Stop a Burmese scratching walls after moving

A move is one of the most common triggers for new scratching behaviour — your Burmese is almost certainly stress-marking, claiming the new space as his own. The good news is this is very fixable if you get the right post in front of him quickly. Most cats ignore posts because they're too short, too wobbly, or the wrong texture — they need a post tall enough for a full stretch and solid enough that it doesn't rock when they dig in. Before I point you in a direction: is your Burmese a vertical scratcher (going up the walls) or does he also go low and horizontal? And roughly how big is he — Burmese tend to be mid-sized but they vary. What surface are the walls — painted plaster?

That full-stretch vertical scratching is classic stress behaviour in a new environment — he's essentially saying 'I live here now.' At 4kg with a good reach, he needs a post that's at least 90cm tall, and critically it has to be rock solid. A post that wobbles even once will put him off it permanently. What material is he going into on the walls — is he just dragging claws down or actually gouging?

Good — you're catching it early, which makes this much easier to redirect. For a vertical scratcher doing this out of stress in a new place, I'd go straight for the SmartCat Ultimate Scratching Post. It's 91cm tall, which is enough for a full Burmese stretch, and it's wrapped in woven sisal fabric rather than rope — that smooth-but-fibrous texture is very close to what painted plaster feels like under the claw, which is exactly why cats that scratch walls tend to take to it quickly. The weighted base is genuinely stable; it doesn't tip or slide. Put it right next to the wall he's currently using — not across the room, right there — and he'll naturally transfer. Once he's using it consistently, you can inch it away from the wall over a couple of weeks.

Yes to both, and keep it simple. Rub a little silvervine or valerian on the base of the post — most Burmese respond to those even if they're indifferent to catnip. For the wall, stick a strip or two of Sticky Paws transparent tape over the marks he's already made — cats hate the tacky feeling and it redirects them without any fuss or spray. Don't punish him for scratching; he's not being destructive, he's coping with the move. The combination of an appealing post right at his current scratch site plus an unpleasant wall surface sorts this out pretty fast in most cases.

That should do it. Place the post before the tape goes up so he has somewhere to go immediately. Give it a week and you should see him choosing the post consistently — Burmese are smart and once they find something satisfying they stick with it. Good luck with the new place.