Author: Marlinda Davis

Maine Coon Cats are known to be gentle, easy-going cats. They are the largest breed among domestic cats which makes them highly sought after and highly esteemed by cat enthusiasts.

Most of us will only dream of owning one of these large beauties but for the lucky ones of you who do have one, it can be troubling when they start to act in ways that are not commonly associated with them. Some common bad behaviors associated with Maine Coons include:

• aggression
• scratching
• biting
• growling

It can be quite unsettling when your docile fluffball turns into a cat you’re more likely to see in a horror film. So how can you discipline a Maine Coon Cat so s/he returns to the loving pet you know?

Here are my 5 best tips for you!

Maine Coon Cat Behavior Profile

Before we get into disciplining your cat, let’s talk about what your Maine Coon should be acting like. Sometimes their natural behaviors might not be likable but they’re just being themselves.

In some cases, there are things that we can do like install cat trees and distractions but for the most part, its best to let your cat be a cat. Just you won’t like if someone all of a sudden comes into your life and tries change the natural things about you, neither will your cat.

And just like how you will become frustrated and perhaps act very out of character in this case, your cat will be the same.

So please take this to heart and accept your cat being a cat. I can relate because the whole reason I started this site was because I hated my cats jumping on the table and tearing up the furniture.

While I had to learn that scratching and jumping are normal, natural and necessary for cats, I also learned how to keep them off the furniture and places that I didn’t like or may not be safe for them to be like the stove top.

Maine Coon Cat Personality

Maine Coons are wild by nature. This is why it is important that you get your cat from a responsible, experienced breeder who knows how to properly socialize and raise Maine Coons (more on this later).

That being said, under normal domestic circumstances, you can expect them to be:

• gentle
• playful
• a strong need to be high
• affinity for snow and water
• very vocal (your cat has a lot to say and s/he’s gonna say it!! lol! 🙂 )
• good with other cats and dogs

Common Maine Coon Habits

In the personality section, you will notice that I mentioned their need to be up high. This is very important for you to know because if you do not provide your cat with proper platforms, perches, trees, etc., s/he WILL fulfill their need somewhere in your home whether you like it or not.

That’s because Maine Coon Cats are naturally skilled hunters of mice. Now before you get offended, this is not saying that your home has mice in it, although if one happened to scurry in mistakingly you can be sure it won’t be around for long.

This just means that their instinct drives them to hunt. In order for them to feel like they are fulfilling this drive, they will seek high places as that is the best vantage point to see a fast-moving mouse hurrying across the ground.

I’ve only personally encountered a mixed Maine Coon Cat and she liked to perch in the same spot for hours on end constantly looking back and forth. So if you have a purebred Maine Coon Cat it will do this even more.

Reasons Your Maine Coon Might Be Misbehaving

As aforementioned, just like certain conditions make you feel and act, unlike your usual awesome self, the same will happen to your Maine Coon. Below, you will find some common conditions that might make your cat act out of character.

Illness

The first thing that you should think to do when your Maine Coon cat (or any pet for that matter) acts out of character is to take him/her to the vet. That’s because there are a number of feline ailments that your cat could be experiencing.

Even something as small as an ingrown or cracked claw can cause severe discomfort and make your cat extra cranky. But as the parent of a Maine Coon, you should also be aware of some common conditions that they are prone to.

They are:

• Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
• Feline Hip Dysplasia
• Pectus Excavatum (Sunken chest)

Another ailment that can have your cat acting nothing like itself are parasites. Although technically not an ‘illness’ if your pet has them, s/he can experience a host of illnesses that, again, will make them act completely out of character.

Some things to look for are:

• white or other particles in poop that look like rice or strings
• diarrhea
• excessive litter box use
• no litter box use
• gagging or reaching but nothing comes up
• nausea

Again, if you suspect that your cat is ill in any way, take him/her to the vet right away because only they can confirm what is going on internally. Google can’t do that for you.

Injury

Further to illnesses, your cat may also have some sort of injury that you may or may not be able to see or detect. For instance, a fractured bone will not be detectable but your cat will certainly be in pain from it.

