Diverting Apricot (again)

So I got a new settee for the living room and have been enjoying it very much. Apricot has, more than once, "pretended" to scratch on the back corner that sticks out into the living room. He hasn't put his claws out, instead pulling his paws down the sides of the corner.

Before I read the Way of Cats blog, I would have tried to discourage this behavior while being intensely puzzled as to why he wanted to scratch on my new furniture instead of the myriad of scratching surfaces available to him.

Now I know why. It's an important place to me, judging by the amount of time I spend in it. He wants to be a part of that. Cats have scent glands in their paws the same as they do on the sides of their face, and scratching not only exercises their muscles and pulls the old claw sheaths off, it also scent marks the spot as "theirs."

Apricot apparently knew I didn't want him actually scratching the settee, but he wanted to have his scent mark on it too. (Just by sitting in it repeatedly I've made it smell like me. And no, I can't smell either my scent or his on it. I'm ultra-sensitive to odors, but cats make me look nose-blind.)

Well, here's what you do. You set up an approved scratching surface right next to the object that he's attempting to scratch that you don't want him to. So I got a little tiny scratching post / hammock combo so that not only can he scratch it, he can also be in the hammock right next to the settee if he likes.

I'm thinking to the future when there's three cats. The two Maine Coons should be too big for the hammock, leaving it a perfect place for Apricot, should he want a place that they can't use. (I say "should" because in the reviews, a couple people said their big cat just wedged themselves into the hammock anyway, despite technically not fitting!)

It worked like a charm. Apricot scratched on it within an hour of me setting it up. (Given his wary response to anything new in the house, this is marvelous.)

He looked at me first, as if to check, and when I said, "yes, that's for you to scratch, that's a good boy" he went after it with enthusiasm.

The edge of the settee is barely visible to the right

He now scratches on both the posts quite happily, and I praise him lots when he does it, and now my brand new furniture is out of danger and my cat is happy, so everybody wins!