"That magic spray? What’s it called?" - gray tabby
"Yes, pray tell the name…" - Marg
"What is the name of this Blessing From God?" - bonnierose
"But what happens you sit on the blue paisley chair which has been soaked in nasty smell spray, then you get up and want a kitty-cuddle? Will the smell have transferred to you? And will it then transfer off you on to every other surface you touch? You could end up walking down the street like a reversed pied piper!" - RoofOnFire
The kitty kryptonite is called ScratchNot from the company SmartyKat. I purchased it at Target but I'm certain other stores carry it and it must be on the internet somewhere.
The vulnerable blue paisley(!) chair experiment continues. The chair is still quilt and towel covered. I have gently placed a violently reluctant Lucy on the repellant scented towel on the seat of the chair several times and I think we'll both be happy when this last training day is over. It is gratifying, though, to see her scamper off as though her tail's on fire.
To answer RoofOnFire's (rather complex compound) question - The whole quilt and towel draping right now is so that I can drench the top layer of towels in the smell while protecting the chair itself from overdose with the quilt layer below. When I pull the towels and the quilt off tomorrow, I'll lightly spray the chair, but just the tops and fronts of the arms and the areas close to the corners on the back. These are Lucy's prime targeting areas, the places where she gets a good stretch while scratching. Hopefully, with the aversion therapy she's been through in the past two days, she's going to avoid the whole chair for good. She's got a long and twisted memory. (I swear, beat a cat once with a broom and she holds a grudge forever.) (Just kidding.)
One caveat about the spray though. Like catnip, it doesn't seem to affect all cats similarly.
When I checked Lucy's reaction to the spray, I tested Tessa too. Very guiltily, I held out the kryptonite dosed paper towel to Tessa. She's such a sweet old lady that I don't seem to take as much righteous glee in (torturing)training her as I do (the evil demon chair-murdering) Lucy. I intended to pull back the minute she crinkled the teeny-tiny nose on her little flat face. Only thing is, she didn't react. No disgust, no annoyance, nothing. The only thing she reacted to was when the towel actually touched her whiskers. Being blind, she turned her head to investigate what was invading her space, but nothing more.
This actually works out fine. Tessa, being the dignified grande dame that she is, has never attacked the upholstery. She happily uses one of the scratch pads and posts I have in every room. She especially enjoys when I sprinkle all the scratchy places with catnip at random intervals.
So that's the skinny on the cat repellant. Hope the info helps.
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