There are a number of ways that your cat can be injured and it may be a result of their everyday life or aging process.

Avoiding injury is one of the biggest reasons that you should have proper cat trees and other furniture available in your home for your cat because they will be able to access it properly. They will also be able to grasp onto it and not be the victim of a slipping accident whether inside or outside your home.

For instance, High-rise syndrome is a common condition caused largely because cats are not given proper cat climbing structures.

If you suspect that your cat may be injured, take it to the vet right away. The longer you wait to treat an injury, the worse it will get.

And like in the case with High-rise syndrome, the sooner you get your cat to the vet for treatment, the more likely and better they will recover.

No Territory

Although Maine Coon Cats are pretty social kitties, whether they are male or female they will have a sense of territory. There are two types of cat territories:

1. Hunting/Personal territory (male and female)
2. Mating territory (more enforced with males)

For indoor cats, the size of their territory doesn’t have to be huge but it does have to be their’s. The size of it will depend on the cat BUT the good news is that you can increase it by building vertically (up and down) or horizontally (left to right or vice versa).

Remember that just because your cat isn’t actually ‘hunting’ or even breeding, it will still have these drives built into it. You can obviously reduce the mating territory urges by spaying your male cat, however, it will not change the hunting/personal territory needs.

Males will need more area than females, but do not consider this as a sign that females don’t need their own space. If they do not have enough space, they will likely become aggressive and attack other cats, other pets and even you in some cases.

Stress

There are a number of things that can stress your cat. They include, but not limited to:

• not enough personal territory and other ‘property’ like bowls, toys, beds, etc.
• no safe place to rest, sleep, play, eat, etc.
• being chased by other cats, dogs, pets, kids, etc.
• constant conflict
• illness/disease
• natural conditions or imbalances with hormones, body function, etc.

Overweight

Just like some people are better at controlling their food consumption than others, it is the same with cats. With Maine Coon Cats, males are more prone to overeating and obesity than females.

(Of course, this is not to say that females don’t overeat.)

I would think that is because of their larger size. It is also important to make sure that you’re feeding your cat good, nutritious foods that are free of grains and other fillers.

Like with foods we eat, fillers are useless to body function and are stored as access fats. So while grain-free and healthier foods are more ‘expensive’, they do your cat a whole lot more good and a lot of the time they’ll end up eating less because their bodies will be fulfilled with the nutrients it needs.

Obesity in cats is directly linked to behavior altering conditions like:

• depression
• anxiety
• bipolar disorder
• etc.

Now you can see how something as simple as overeating can lead to your cat not acting like his or herself.

Not Being Properly Socialized As A Kitten

You might say that Maine Coons are not inherently calm. Instead, they can be quite wild.

It takes a lot of effort to mold a kitten into a well-behaved adult cat. That includes it being properly exposed to other cats, pets, people, etc. and raised in safe, appropriate conditions.

This is why it is so important to get your cat from a reputable, experienced breeder who will make sure that it is properly socialized as a kitten. If it has not received the proper upbringing it will be very hard to correct as an adult.

Another thing that should happen as a kitten is spaying/neutering. Aside from unwanted breeding, this will stop the production of unwanted hormones that lead to unwanted behavioral issues like aggression, being over possessive, etc.

Right now, there is no excuse why your pet can’t be neutered because you can get it done cheaply at low-cost clinics along with a host of other necessary procedures like vaccinations, deworming, etc.

5 Ways To Discipline A Maine Coon Cat

Now that you have a good understanding of how your Maine Coon should and shouldn’t be acting, we can jump right into disciplining him/her.

But honestly, I’m not sure if there is actually a way to ‘discipline’ a cat as much as there is to give it what it needs to solve his/her issues.

How NOT To Discipline A Maine Coon Cat

I want to make this really clear. Cats are different than dogs.

To be blunt, they don’t care what you want. They are hunting machines and strongly driven to do so.

