Cat has started jumping into the cot

[GrouchyKiwi]

I'm not so worried about it now as DD2 is nearly 18 months and would cuddle the cat to death before anything else (although I'm not a fan of cat hair in her sleeping area), but I'm pregnant with DC3 and hate the idea of the cat jumping into the baby's bed. He also jumped up on the change table while I was changing DD2's nappy this morning and narrowly avoided scratching her legs as he scrabbled for purchase. AFAIK this has just started.

What's the best way to train him out of this? He's 8 months old and doesn't seem to learn very well, judging from how much he scratches my carpet instead of using the lovely scratching posts we have. The baby's due in 5 months so plenty of time.

His brother is relatively well behaved with carpets and beds. I find the difference highly irritating!

(And if anyone has tips for how to encourage him to use the scratch posts instead of my carpet I will love you forever.)

One of my cats is the same, can often be found sitting either on the changing table or in the moses basket. It doesn't bother me though.

If I were you I would just scare him away when he's in a place you don't like. If you can, keep him away from these places when you aren't around by closing doors, so he doesn't get into the habit of using them as sleeping spots. But it might not be so easy keeping him away completely.

The scratching is a bit easier to tackle. Do you have multiple scratching posts? Are they close to the spots of carpet the cat likes to scratch? Do you treat the cat for using the posts? Have you tried horizontal scratching mats as well?

It hasn't worked particularly well with the dining table or kitchen benches, alas, but I will keep on keeping on.

He scratches the carpet anywhere, even when a scratchpost is a mere 10cm away. I've never heard of the flat scratch mats so will look out for those because I think they'll help.

I just firmly move my two away and say "no". The problem with cats is eventually they learn that they mustn't behave a certain way when you are around, but as soon as you are not.....

I would definitely think about ways to keep the cats out of the nursery. We have a video monitor so that we can leave the nursery door shut - it's a pain, but I just don't trust them!

Oh, and feliway spray really helps the scratching. If you spray it on the areas where they scratch, it somehow stops them scratching. No idea how it works, because it's a cat pheromone that relaxes them and makes them feel safe - but it definitely worked for us!!!

Must remember to get some catnip...

Samaritan That's one of the reasons I don't like cats. These are DH's.

For the first 4 months or so the baby will sleep in whatever room I'm in so that side of things will be fine. Will have to practise shutting the nursery door too.

Will look for the spray. Does it have a noticeable smell?

No, I use it a lot - it has something in it that only cats can detect

Brilliant, thank you.

Scratch posts often aren't tall enough. Our cats prefer the door mat, the coir (?) ones. Or as pp said, a flat scratch board.
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Put him down with a firm no every time. Close doors when you aren't there

Hm. Hadn't thought about that aspect. We've got a cat tree with about 6 scratch posts on it as well and some of those are a bit higher but I don't think they use them.