Keeping the cats from scratching the furniture?

[DizBelle]

The only thing that stopped my cats from scratching the furniture is to give them something just as big that they could scratch. We have a few of the very big carpeted cat towers. The only scratches on the furniture are from them jumping on and off of it.

I would never declaw a cat because I would want my fingertips amputated either.

 

[tvguy]

Every indoor cat I've ever been around has been declawed. They were happy, healthy, normal cats. No signs of pain whatsoever. Declawing a cat is a common practice, not animal abuse.

Every cat I had but the last was declawed, however, 12 years ago when we adopted our last cat from the SPCA I had a sign a form certifying I wouldo not declaw her. Really doesn't matter since no vet around here does the procedure anymore anyway. I know the cats I did have declawed did very well after the surgery, but the law is the law.

 

[Robinrs]

Every indoor cat I've ever been around has been declawed. They were happy, healthy, normal cats. No signs of pain whatsoever. Declawing a cat is a common practice, not animal abuse.

I adopted 3 cats from the Humane Society 3 different times. Each time they interviewed me and asked me if I've ever declawed a cat. I would tell them "no" and they'd sigh in relief. Some would nod and say "good, thank you".

Here is the Humane Society's view on declawing:

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/declawing.html

 

[bjscheel]

I've also heard cats don't like tin foil. Ours started in on the end of our new couch earlier this spring. I didn't know how I wanted to attach tin foil to the couch, so I just draped a blanket over that end and then put a square of tin foil on the carpet next to it so she would have to step on it to scratch that side of the couch. Then, we put a scratching post near that area. Her crazy running/scratching episodes always seemed to originate in our bedroom, and that side of the couch was right outside our door, so it seemed logical to put a post in the same area.

So far so good, she loves that post and once it was there, hasn't bothered anything else. I think I could take away the tin foil now. Her ball rolled on to it the other day and she did make an effort to not step on the foil while getting her ball.

 

[si-am]

We are really lucky in that neither of our cats are furniture scratchers. One likes to scratch on the carpet but only occasionally. The other just loves his corrugated cardboard scratchy thing we keep by the couch.

When they were kittens, we got the tape stuff to stick on the ends of the couch because they were more scratchy back then. That stuff left a residue that we cannot get off for anything. Big mistake!

I would never declaw. Furniture is just stuff. Cats are living creatures.

 

[tigercat]

My cat has scratched the heck out of my furniture. It stopped when I found the coruggated cardboard scratchy thing. Now that is the only thing he uses. I wish that I had found it earlier and saved my furniture.
tigercat

 

[denisem]

Try many different kinds of scratching posts - some cats like upright, some like flat.

Similar to Dizbelle, I once gave up & designated a "cat clawing chair". It was an antique side chair with seat/back upholstered in a burlap type fabric.

Leather furniture didn't work for me, had one cat that ambushed it (and I'd re-upholstered the burlap chair - stupid me!!). I used Soft Paws on her and while she didn't enjoy the process, she tolerated it without bloodshed on my part. Vet did it once, and I took over from there.

Later on...new cat, new husband...we acquired the little devil in my avatar (named Rocko, should have been named Damian!) Rocko DETESTED being restrained or having his paws held. He'd become a whirling dervish. My experienced "claw-trimming" DH couldn't do it, even the vet's office had to sedate him to trim his claws. Obviously, Soft Paws weren't an option either.

Rocko would catch his claws in the carpeting while running full speed and we were afraid he'd dislocate a leg or something. Having never declawed a cat before, we reluctantly decided on a laser declaw and it went well. No bandages. Picked him up at the vet the next morning and he was climbing the cage. Within a few days he was pretty much back to bouncing off the walls and leaping onto our shoulders.

We'd also adopted his great-grandma (a retired breeder) who was none the worse for her earlier front declaw. Neither became biters or were less than pristine in their litter habits.

If all the above fails, and it's legal in your state, I wouldn't hesitate to find a qualified vet who specializes in laser declaws.