Cat Scratch Proofing Furniture

[northwest]

What do you all do to keep your cats from scratching your furniture? Mine has scratched my fabric sofa to shreds and I need a new one. I want to get a nice leather sofa but I'm reluctant because I know he'll ruin it. Scratching posts,vinyl wrap (which looks ugly), blankets, sprays, constant nail clipping, nothing works.

Declawing seems inhumane as they use their claws for stretching and balancing, among other things.

Thanks for the help.

 

[pipperoo]

cats like sofas and chairs because they are really sturdy so they can get a really good "grip" while scratching, and because of the size - they can get a good stretch while they scratch.

There are some fabrics that cats don't seem to like:  I had a microfibre (ultrasuede) couch that just didn't appeal to any of our cats - and long claws never left little poke holes either.  I also have a very tight weave (sort of like broadcloth) couch that is also left alone.  The minute I had a linen couch delivered, it became the best scratching post in town.....sigh.  So:  on the linen couch, I've running packing tape along the back spine and the legs.  Its not the best look but it is doing the job while Pip learns to use other things.  A really really sturdy, tall scratching post helps - and Pip is a horizontal scratcher so I have a few of those corrugated cardboard scratchers scattered in corners here and there (corners helps them not shift around - and get wide ones as they seem to be more appealing).

There are some really cool cardboard scratchers out there that look like sculpture - pricey but I kind of think that if a cat thinks something is precious, they'll automatically be attracted!

And last but not least, furniture scratching is sometimes a way to get your attention (you look at them and tell them to stop, right?).  When your cat is saying "hey, look at me!", help your friend burn off some excess energy by playing for a bit may also cut down inappropriate scratching.

 

[Ms. Freya]

Hi Northwest, TCS is an anti-declaw site, so you'll get plenty of agreement here that declawing is inhumane.

As to the furniture scratching, we had a polydactyl who loved taking chunks out of our furniture and we had really good luck with double-sided tape. We put a strip on the places she commonly went at and it really helped - she hated the feel of the sticky tape against her paws. We also put a variety of scratchers near the furniture she went after, to give her something close to redirect her to.

You can also find some other suggestions here:
[article="29683"]How To Stop Your Cat From Scratching The Furniture  [/article]
 I'm sure some more of our members have had success with other methods and will be along soon to share!