First of all, a good breeder trains all of her kittens to use a scratching post before they go to their new homes. Ask your breeder about this. You need to buy a post similar to the one the kitten has been using. You also need to place the post in a prominent position along a natural runway in your home. The kitten will spend most of his active time in the rooms where YOU spend most of your active time. In our home, for example, we spend most of our time in the kitchen and the adjacent living room. The cats like to gallop across the living room and into the kitchen. They tend to skid to a stop at one or the other ends of their gallop and as soon as they stop they usually want to scratch something. This is typical feline behavior in any home. So we have a scratching post at both ends of their runway. If we didn't they'd try to scratch the nearest piece of furniture.

Another popular scratching location is in a sunny place up high. We have a built-in desk in a window. We placed one of those horizontal cardboard scratching pads on that desk. The cats love to go up there, stretch in the sun, and scratch. They love scratching things up high because one of the purposes of scratching is to advertise that the home belongs to the cat. Weak human noses can't smell it, but scratching places the cat's paw odor on the target object. When the source of their paw scent is emanating from a prominent, high position, the cat feels secure.

Once you have scratching posts or scratching pads located in places where the kitten likes to scratch, the next step is enforcement. If the kitten has already been taught to scratch posts by the breeder, your job is very easy. The kitten already knows he is supposed to scratch the posts. Although he will naturally tend to experiment with scratching other objects as soon as he finds himself in a new home, all you have to do is dissuade him gently and redirect him to the legal scratching areas. In my opinion, the easiest way to "dissuade" is to yell at top volume as soon as he begins to scratch an illegal object. Yelling is easier than shaking cans full of coins or using squirt guns because you always have your voice and can yell the minute you see him scratch. It's very important to start yelling the moment he starts scratching. Don't touch him and don't approach him. Just yell VERY loudly from a distance until he stops scratching. The yell must be offensively loud and sound completely unlike your normal kindly self or the cat will ignore it. Really belt it out. Voice lessons or operatic training are helpful. So is experience raising children. Stop yelling the instant he stops scratching. Then wait. If he starts scratching again after a minute, then yell again until he stops. That way he learns that a loud unpleasant sound happens whenever he scratches in a forbidden place. After he stops scratching completely, stay still for a few seconds. Then, quietly walk toward the kitten, pick him up, and place him on a legal scratching post. Don't force him to scratch. No. Instead play with him on the post until he CHOOSES to scratch. Then praise him exuberantly and tell him what a good boy he is. (If he absolutely refuses to scratch, then leave him alone and try to induce him to scratch the post another time.)

One way to induce a kitten to scratch a post of his own accord is to drag a string or other toy up the scratching post. As he chases it, he will often stretch himself on the post and then scratch it. That's when you praise him. Don't ever force him to scratch the post and don't ever touch him when he's bad or he will learn that he has to avoid you and avoid the post. Avoidance is not what you want. If you make a habit of playing with the kitten on or around the post every day, he will eventually learn to like the post and will want to scratch it. Just be patient and be consistent about the play sessions.

If the kitten was not trained to a post before you bought him, you will have a much harder time training him yourself, but you CAN. If he doesn't take to the post right away, you will have to make a BIG point of playing with him near the post every day and making it as attractive as possible. You may have to do this for several weeks before he decides the post is his friend. By the way, rubbing the post with catnip often makes it attractive to adult cats, but has no effect on kittens. Kittens are usually too young to find catnip attractive.

If despite your efforts the kitten develops a habit of scratching a piece of furniture in the same place each day, you must put a stop to that FAST by moving the furniture elsewhere (because they often want to scratch in a certain place more than they want to scratch a specific object), covering the scratched area with sticky doublesided tape (purchased from a pet supply store), or both. Once he has his paw odor well worked into the furniture you will have a hard time getting him to stop, so it's important to stop him very early in the game. And keep working on getting him to like the post. It can take a long time if the kitten hasn't yet been trained, but you can do it. Do it soon, do it now. It's worth the effort because, once trained, you will never have a serious problem with him again for the next 15 to 20 years of his life.

Again, hopefully, the kitten was trained before you bought him and all you have to do is ask the breeder what type of post or scratching pad she has used around the kitten. Buy that type and your kitten will probably take to those legal scratching objects very readily.

Oh, yes. With all cats it is a good idea to trim the very tips of their front nails every couple of weeks. The trimming makes the nails less sharp. If you do that, they won't damage the furniture very much if they should happen to experiment with it. Also, they don't wear out the legal scratching post as fast - and you don't have to worry about them scratching you when they jump into your lap and you have shorts on. Ouch! If you bought from a good breeder, she should be happy to show you how to trim the kitten's nails.

In 99% of cases, you can train the kitten to use a scratching post. But if you end up with a rare kitten that just doesn't learn, then I'd recommend using Softpaws (TM) nail caps. Those are rubbery nail caps that can be glued on like false nails. They protect the furniture and there is no need to declaw the cat. You can buy nail caps from catalogue sources and in most pet supply stores. Also, ask your veterinarian. Many vets have veterinary technicians working for them who will put nail caps on your kitten for you if you do not wish to do it yourself.

Remember:

 1. Get the right kind of POST
 2. Put the post in the right PLACE or places
 3. PLAY with the kitten on and around the legal scratching post
 4. Learn how to YELL from afar if the kitten experiments with illegal scratching locations
 5. Learn to TIME the yells to start when the illegal scratching starts and stop when it stops
 6. But NEVER TOUCH the kitten by way of punishment
 7. PROTECT the furniture temporarily as needed
 8. TRIM the kitten's claws every two weeks
 9. Be CONSISTENT & PATIENT
10. Eventually you will SUCCEED