Not sure what’s going on but whenever I sit in the chair in my home office area, Sencha would come by and start scratching at all of the furniture. Eg. He’d scratch at the drawers next to me or the cabinet beside me or even the wall.
He doesn’t seem to just want attention since if I pet him too much he will start trying to bite my hand but if I stop he will go back to scratching at things.
Last night he was doing this and I gave him some food. But after eating it he came back and started scratching again.
If I sit anywhere else in the hoose he will leave me alone. It’s just this chair/area.
Stumped. Recent photo for cat tax.
Edit: Oh yeah I tried putting him on my desk as well when he does this but he just switches to pawing at my hand while on my desk.
The biting probably just means overstimulation/showing affection. Cats are basically autistic.
Yeah I get that but it does not explain his scratching behavior :/.
Anyways I think it rules out that he was looking for pets.
It’s easy to overfeed cats when we dont understand what they want because food works temporarily for most “asks”. It’s almost never food they actually need, usually it’s some sort of stimulation like playing and hunting. Try playing more with him! Especially the part about him biting your hand when you pet him means he’s activated and needs an outlet for his energy. When you pet a cat, the rougher you pet and the bigger the area, the more energy you put into the cat - eventually it’ll overflow. Small scratches, and soft small pets on a small area works better to calm them. Even just putting your hand on them kinda heavy and barely moving it.
Different cats like different plays, but for almost all cats it’s best to put most toys away and bring them out when you play actively with them. Rolling balls or scrunched up paper, wand toys, ribbons… try different toys, and try getting the cat to move around, jump up and down furniture, roll, pounce etc. If playing with a laser, point it at a pile of food or candy occasionally and at the end of play so they can successfully “catch” something, otherwise an unwatchable dot will only build frustration.
Scratching serves both to stretch, file claws , and to scent mark. Put scratching posts and mats in the area next to the furniture he wants to scratch, so you can redirect by putting him, or his paws (or luring him there with wand toys) on the scratching place when he starts scratching furniture.
One thing I’ve found to work is keeping a string (hoodie cord work great just snip the ends off) coiled up on the desk. They walk in wanting attention and you toss an end at them etc. and they rawr and attack. See if that’s what the lil guy wants.
I’ve also had tremendous luck with the circular cardboard “dish” shaped (concave) scratchers, a modern take on the classic cardboard scratcher. Somehow the act of scratching it then curling up for a nap in it appeals to the cats. Both are snoozing in them as I type 😺
We have an insane amount of scratching posts. There’s like an average of 3 per area of the house. 80% of them get used too.
I have started to use the opportunity of him coming to me to groom him.
Impossible to be angry at such epitome of cuteness.
True.
