(photo credit)

This conversation recently came up about a young woman, we’ll call her B, whose cats loved destroying paper. They even ate her homework, literally. Chunks were missing. No paper was safe in the house. B asked what she could do to stop her cats from getting into trouble with paper, lamenting that they had tons of toys, so couldn’t possibly be bored, and claiming they got loads of attention.

My response to her was, if they have tons of toys, how do they know the difference between THEIR toys and YOUR toys? If they are always getting attention, what possibly makes them want to earn your approval?

Cats, just like dogs, need training and guidance to teach them what is, and is not, appropriate to play with.

Having toys all over the house makes it difficult for the cat to distinguish between “mine” and “yours”. After all, everywhere they turn, there’s something to play with. If you’re starting out with a new kitten, you put your stuff away and always direct them to their toys when they get into your things. Praise them and give them attention when they play with their toys. Bitter Apple is your friend to help them make their choice when you aren’t there.

Once the cat already views paper as a toy, you’ll need to break that habit, then get him to choose his toys over paper. To do this, we structure the training similar to any other behavior modification. We teach the new habit, we don’t let them fall into the old habit, then we set them up to make the choice we want them to make.

Breaking the paper habit

1. Hide all paper - As long as they get in the habit of playing with paper, it’s a toy, and they won’t distinguish between paper you allow them to play with and paper you don’t. Just put away all paper until you’ve gotten them in a better habit of playing with their toys.
2. Wait at least 3 weeks - New habits take time to form. Encourage your cat to play with his toys, and never tease him with anything that even resembles paper. Praise him for playing with his toys.
3. Bait the choice - Grab a piece of paper and spray it with Bitter Apple (or similar deterrent), and leave it out where he can get it. Hopefully, he’ll go for it and get a not-so-tasty surprise. Take the paper up the next day, and wait a couple more days. If you’re lucky and you caught him in the act, grab one of his toys and call him over, and praise him when he comes to play. You get a double bonus of the paper tasting bad and you praising him for playing with the correct toy.
4. Repeat bait every few days for several weeks - Every 2 or 3 days, you’ll repeat the bait. Put fresh, sprayed paper in different spots so he doesn’t think only the paper on the table tastes nasty. You are setting him up to CHOOSE not to play with paper. Paper is something that tastes nasty, not a toy to be chewed. That way, he’ll make the choice whether you are home or not.

If you haven’t let him slide by leaving untreated paper where he can get to it, after the end of this time, you should be safe to start leaving paper out. You may want to refresh his memory on occasion by randomly spraying papers instead of tossing them right in the trash, just in case he forgets that paper isn’t very fun.

If all that isn’t worth it, you could just put your stuff away.  =)

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