My Mum is going to KILL ME!! (Leather Sofa)

Oh my god, my 5 month old kitten Alfie was just on our leather couch and i was watching TV, i went over to see him as he was meowing for attention and i looked at the leather and there are LOADS OF SCRATCHES. Mum is in bed at the moment thank god! She told me to keep an eye on him and put him through the back if he started running about on the sofa's. These are like deep too, as in you can see the fabric underneath the leather. I was thinking ah well i can turn them over as its actually on the part you sit on, BUT they are one sided ffs, you can only use that side!

These leather sofa's cost about £2,000.

Dude I'm in deep sh**.

I'm going to order soft claws, are they any good? Will they help prevent this happening?

Well it's bed time for me and lets see what the morning brings, I'm not going to mention it untill mum/dad does, wish me luck.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck!!!!

Yes, the soft claws will help alot...good luck with your mum

You can put shoe polish on the scratches to help hide them. It won't make your mum not notice them but it really does help. I.e it colours the fabric under the leather the same colour as the leather so it's not quite as glaring to look at.

Anyway I'm really sorry to hear about the sofa. Ouch. It can be hard keeping those intact around cats, what then hyper kittens.

Yes soft claws will help a lot. Hopefully you can figure out how to repair the cushions and it won't cost you too much.

I was thinking about more of a leather couch to stop them from using it, but will rethink that since your cat obvious likes leather - most ignore it !

My hunch is that the kitten isn't using the sofa to scratch, It's more likely just running around, being a kitten and playing.

I had an incident when Nikita had been staying with a friend of mine for 2 weeks while I went to iceland for christmas. He had a leather sofa and she'd left it completely alone, then when I was at his house to come pick her up to take home she ran into the sofa with a plastic straw, dropped it on the cushion and started playing with it. That was enough to scratch up the leather quite a bit (we didn't notice right away what she was doing).

I felt awful, but fortunately the shoe polish trick pretty much safed it and you don't really notice anything now. She'll be going into a cattery though this christmas now.

You can also use a marker to help the scratches blend in; it might be easier to match depending on the color of the sofa. I hope your mom doesn't freak out too much.

If the scratches are actually tears, you can use a leather repair kit to make it completely new again.

http://www.magicmender.com/


I encourage you to not lie or conceal the truth from your mom though. Lies and concealment breeds distrust. Better to be up front and honest about what happened. Even offer to pay for the leather repair kit from your allowance.

Soooo..... when are you moving out?

I'm sorry, I have the same problem at home. Our kitty has done the exact same to our leather dining chairs, and my hubby was REALLY peeved. Good luck, hope it goes ok. Soft Claws will make a huge difference - do them to the front and back paws and reapply regularly. It'll be a while before your kitty stops running all over the place!

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

I was thinking about more of a leather couch to stop them from using it, but will rethink that since your cat obvious likes leather - most ignore it !

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They don't try to use it as a scratching post, they just run and jump all over the chairs, and the claws leave marks behind. If they start to unbalance while running over the chair, then the claws go out to steady themselves - bad news!!!!

Originally Posted by Siggav

I felt awful, but fortunately the shoe polish trick pretty much safed it and you don't really notice anything now. She'll be going into a cattery though this christmas now.

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You're getting rid of your cat?! Why?

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

You're getting rid of your cat?! Why?

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I think she meant that she was going to put here there while she was on vacation, not that she was getting rid of her.

Well it was nice knowing you.

I agree that the kitten probably wasn't using it to scratch on purpose. Kittens claws don't retract like adult claws do, so even running or playing can cause scratches (still have a lot of scars on my legs to prove that!). Like someone said, there are leather repair kits that aren't that expensive.

Is this your cat, or your mom's? If it's yours, I would offer to pay for the repair kit, and tell your mom you already ordered soft paws to keep it from happening in the future.

Originally Posted by ClaireBear

I think she meant that she was going to put here there while she was on vacation, not that she was getting rid of her.

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Correct, I would NEVER get rid of Nikita

I love her

What I meant was that this coming Christmas when I go away to see my family she'll be in a cattery rater than living with my friend. It's a very good cattery she has been in before so it should work out fine.

I've got lots of little scratches on mine from my two, and now Jack with his kitten razor like claws

I just bought mine last year as well, but i knew it could happen.

Anyone know how to get rid of clicks on a leather sofa?. I've snipped a few off but i can't get a smoother finish.

i just had similar problem and so we had our kitten mike declawed it saves you a ton of money from buying the claw cover thingys and of course repairing or replacing furniture it was the best thing we did for mike and its not as mean as i had heard my vet told me its harmless and that it was mike is a happy kitty yours will be too if you get it declawed

Originally Posted by Serpant_King

i just had similar problem and so we had our kitten mike declawed it saves you a ton of money from buying the claw cover thingys and of course repairing or replacing furniture it was the best thing we did for mike and its not as mean as i had heard my vet told me its harmless and that it was mike is a happy kitty yours will be too if you get it declawed

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Please note, we don't promote declawing at TCS. What we do ask is that people look into alternative methods.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41954

Serpant_King - OcicatDude is living in the UK where declawing is a criminal offence because it's seen as animal abuse. No vets will do it over here because it's harmful for cats and it's illegal.

Thanks for all the replies.
Yeah hes not actually using it as a scratching post its just hes running over it and marking it..

Declawing is not an option..

Mum was a bit annoyed as expected but not as bad as i thought, dad does not know yet though.

Mum told me to order some soft claws asap which im going too, hes not allowed into the lounge untill i get them!

I'm not sure what size to order him, i think small as he is deffo not a kitten size, hes just under an adult i rekon.

Why not buy animal nail clippers and learn to cut your cat's nails both in the front and back? Clipping their nails works a whole lot better than gluing bits of plastic on that will eventually fall off as the nail grows.