Scratching post plus some gentle tutoring did the trick for my two. I like that they have something to scratch - it looks comfy as fuck, they stretch while clawing stuff.

[–] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

My friend uses the caps on his cats because they sleep on the scratching post then claw up the and furniture and get caught in the drapes. Lol

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago

I taught my cats to stop clawing me when they kneaded just by teaching them the word "claws" (but since my GF was Peruvian, we used spanish to talk to the cats and it was "uñas").

All I did was bring their claws out a little, rub my finger across the tips so that my fingerprint vibrated the claws (to draw their attention there) then said "uñas". And repeated it.

Then when we'd be cuddling they'd be kneading and if they started including their claws in the kneading I'd just say "uñas" and they'd retract their claws and keep kneading.

No operant conditioning required. I used a little classical conditioning to teach them the word, then mere mention of the word was enough because they already knew the claws were uncomfortable to other people. They were just extending their claws unconsciously while kneading.