When a cat has a need to scratch, the answer to the question, “Where should I scratch?” is not “What do the humans prefer?” but “Where do I prefer to scratch?'Īs cat owners, the goal is to provide your cat with options that both cat and owner prefer. Cats only think in terms of meeting their needs. In fact, they don’t have any concept of doing the right or wrong thing. It’s also worth keeping in mind that cats do not think in terms of right or wrong. They do it to express emotions, like excitement or stress, to mark objects with their scent (they have scent glands in their paws), to remove the dead part of their nails and, often, just to get a good stretch. Scratching is a normal, instinctive cat behavior.