For this reason, you MUST take it seriously to give your cat what it needs. You should not be:

• yelling
• spanking
• using abusive tactics and language
• confining them for long periods of time

These will result in worst behavior from your cat. They are also inhumane and bad practices as a whole.

I know it can be frustrating to deal with but you MUST take a couple of deep breaths, calm down, refocus your mind and move forward to find a good solution for you and your cat.

Also, I challenge you to not ‘give it up’ just because you don’t like what s/he is doing or if s/he isn’t responding to what you are trying. Take the time to make your home cat-friendly and you will be handsomely rewarded with a wonderful pet you know your Maine Coon Cat should be.

How To Help Your Maine Coon Cat

In order to get your Maine Coon to act right, you have to:

1. Figure out the problem
2. Find the solution to your problem
3. Fix the problem
4. Include preventative measures and plans of actions so that it doesn’t happen again OR the effect is reduced (depending on the problem)

I’ve already given you a big list to start with already but you can also find more reasons your Maine Coon Is Mean by clicking here.

Vet

The first place to take your Maine Coon Cat is to the vet. Your vet will be able to examine your cat at an internal, external and microscopic (things you can’t see) level.

They will also be able to give your cat the treatment it needs and prescribe treatments that are only accessible through a veterinarian.

Increase Territory

I can tell you from experience that if it’s not a health issue then chances are that your cat is likely having a territory issue. Lucky for you, this particular problem is easily fixable and more cost-effective than a huge vet bill.

You are also lucky because cats and their weird way of thinking don’t need an actual increase in the size of their territory, but instead, they will do even better if you increase their surface area of things to climb within the same size area.

In other words, you can increase their territory by adding a bunch of good cat climbing structures for Maine Coon Cats like:

• perches
• cat trees
• cat condo
• wall-mounted cat trees

Bear in mind that since we are talking about the largest domestic cat in the world, the average cat furniture will not work. Most are poorly made and will topple over or/and break when your Maine Coon tries to get on it.

But don’t worry! I’ve got you covered.

Click on the button below to see our top 10 recommendations for the Best Cat Trees for Maine Coon Cats!

Cat Behaviorist or Psychologist

If you have tried the first two options but your cat isn’t responding completely or at all, s/he might have some sort of psychological or emotional issue going on.

Contrary to age-old beliefs, animals like cats and dogs actually DO have feelings and are capable of making emotionally driven decisions or actions.

They are also susceptible to being born with or developing psychological imbalances.

Just like your doctor can not diagnose you with specialized conditions like depression (not saying you have it, just an example), neither can a vet diagnose a cat with depression or another disorder either.

For this reason, you will have to seek specialized attention from a cat psychologist.

A cat behaviorist will also be able to help you, in this case, better than your vet because they work with your cat’s psyche and thought process as well. They will also be able to advise you of other methods and things that you can do to make your cat behave and feel more at home in your home.

If your cat is diagnosed with a mental disorder, s/he will be given medications to help with their situation. I have no experience with the type of medications that are given to cats with mental disabilities but I know that it is very real.

Give Him Attention

As I mentioned before your cat has very real feelings. I know sometimes we get busy and the first ones to be neglected attention are our pets, especially if you have kids.

Your attention goes to your kids and making sure your animal is fed seems ‘good enough’. I can relate because I have to remind myself of the same thing ALL the time.

But your cat does need your attention. Just like your child will act out when you don’t give them enough attention, so will your Maine Coon if s/he doesn’t get enough attention.

And being very social cats, they do like a lot of attention.

What I like to do is give myself time to relax, watch a show and idly pet my cat or let him rub up against my hand when I hold it up for him to do so. That way, I’m still giving them attention but still getting some down time myself.

We need that too and the good thing about cats is they will rub up against you themselves and its not as hard as a dog so you can just let them do their thing.

I also like to cradle mine and give them little belly rubs. This can be tricky with some cats especially if you just started a relationship with them.

But if your cat will expose its belly to you, it is a very good sign. So I like to get mine to do it asap without rushing or pushing them into it.

