Host: What challenges might I face in owning a cat?

Bridget Speiser: Cats of course are distinct creatures. Specifically, the number one challenge that comes to mind is scratching behavior. Cats have claws and cats need to sharpen those claws and they use sturdy objects to do that. The number most favorite object for a cat to scratch is your couch. It's nice and steady, nice and stable; they can get a good grab on to it and a nice lean pull.

You need to expect that you would want to spend some time with your new cat, to train them properly to be using equipment like scratching post instead. You want to also be ready to learn how to trim those nails. But most importantly, in terms of this specific question, you need to expect that your cat has certain behaviors that are natural and normal for a cat and are you prepared to face walking down that road, sure the kitty decide that kitty wants to love your sofa more than the scratching post that you bought and with great gentle guideness and with the help of again shelter staff and people in the community, you can learn to navigate these issues that may otherwise prove themselves to be frustrating for you and your cat.