Kitten straches and bannister

[onadietcokebreak]

My new kitten has scratched at the bannister whilst climbing it. We appear to have stopped her now.

It is wood and varnished. The house is rented and bannister looked good before. Any ideas on how to tidy it up without stripping and re varnishing?

Thanks

bumping!

another bump...can you tell im desperate!

Some furniture shops sell special pencils in different colours for the correct wood to fill in the scratches.

I've used these and you have to "blend" them in.

Thanks ppeatfruit. Was thinking I may have to try them. Are they easy to use? Am I likely to make it worse. The bottom of banister is looking bad!

Onadietcokebreak, if you can get some citronella essential oil and dab it in the worst spots/areas likely to be affected this may stop future scratches as they don't like the smell of it

Can't help with rectifying damage already done though, sorry!

Or crack a walnut and use the cut edge of the kernel (not the nut) to rub out the scratches - honestly! (if not too deep)

Thank you. Will get some- the beast will be tamed!

Your kitten could probably be trained to use a proper scratching post (you can get them in pet shops).

She has got a post...just rarely uses it depiste our efforts!

Sympathies with kitten not using the scratching post - we buy Ikea rugs for our cat as he's always ignored anything that might be labelled 'for cats'.

Re the scratches, you could try using brown wax crayon if you have one - or eyebrow pencil!

home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-repair-wooden-furniture-surfaces1.htm

www.essortment.com/home/scratcheswoodf_sbqq.htm

Good luck! and I can recommend Ikea small round rugs for cats; cheap and can be thrown away when tatty (though you do have to hoover up the fluff generated by cat in the process of MAKING them tatty...)

Now got the crayons and appears stratches are too deep for it to work.

Think we are going to have to restrip and varnish.

Going to see if we can afford to get a handy man to do it. Damn Cat!

We just sanded down the bumpy bits and revarnished ours. The scratches are still there but less obvious. But we own our bannisters and may be less fussy than some.