scratching issue

I saw a sticky somewhere on this forum but I forgot where it was.
How do you guys deal with scratching problem. I don't want him ruining my furniture. I checked out the pet repellant from petsmart but it has very bad reviews and people are saying it doesn't work. Please help.

Thanks,
Paul

It's completely natural for cats to want to scratch, they do it to get dead nail sheathes off their claws, for marking (they have scent glands in their paws) and to stretch properly.

So you shouldn't be trying to stop the cat from scratching completely. However it should be possible to redirect the scratching onto more appropriate places.

How many and of what type of scratching posts do you have? It reallky varies with cats what they prefer to scratch at. If it's mostly territorial marking type of scratching (near doorways etc.) it's important to put the scratching posts near those areas and sometimes using feliway can help. Feliway will only help with the marking type of scratching though which actually isn't that common.

Clipping the claws regularely will help limit the damage the claws do but really the best solution is to experiment with scratching posts to figure out which ones your cat likes.

My cat loves the cardboard scratches you put on the floor and I have a few of those around, next to the most high traffic doors in my house (otherwise she scratches at the carpet and doorposts around there).

Also there is a product called softpaws which are plastic blunt claw covers that you glue on the claws of the cat. It makes their scratching completely non destructive so that's a possiblity as well, especially while you're figuring out what type of scratching post and location your cat prefers.

I think you can also put double sided sticky tape on the furniture where he's scratching since most cats don't like the stickyness at all.

Sometimes giving the cat a piece of furniture works as well, i.e getting a chair from goodwill and allowing the cat to scratch it to bits.

Thank you for your advice Saggav. I will try this.

Get scratching posts and cat condos. My cats only scratch on those things. I don't even know how they figured out to only scratch those.

Originally Posted by jenniferd

Get scratching posts and cat condos. My cats only scratch on those things. I don't even know how they figured out to only scratch those.

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same here, I haven't had to do any training at all.

I also would try Soft Paws.

You can't stop them from scratching, but you can redirect it. Cats will have different preferences for types of scratching surfaces (cardboard, sisel, vertical/horizontal, etc.). Chloe has a horizontal cardboard scratcher but never uses it (it's the center of the Turbo Scratcher). I have a flat sisel scratcher (it's a nice one made by TrendyCat) that I have been setting on its side so it's vertical. She loves it vertical and ever since I bought it she's been using that instead of my chair. She uses it horizontally too. I hate the way that most cat furniture looks but Target actually has a decent loooking scratching post (though it is pretty short). I haven't had to do much training with her because once I bought the scratching things, that's all she uses.

To train your cat, buy an appropriate thing for them to scratch on and play with them around it and put catnip on it so it's more attractive. When you catch them scratching furniture or something they aren't supposed to, just pick them up and set them on the post. They'll get the hint eventually.