Conference misery::feline_v1

    Hi again,
     
     I have already received two replies to give my scratch boxes homes!
    Thanks for taking them off my hands. Glad to know someone's kitties
    will get use out of them!
    
    Yvonne

    I vote that it's a Nobel Peace prize for the person who can make
    a cat understand that this piece is not for scratching but this is.
    
    My basement is full of logs, carpet covered wood, rope covered wood
    (all untouched) and very deeply claw-carved lengths of door frame.

    I have only minor problems with my cats scratching the wrong things.
    I have several Arubacats trees and the cats seem to love them.  
    
    I do think that they learn from watching the others so once I got
    the current group trained to use the posts it was easy to train
    the rest.
      N
    

    
    You also have to be forceful when you are training them.  I have a
    friend who tried to teach his kitten to use a scratching post. 
    Whenever the kitten scratched the couch, he would quietly bring her
    over to the post and ever so lightly press the paws into the post.
    THAT DOESN'T WORK FOLKS!  You need to be a little bit more serious
    about the whole thing.  I have three kittens and hav had no problem
    with any of them.  They use the scratching post 100% of the time (and
    I've been keeping an eye on my couch just in case the little sneaks try
    it when I'm not around...but so far so good).
    
    I yell "NO" while putting them through the scratching motion on the couch
    (when i used to catch them) and then bring them over to the post and
    press their claws out and into the post and say "good kitty"....  It
    also helps to have one already trained....the rest are a cinch!!!!!
    
    And it takes patience.....doing it over and over again....
    (not that any of you don't already know that)
    
    michele

    Hi again,
    
     Just a note to let you know that "Doonie" doesn't really scratch the
    chair all that much. Once in a while she sharpens the old "harpoons",
    but most of the clawing happens during play. She manages to get her
    rabbits foot under the edge of the chair, and claws her way around the
    edge as she bats the foot around under there. It's really funny to
    watch, and doesn't really do much damage to the chair. It's just that
    those boxes seemed like such a good idea! To me though, not the cat. 
    
     I really should have known better, because every toy I've brought home
    that I KNEW she would be nuts about, is now in some corner collecting
    dust. I'm in the process of collecting all the BORING stuff to send to
    the kids at Pat Brody's shelter. I feel like my mother trying to get me
    to eat spinach as a kid! "Think of all the poor kitties that don't have
    any toys!!!"
    
     Oh well, as has been said, "Ya gotta love 'em!"
    
    Y

That's right Yvonne!  YA gotta love 'em!! (remember me Yvonne???  DIS 
training??  How's Nick doing???)

RE: the boxes ...

I'm lucky ... mine figured them out right away.  That sweetie is a smart
cookie!!  And so is Kyra.  Unfortunately, Silver and Pita thought it was
a new litter box!!! )-:

Holly

    Yvonne....the best toy my crew likes is these burlap catnip bags.
    They lap them...chew them...kick them...and attack them!!!!!!
    There pretty cheap too...I get them at UCF for about $1.95 and
    they last for quite awhile.  I'm the one that throws them 
    away because they get gross looking!
    
    Sandy

    Thanks to Yvonne I was one of the lucky recipients of the scratch box
    and I have to say that my cats went nuts over it the minute they saw
    it.  I no sooner had the box broken open than they leaped on the
    thing....the only drawback being that all three insisted on being on it
    at one time....not a chance.  Of course, they did the same thing to the
    Arubacats tree that I purchased for them this past weekend at the
    Mansfield show (thanks and kudos to Nancy DC for the recommendation --
    Artie Mitchell has designed these extremely well -- he's an engineer,
    need I say more? -- and the tree is not only beautiful to look at but
    sturdy as well), and both toys are a big hit!
    
    It's nice to see that these three kittens have a sense of "what's
    happening."  The cat I left behind with mom when I moved (Bandit) must
    have either had a Huge IQ and could not be tempted, or he had a pea
    brain.  In any event, he was much more delighted with empy cardboard
    boxes, paper bags, and tinfoil balls!  Cheaper by far!
    
    Hey, am I being taken for a ride by these three felines?
    
    Nan

    If a cardboard box is "open", Holly thinks it's a litter box.  If it's
    closed, it becomes a scratching box.  She likes to sleep on top of a
    copy-paper type box and then sharpen her claws on it.  I have to
    replace the top about every two weeks.  On the other hand, leaving the
    top upside down on the floor is just asking for it.....
    

    Hi Holly! 
    
     Of course I remember you! I have watched (read) your little family
    grow into a pretty large family!!!
    
     I have a couple of those burlap bags too. Only I opened up the seam,
    and took out half of the cotton, and refilled it with Cosmic Catnip I
    bought at the pet shop. She plays with that quite a bit, but she gets
    glassy eyed real fast, and then looks ridiculous laying there with here
    head nodding back and forth! She even gets the munchies! It's a riot! 
    
     Now that I think of it Nan, she may have a giant IQ, and is toying
    with me! It's pretty amazing some of the things she's figured out! I
    think you're right! I'm being had by this little dickens! I guess she
    does have some of those Siamese smarts I've heard so much about! ;-)
    
     I've been thinking about getting one of those Arubacat (sp) trees, but
    I think I will wait until I can talk Nick into another kitty first. I
    know I can count on Holly to help out if need be. He's really not too
    tough to convince. I just have to have the right sob story, and have
    him holding the kitty while I tell it! 8-) I think Feendoonie would
    play with another kitty with no problem. We just recently lost an old
    kitty that had lots of problems, and "Doonie" always wanted to play
    with her, but Fluffy was never in the mood and would hiss. She never
    stopped trying though. I think a new kitty for her is the right thing
    to do, and have written down a few leads I just read. Now to get to
    work on Nick! ;-)
    
    Y

    Here's the ultimate cat toy purchased from Haddeleigh House at the
    Mansfield show this past weekend:
    
    Don't know the formal name but it is a round circle and inside there is
    a track with a ball stuck inside.  The cats bat at the ball to try to
    get it out but instead it goes round and round on the track like a
    train.  My cats sit inside the circle and play with this toy for
    hours!  It is so entertaining... even for the humans!!  It costs $6.95
    for the large size and there is also a smaller size.
    
    The catnip mousie was a big hit too!!
    
    
    

    When Trixie's kittens were several weeks old, I started putting the
    kittens on the scratching post...hanging them on the side and getting
    them used to the idea.  I sometimes put them on top to teach them
    to climb down.  This scratching post was the only climbable/clawable
    item in their play area so now they're used to climbing it and playing
    king-of-the-hill.
    
    B.