New house new couch new baby. Help

[danyar17]

ok i am so stressed out and sad. In July my husband and i bought a new house, and of course new furniture ie. leather couches. We also brought home our baby girl July 21st. Mind you i had my taby Neenee for 3 years. For 2 years we lived happily with my husband in a 1 bedroom apartment. Neenee had always been a couch scratcher. we tried citrus, those air blow sprays, some nasty smelling spray even water bottle spray. nothing worked neenee still scratd the couch. after a while we gave up and let her have the left corner of the couch. which she scratched on a daily basis. Fast forward to this year. Because of the new baby we decided to keep neenee in the new basement for the first 2 weeks until we got settled. So we finally brought her to the first floor and where does she go. Straight to the leather couch. we haven't been able to leave her with us because of it. i dnt want to keep her in the basement all alone. i want her here with us like how it used to be. i miss her sleeping on our feet at night. i am so sad and stressed out over this. I don't know what to do. i need help and any advice is appreciated. I miss neenee and i want my baby girl to love her and play with her as well. Please help.

 

[di and bob]

Buy a corrugated cardboard scratcher for Neenee to use and some double sided tape. Put big x's of double sided tape where ever you think she will want to scratch. It is clear so not terrible, but it can be removed when she learns not to scratch there. They hate the feel of the tape and it deterred my determined scratcher from destroying our couch when nothing else would. I saw some double sided tape on a roll at Walmart the other day, it might be easier to use then the strips I bought.  Both the scratcher and the tape can be found on Amazon too.  It's very early in the morning here right now, so hopefully you'll get more help, if not, post a little something in the reply area, like HELP, and it will bring your thread back up to the top. All the luck!

 

[danyar17]

thanks for the advice. does the cardboard attract them more. i had bought her the one made with rope,the one with carpet and to no avail the leather couch always wins.

 

[pegleg]

Could you make her a leather scratching post?

One of mine wouldn't be put off scratching the sofa so I made a post with similar (but not the same!) fabric. Problem completely solved.

 

[DreamerRose]

My cats love the cardboard scratchers the best, although the sisal rope posts are attractive to them, too. Lean the cardboard scratcher up against the couch where your cat likes to scratch, and she will soon prefer that to the couch. Mine will run across the room to scratch on the scratchers.

The cardboard scratchers are cheaper than the sisal posts, so you can get more of them for the money. They also are easily replaced.

 

[danyar17]

@pegleg wouldnt makin a leather scratchin post encourage her to scratch all leathers lol. i think ill try the cardboard ones. i always see them but never think anything of them. thinkin since their so cheap my dancy pants cat wont like them

 

[hbunny]

Mine won't touch sisal, but I've had fantastic response with the cardboard scratchers.  They are all over my house now and I keep refills all the time! 

Someone else had a good suggestion on another thread...get a cheap leather chair from a thrift store and make it strictly the cat's chair.  Not sure it would work on all, but better than ruining yours!

We just bought new furniture for our den, and we made sure when we shopped to get pet-friendly furniture.  We had leather (now in the living room) that had punctures, not from being used as a scratcher, but just jumping up and down off of it.  Chubby wubby would jump up and then start to slip off, and he would dig in and pull himself up.

 

[DreamerRose]

To discuss furniture fabric, microfiber is the way to go. I have a couch of it, and it doesn't show scratches or holes at all. I keep a cardboard scratcher on one side of it, though, to not take any chances on what may happen over time.

 

[hbunny]

 
To discuss furniture fabric, microfiber is the way to go. I have a couch of it, and it doesn't show scratches or holes at all. I keep a cardboard scratcher on one side of it, though, to not take any chances on what may happen over time.

I think that's what ours is, the microfiber.  It kinda looks like leather if you look at it from another room, but when you get up close you can tell it's a fabric.  It's kind of slick feeling though.  Shortstack slid off the back of the loveseat once, it looked like slow-motion of someone hanging on, then slowly going overboard from a boat!  It's like their nails don't even puncture it.  It's very strange.  Feels great though and VERY easy to clean.

The tags on the sofa and loveseat both said "kid and pet friendly fabric!"

 

[pegleg]

@pegleg wouldnt makin a leather scratchin post encourage her to scratch all leathers lol. i think ill try the cardboard ones. i always see them but never think anything of them. thinkin since their so cheap my dancy pants cat wont like them

That's why you find something similar, but not the same. They clearly like the texture (and placement) and don't get told off when they do scratch.