‘Another attention while I relax’ tactic I like to use is using a laser light. This not only gives them attention but it also gives them exercise which is another necessary component to their daily needs.

Doing this will reduce their chances of becoming obese and developing weight-related problems including behavioral issues, depression, and diseases.

Give Hime Safe Places and Refuge

Even though Maine Coons are social cats, they still need to have safe places to:

• get away
• eat
• rest
• observe
• play

If you have children, other pets or other cats, your Maine Coon might not be able to find anywhere s/he can feel at ease. Being in constant tension will definitely affect their behavior as well.

That being said, it is important that you create safe places for your cat. Observe what s/he naturally likes to perch on and find something similar for him/her that is off the ground and away from threats.

A ‘threat’ is anything or anyone that will disturb him/her while they are resting, eating etc. They include:

• kids
• dogs
• other pets roaming the house
• you if you bother them at the wrong time
• etc.

A good way to give your cat a safe place to be is to install a cat tree or condo designed to handle their weight. You can put their food bowl on one of the tall perches so that they won’t be d

isturbed while eating.

This is also a good idea because they won’t be disturbed while sleeping either as most are above or close to 6 ft tall.

As I previously mentioned, you will need special cat trees to handle your Maine coon’s weight and activity. Personally, I recommend wall-mounted cat trees by Catastrophic Creations. 

They have specialized perches with inserts for your cat’s food and water bowl but also inserts for plants your cat will love like catnip. You can also plant cat-friendly plants in them to make an awesome wall decoration so that it doesn’t scream ‘cat tree on my wall’ haha!

If you want to learn more about the Best Wall-Mounted Cat Tree for Maine Coons, you can click the button below!

I hope that this information has helped you develop a plan of action to handle your Maine Coon Cat’s unruly behavior. If you have any questions, comments or other feedback, please leave them in the comments box below and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible 🙂

See you next time,

Marlinda

Cat Climbing Structures

There’s one thing that baffles me beyond measure. That is the reason dogs are so addicted to cat food.

And for me, my cats also love the dog food. Why do I spend so much getting separate food for each animal when they want to eat each other’s food??

If only cats didn’t need specific proteins in their diet we could get away with getting just dog food!! LOL!

Maybe someone should come up with a cat-dog food. That would be pretty awesome but I highly doubt it.

Ah well, we can dream. But in the meantime, we have to figure out ways to keep our dogs out of the cat food that doesn’t involve multi-purpose foods.

Why You Do Not Want Your Dog Eating Your Cat’s Food

The essential nutrients for cats are not harmful to dogs. So when your dog eats your cat’s food it’s not harmful.

Despite this fact it still can be quite troublesome in a number of ways.

Dog Nutritional Needs

Even though dogs won’t be harmed by eating cat food their diet still needs a different balance of nutrients than cats or any other animal for that matter.

Although this might not sound like a big deal it is. Just like if you don’t get your right nutritional needs if any of your animals don’t get their nutritional needs it can seriously affect their health.

For instance, you are probably aware of the importance of calcium and bone health. But you might not be aware of the importance of how important calcium is to the nervous system and sending signals through the body.

I’m not an expert in dog nutrition but you do want to be sure that your dog is getting its recommended servings of foods.

Cat Food Is More Expensive

Cat food is more expensive than dog food so if your dog keeps eating your cat’s food you will probably wreck up a hefty bill pretty quickly.

I believe this is the case because cat food has to have more real protein than dogs since they need more protein. Cats are obligate carnivores which means that they are more dependent on protein and specific kinds like taurine.

This allows manufacturers of dog food to add more fillers in to dog food that they can’t get away with adding as much to cat food. In both cases, fillers are no good for the animals but when it comes to expense it makes the food less expensive.

I personally buy grain-free pet foods despite them costing more because they are healthier for your pet. A bloated pet is not a satisfied pet which is another reason your dog or cat may seem like they’re continuously hungry.

Cat food can be twice as expensive as dog food so you do want to be careful about letting your dog continuously scarf down your cat’s food.

