Sometimes the most difficult feline behavior issues can be resolved with simple solutions. Scent swapping is a great way to help your kitty stop marking their territories around the house.
Cats mark their territories in different ways and sometimes it’s not bothersome to their humans. Our kitties will rub their bodies and faces on doors, furniture and us to “claim” it as their own. They do this because it puts their friendly pheromones on those items or humans. To cats, their scent is very important. It makes them feel comfortable. While this form of territory marking isn’t something you can smell, be sure that your cats can. With 200 million scent sensors in their noses, felines can smell a heck of a lot more than we can.
And then there’s the detested act of cats spraying in the house to mark territory. This… we can all smell. If your cat is doing this, please understand that it is not an act of “screw you”. As mentioned above, cats feel more comfortable when their scent is around the house. When they feel unconfident cats may spray as a self-soothing technique.
Scent Swapping For Cats
We have a cat, Pooh Bear, that used to be very anxious and lacked self confidence. Any time we would bring something new into the home (especially furniture) he would spray it. Sometimes just moving a large item from one spot to the next would trigger a spraying session. We consulted with a feline behaviorist and learned this oh-so easy trick called scent swapping to help him feel comfortable. We were amazed at how quickly it worked!!!
- Take a clean sock and put it over your hand
- Rub your cat’s face and whiskers with the sock to get their friendly pheromones on it
- Immediately go to whatever it is you DON’T want ‘marked’ or sprayed and rub it down with the sock
This transfers your kitty’s scent onto the area they want to smell like them and ceases the need for them to mark it themselves! Try it out and comment below to let us know if it works for you as well as it does for us!
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