Train your cat to scratch before baby arrives

Getting your cat reliably using a scratching post before a baby arrives is genuinely one of the smartest things you can do — less furniture damage, less stress, and one fewer thing to worry about once a newborn is in the house. The most common reason cats ignore posts is simple: the post is too short for a full stretch, too wobbly to trust, or the wrong texture. Cats are picky and they'll always go back to the sofa if the post feels inferior. To point you at the right one — how big is your cat, do they tend to scratch vertically or horizontally, and what are they currently targeting at home?

Ten weeks is actually a really workable window — enough time to get the habit properly established. The vertical sofa scratching is the dominant behaviour, so that's the priority. A large cat doing full vertical stretches needs a post of at least 90–100cm, ideally taller. Most cheap posts top out at 60cm and wobble, which is exactly why cats reject them and go back to the sofa. Given she also does horizontal scratching at the door, you want a solution that covers both. What does the sofa look like — fabric or leather? And whereabouts in the room is it?

Perfect — that's actually straightforward to solve. For the sofa corner I'd go with the Feandrea 150cm cat tree with scratching post — it's tall enough for a full stretch from a large cat, the base is wide and weighted so it genuinely doesn't wobble, and the sisal wrapping is the texture cats naturally prefer over carpet or fabric furniture. The height alone makes it more appealing than your sofa arm. For the door, a flat sisal scratcher on the floor handles the horizontal habit without needing a second tall post. Place it exactly where she currently scratches the carpet and she'll find it herself. Have you tried any posts before, or is this the first one?

That's almost certainly because the old one was too short or too unstable — both of which make cats dismiss a post immediately. The Feandrea at 150cm is a different proposition entirely. To help her make the switch quickly: place it right next to the sofa arm she's using now, not across the room. Rub a little dried valerian or silvervine into the sisal — more reliable than catnip for a lot of cats. And for the first week or so, loosely drape a plastic sheet or double-sided tape over the sofa arm she uses. You're not trying to punish her, just removing the option temporarily while the post becomes familiar. With ten weeks and a clear setup like this, you should have the habit well established before the baby comes home.

Honestly, it's one of the easier ones — the parts are clearly labelled and most people do it solo in about 30–40 minutes. The instructions are straightforward and everything bolts together firmly, which is also why it doesn't wobble once it's up. If you order it soon you'll have it sorted well before things get uncomfortable, and your cat will have weeks to settle into the habit before the baby arrives. That's genuinely the best position to be in.