Your Dog May Loose The Taste For Its Food

This happens a lot with dogs and cats when they like the other food better than their own. They will start to refuse the food that you usually give them because they want what they like.

This can be problematic of course because you don’t want your babies to be starving. You might feel helpless to help them since their hunger might drive them to go after the other food instead of their own.

Hungry dogs and/or cats can also be quite destructive as they tear your house apart looking for food to eat.

Avoid A Potentially Dangerous Situation

Dogs can get very defensive about their food. When this happens, it is called food aggression.

Like any behavior, the severity of the reaction varies greatly from one dog to the next. In mild cases, the dog might only growl but usually, the dog will at least deliver a warning snap.

There are many reasons why food agression develops. It is not only an inherent trait or one that it is born with.

If your dog develops food agression over his or your cat’s bowl, it can be very dangerous and even deadly.

How To Keep Your Dog Out Of Your Cat’s Bowl

Now that you have an understanding about why your dog shouldn’t eat your cat’s food and vice versa, let’s talk about how to keep them out of each other’s bowls.

Keeping Your Cat Out of Your Dog’s Bowl

Dogs tend to be a little more intimidating about their food. They’re bigger so cats tend to be more sly and less pushy when it comes to eating their food unless the dog is small of course.

An easy solution to this is to take up your dog’s food bow when she or he is done. Make sure to put it in a container so that your cat can’t jump up and get it.

Even if it is in a cupboard, some cats are very smart and know how to get into intricate locations like cabinets and drawers. Bengal cats are especially prone to do this as they enjoy the challenge and see it as a game.

Keeping Your Dog Out of Your Cat’s Bowl

Although cats are more aggressive, dogs have the size to handle almost anything your cat will throw at it. That’s why your dog will likely completely ignore your cat if it is eating at the time of his/her invasion.

Sometimes they might be more careful and wait until you’re not looking. Since cats are obligate carnivores, we tend to leave their bowls out in the open.

Dogs take full advantage of this situation and scarf down the entire bowl before you ever realize it.

Since dogs are larger animals, they can reach fairly decent heights by standing on their hind legs.

This means that you’re going to have to figure out a good way to get your cat’s bowl a pretty decent height in the air. The bigger your dog is the higher you will need too set the bowl.

The best way to get your cat’s food bowl up high in a safe, secure way is to use a tall cat tree. You want to use one that is over 5 ft, preferably closer too 6 ft high.

All you need to do is be sure the cat tree has at least one high tower or a long ladder that your dog can’t climb up. Dogs are clumsy and lack the gripping capability that cats have so if you make it difficult for them, they won’t reach your cat’s food.

How To Get Your Cat’s Bowl Up High

Now you might be wondering, ‘how in the world am I going to get my cat’s bowl up high enough so that the dog can’t reach it?’

Well, I’m glad you’re asking that because it means you really want to resolve this problem which you may not know that its not too complicated of a solution.

All that you need to do is install a tall cat tree for your cat (or multiple ones if you have multiple cats). Cat trees are great for your cat for many reasons such as giving them a place to exercise and rest but in this case, we’re going to be using the cat tree to keep their bowls out of your dog’s reach.

Types of Cat Trees

There are two main types of cat trees:

• free-standing
• wall-mounted

A free-standing cat tree stands on the ground. Most are pretty inexpensive but these ones are also unstable.

It’s best to get your cat a sturdy cat tree that is made out of solid wood for your cat’s safety as well as everyone in your household, including but not limited to, the dog 🙂

The one that I recommend for you in this instance, however, is a wall-mounted cat tree. That’s because they’re versatile and completely disconnect the cat tree from the ground so that there is no possible way for him/her to get up.

You can also get the cat bowl higher and many even come with platforms for you to put your cat’s food and water bowls.

The Best Wall-Mounted Cat Tree

If you haven’t heard of a wall-mounted cat tree before, you are probably skeptical about its integrity and stability.

While I can not speak for all cat trees, the one I stand behind is both sturdy and durable. It is also very versatile, meaning that you can customize it any way you like.

