparttar 111112 body to be picked up byrepparttar 111113 number ofrepparttar 111114 same species, causing them to alter their behavior.

Scratching has additional function too. It removesrepparttar 111115 nail sheaths, outer layer of dead cells fromrepparttar 111116 claw. You might thing your cat scratches to sharpen her claws, but it more likely it provides her with a form of physical therapy forrepparttar 111117 muscles and tendons of her paws.

There are two groups of target for every cat. The first one is when your cat target one or two areas inrepparttar 111118 home, usually near important territorial areas such as: sleeping area, litter tray, hunting or play areas. The second one is your cat undertake more widespread and destructive scratching in highly visible sites such as: doorways, windows, prominent furnishings - like sofas.

WHAT YOU CAN DO IF YOUR CAT SCRATCHING YOUR FURNITURE?

1. The easiest butrepparttar 111119 most painful method for cat is declawing. Faced with cat scratching problems, many people consider declawing surgery. But many veterinarians believe declawing is a painful and unnecessary surgery and refuse to do it for humane reasons. Instead, they advocate training your cat to use a scratching post.

2. Make sure there are multiple scratching opportunities. Cats often like to scratch after eating and sleeping, so be sure there is something to scratch near where they eat and sleep. A scratching post is an excellent investment for your cat. It will allow her to scratch, stretch and exercise all at once. If you want to provide your cat not only with scratching surface, but and places where she can climb, perch and sleep you should consider cat tree.

3. Coverrepparttar 111120 furniture with something your cat does not like: double sided tape, some plastic or aluminium foil. Some cats dislikerepparttar 111121 feeling and sound of foil, and most cats hate things that stick to their fur. Double-sided sticky tape used in carpet installation works well, but be surerepparttar 111122 tape won’t harm your cat or furniture.

No More Estate Agent Fees

Written by Glenn Murray


Follow a few simple guidelines, and marketing your own home can be easy. And it will save you thousands.

The recent property boom has a lot of people thinking of selling. Unfortunately,repparttar costs of selling can really eat into your profit. There’s nothing we can do about stamp duty, but one cost we can avoid is real estate agent fees. By selling your house yourself rather than paying a real estate agent, you can save you around $20,000 on a $500,000 sale.

So what’s involved in a do-it-yourself sale? The two main ingredients are time and advertising. A quality ad and a couple of hours each week fielding phone calls and managing inspections can meanrepparttar 111106 difference between a healthy profit and disappointment.

Many people are intimidated byrepparttar 111107 marketing aspect of selling their home. But there’s really not that much to it. You just need to write a description of your property, organise photography, and place an ad. Simple!

Perhapsrepparttar 111108 most important thing to remember when organising your own sale is you’re not selling a building - you’re selling a home and a lifestyle. Here are 10 Tricks ofrepparttar 111109 trade to get you started…

Jot down your favourite spots inrepparttar 111110 house and what you like to do in them. List your favourite local restaurants, cafes, and beaches – especially those in walking distance. Note any pleasant fragrances – plants like jasmine and gardenia, or evening sea breezes. Mention your favourite spot for a morning coffee, an afternoon snooze, or an evening wine.

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