It comes with posts, platforms, walkways, scratching poles, etc. so you can really give your cat an intricate cat tree that engages all of its senses.

It has weight limits of 30 lbs and above depending on which structure we’re talking about so you can definitely be sure that it won’t fall off your wall.

The best wall-mounted cat tree that I am talking about is the units made by Catastrophic Creations. They use solid wood, fabric, and sisal to give your cat all s/he needs and more.

You will also love having a unique piece of artwork on the wall that most of your friends and family wouldn’t think is a cat tree.

I don’t recommend just buying any wall-mounted cat tree because, since its free hanging, you definitely don’t want to chance it falling. If it constructed wrong, it can also cause serious damage to your wall which may be quite costly.

To learn more about the CatastrophicCreations wall-mounted cat tree, you can click the button below.

I hope this information has helped you. If you have any questions, comments or other feedback, you can leave them in the comments box below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

See you next time 🙂

Hey there! If you’re like me then the thought of your cat’s naked bum-bum on your couch is probably one of the grossest things in life!

Ok, maybe not that bad, but it was something to get used to and for the longest time I tried to figure out how to keep my cat off the furniture. I mean, they don’t wipe their stinker when they poop!

Ok, on a serious note though, let’s talk about cats, their habits and what you can do to keep their paws happily off your furniture!

Why Do Cats Like To Get On Your Furniture?

When a problem like this occurs, I want you to get in the habit of thinking about your ‘whole cat’. Ask yourself this simple question:

• What behavior is leading my cat to abc.

So in this case, ask yourself and the universe, calmly after a long deep draw of oxygenated air,

What behavio(u)r is leading my cat to jump on my furniture?

The reason I’m telling you to do this is because cats are very instinct driven. They’re not particularly trainable in the same sense as dogs are yet if you take the approach of figuring out the instinct you can manage things a lot better.

What Behaviors Are Leading My Cat To Jump On My Furniture?

Cats, by nature, are hunt driven. Everything from their actions, habits and build literally revolve around hunting prey.

Whether its a necessity or not is irrelevant much like it is if there is or is not actual prey to hunt. Your cat still wants to.

So what does this mean? It means that your cat wants the upper hand. It feels comfortable:

• on the perimeter of the room
• off the ground
• out of site
• out of mind
• comfortable
• with the upper hand

Sounds familiar? Pretty much all of these cat comforts it can find easily atop your furniture like couches, TV stands, and stair railings to name a few.

The easy fix to keep your cat off the furniture is to give them a better place to sit where they feel safer and more secure than your furniture provides them. Just opened up a box of worms?

Keep reading because the fix may not be as difficult as you think. 🙂

Ways To Keep My Cat Off The Furniture

The problem is that your cat wants to be up high, off the ground, ALL THE TIME. I want you to take a minute to observe your cat.

Take note of things like:

• when it is usually on the furniture
  • Is it there all day or just in the evenings?
• how it uses the furniture
  • Does it sleep or eat there? etc.
• how it travels over the furniture
  • Does it hop over it to another location or does it stand up and look around?
• do not include furniture scratching
  • This is also a cat instinct but different behavior, however, the solution I give you will help you get control of this as well

You’ll likely find that even when it’s moving from one place to the other, it will prefer to be off the ground especially if it’s hungry.

Why especially when it’s hungry?

Well, think about what we talked about earlier about cats being hunt driven. When they’re hungry, they’re in hunting mode so that means they’re even more inclined to stick to the perimeter of the room instead of dashing on the ground as a shortcut.

Ways To Keep Your Cat Off The Furniture

Now that you know why your cat is on your furniture we can move forward with finding actionable steps to keep them off the furniture.

The master plan of action you need to take is to provide your cat with alternative highways around the perimeter of all rooms in your home. We’ll call this new pathway the ‘cat highway system’.

Your cat highway system needs to provide your cat with:

• a vantage point of the ENTIRE room
• safety from threats like dogs, small children and even pesty visitors
• a safe pathway from one place to the other without having to be on the floor
•  ie. a path from the litter box to its food bowl without being on the ground for too long
• a comfortable place to rest that’s off the ground

What You Shouldn’t Do To Keep Your Cats Off Your Furniture

We’re just about ready to create our action plan but before we get into what you need to do, I want to talk about things that you should NEVER do to you cat in this situation.

DO NOT DECLAW YOUR CAT! Declawing is painful and puts your cat in permanent pain for the rest of its life. This is one of the worst things that is still legal in some states to do to cats.

It absolutely grinds my gears when people complain about their cats being ‘mean’ and after upon further discussion find out that their cat is declawed. NO NO NO, it’s not the cat who is mean. The cat is in permaPAIN!

I don’t want to say the cat owner is mean because sometimes we assume (and rightfully so) that since you can have it done at the vet that it has to be safe. I know that this is the case for me but thankfully I found out in time before I harmed my cat and I’m hoping that I can stop you from making this big mistake also.

Always do your due diligence before getting any procedure done at the vet or even for yourself.

Next up, don’t yell or cuss at your cat. For one, that’s just transferring negative energy to your cat.

Just as you will get negative when put in a negative environment, so will your cat. You might notice it becomes more aggressive when you do this but it is coming from the way you communicate with it.

Also, do not hit your cat. Violence is not the answer and your cat will respond to this aggressively as well.

Do not get rid of your cat. Would you abandon your kid because he’s a little out of control? Even still, would you like to be abandoned because you’re confused about what the problem is when you’re just doing what you do best?

The time to ‘not have a cat’ is before you got the cat in the first place. Your cat will feel just as abandoned if you give him/her up so please, just calm down and don’t do it T_T

I know that sounds a little harsh but I don’t want you to feel bad. I want you to move forward in progression.

Hey, I was literally in the same boat and I probably still have TONS more to learn about cats. I mean, I was going to declaw my cat at one time before I was schooled and educated properly.

This isn’t a bash, its growth and I hope that you realize the same thing too. Sometimes what we really need to hear isn’t what we really want to accept.

That’s ok, we’re human but I don’t want you to mope. Take proper action going forward 🙂

What To Use To Keep Your Cat Off The Ground!

Few, FINALLY! Planning takes up so much time.

I know but it is totally worth it to find a REAL solution that is safe for all parties and understanding why you are doing what you’re doing is important or things will probably just stay the same.

In order to accomplish our game plan, you will need to use cat trees. Cat trees come in many varieties, designs, and colors.

There are two main types of cat trees:

1. wall mounted
2. free-standing

Wall mounted cat trees are literally shelves specifically designed with your cat’s needs in mind. They are not the same as a shelf that you buy from a hardware store or somewhere like that.

They have comfortable materials that your cat will love to feel and scratch which is what makes them a more long-term solution.

Freestanding cat trees are the type most of us are familiar with. They are the towers that you see at most pet stores in the cat section.

They also have scratching, laying, jumping and climbing areas for your cat.

The Best Cat Trees To Keep Your Cat Off The Furniture

Even though free-standing cat trees are the most popular they fall short of caring for your ‘whole cat’. Remember the cat highway system we talked about earlier. Don’t take it for granted, this is a big part of cat culture.

The best cat trees to use are actually wall mounted ones. Not only do they provide your cat with their needs but you also save a lot of space.

The best wall-mounted cat trees have stations where you can keep their food and water bowls off the ground and out of reach of your dogs if you have them. (Because for w/e reason the dogs like the cat food better. Grrr * shakes angry fist * lol)

Apart from the main body of the cat tree, you will also put up other cat climbing shelves around the perimeter of the room, especially where the furniture is located that your cat loves to be on.

If you want to, you can always add some free-standing cat trees to connect the wall sections together. It will also help to add more variety for them as well.

I hope this information was helpful. If you want to see my #1 recommendation for wall mounted cat trees, you can click the button at the bottom of the page.

If you have any questions, comments or anything additional to add, please leave them in the comments box below. See you next time and all the best moving forward with catifying your space! 😉