how do you stop your cats scratching your furniture..

I ask this question as i embark on some new furniture, my first ever brand new lounge suite,yep have always had hand me downs, and not that i am ungrateful, but yes it is time i added my own personal touch.

I have a large scratch post downstairs,which both nikki and especially lexie use, but nikki was the one who messed up the old lounge suite, tearing it in at least three places, and i caught her today and yesterday at it again.

I growled at her, but does not seem to be doing the trick, i am worried when the new one arrives that she will start doing the same.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks.

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Originally Posted by carole

I ask this question as i embark on some new furniture, my first ever brand new lounge suite,yep have always had hand me downs, and not that i am ungrateful, but yes it is time i added my own personal touch.

I have a large scratch post downstairs,which both nikki and especially lexie use, but nikki was the one who messed up the old lounge suite, tearing it in at least three places, and i caught her today and yesterday at it again.

I growled at her, but does not seem to be doing the trick, i am worried when the new one arrives that she will start doing the same.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks.

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Good question! This is why I do not buy new furniture. Buddy is the only one of my 3 that scratches the furniture.

I hope someone here has an answer.

yes well after having my second hand suite for over twenty years and it is tearing and a bit low to the ground for us these days, i decided it was time for a new one, but yes i would hate for it to be scratched, but i love my cats to bits, don't worry about that, but i know this is the best place to come and get good suggestions, as i am sure many have been there, and know what may actually work as a deterient,thanks in advance anyone.;)

Good for you!!! I had piece-meal furniture, dishes, pots and pans...EVERYTHING. I was finally able to get new stuff for the first time in 35 years!!

I would try putting small catnip enhanced scratchers in the places they are known to scratch. You can also try heavy duty two sided tape (to hold carpeting down). Put it on all the corners of the new stuff. They don't like feel the first time they try to scratch and will avoid the area.

You can also put Soft Paws on them. They're like Lee Press-On Nails for cats!!:p

Good luck, girl!;):D

Two sided tape, aluminum foil, plenty of appropriate scratcher that they do like, and tons of positive reinforcement when doing the right thing.

No squirt guns, water things, shaker cans...that is all negative reinforcement and simply doesn't work.

Remember, some cats LOVE the horizontal scratchers and some prefer the vertical. I have both of each. LOL.

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Originally Posted by Cataholic

Remember, some cats LOVE the horizontal scratchers and some prefer the vertical. I have both of each. LOL.

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I wish this worked for Buddy. I have a feeling this is why he was put out and became my cat when he was only a year old. The only good thing is he tends to scratch the back of the chair and couch so it isn't as visible.

I agree with everyone who said "good question!".
What makes it very difficult is that they can "adopt" a piece of furniture even after years they ignored it:(
Kiri right now begins to lie under the sofa on her back and to drag her along with claws, a technique, Tigris had developed which successfully ruined our old sofa. But now it is a new one......
And Tigris and Kiri never met.
Orion has a new habit. He scratches the glass of a picture that hangs fairly deep when he wants to have somethng to eat. On the picture is a watercolor of a light grey kitty standing on its backpaws to try and catch a toy. Do you think he knows that?

Two sided tape!

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Originally Posted by happylabs

I wish this worked for Buddy. I have a feeling this is why he was put out and became my cat when he was only a year old. The only good thing is he tends to scratch the back of the chair and couch so it isn't as visible.

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Sometimes, you have to fool around/investigate the situation a bit to find out what Buddy wants/needs. I have ten cats. None of them are the same, and I have been surprised at the differences in their wants/needs many times. My little girl, Molly? She only likes the flat, cardboard ones- filled with cat nip. Cali? She only likes to hang from the ciscal (sic) covered cat tree. Monte? Eh- none. He prefers the chair. LOL.

Multi step process:

1. Buy catnip. Crumble is to release the scent, on THEIR climbing trees, scratching posts, in their beds.

2. At the same time: use a squirt bottle. Mix equal parts, water and white vinegar. This is a mild mix and humans will not smell it. Bats, being down close to it, WILL. Squirt all the edges / corners of the new furniture; the sides and the backs. Start by doing one small area, just to be sure the color won't run (95% of fabrics can take this mix with NO issues).

Repeat the WHOLE THING at regular intervals. Do NOT wait until they start scratching stuff! Mark it on your calendar and DO IT.

Have LOTS and LOTS of cat furniture and make sure they know it is theirs to use. Use catnip on the cat furniture and you can get a spray to keep cats away from certain areas that you may try spraying on/around your furniture. My experience with those sprays, though, is they work FANTASTIC the first day/few hours that you spray it, but it does wear off pretty quickly (we had a very hard time keeping our cats out of the Christmas tree last year...).

We just purchased new couches and my boyfriend was very worried about the cats on it. Neither of ours are declawed... but they are VERY good about using their furniture and leaving ours alone. Also, this may or may not make a difference but I figured its worth mentioning -- my cat's furniture is in the living room, they have a scratching post and a cardboard scratching toy. I leave the cardboard scratching toy under my coffee table so it's close enough by that, if they feel the need to scratch on something, that is RIGHT THERE and they don't feel the need to scratch on our couches (at least, that's the logic I make out of it. This might be true, I don't know, but it works for us).

Good luck.

Leather and microfiber are the way to go with cats. I only have leather furniture these days thanks to my guys. I hated how hot microfiber was, so leather it is!

Microfiber is smooth and therefor the cats have no interest in scratching it.

oh really well i stayed way from leather because i thought they would do just that, but leather is not my thing really, suite is not micro fibre either, as for the double sided tape, would that not look hideous though, not being negative here, just that i am upgrading so i finally have a nice looking couch, cannot do the soft paws thing really as cats are indoor/outdoor.

I think the bottle of water spraying them, would work for nikki maybe, she is the main offender here, although lexie has ruined everything else in the house you can imagine, she seems so far to have stayed away from the couch, as nikki would simply hate that, you just have to growl at her and she cowers ,poor wee thing, she hates when i put on my telling off voice, and she sure knows when she is in trouble lol.

I have large scratching post in the lounge, and both cats use it, especially lexie, but lately nikki has been avoiding it and using the couch, grrr!!!.oh well it will be trial and error, and hopefully not a new suite ruined.

No matter what the cats are still going to be my darlings,nothing they do can ever change that.Thanks for the advice, always appreciated.

I had to cover my furniture to help to protect it better. It was new many years ago. My cats also have many cat trees, scratchers, and scratching posts near the furniture. If your cats like catnip, I've found that using catnip spray on their cat furniture will help to entice them to use them more. I tried the double sided tape before and this just didn't work for me. Also about microfiber, I have microfiber dining room chairs and they do scratch on them so this type of fabic didn't stop them. I hope you'll find a good solution quickly. Good luck.:)

We stayed away from leather not because I was concerned about them scratching at it, but rather I was concerned about the cats (and dog) jumping onto the couch and leaving a hole in it. We settled for microfiber!

Gosh I REALLY wish I had enough chairs to go around for everyone here! My husband sounded just like everyone else with leather.... until we got leather. Now there's only leather in my house for a good reason: its soft, easy to wipe down, hypo-allergenic, doesn't hold animal smells, and takes ALL the abuse the pets give it.

My husband has a side business of removing all the old furniture any customer from my store - whether its my customer or a coworker's. We then clean up the old furniture and sell it. Its making ends meet and its actually a lot of fun. Every leather piece? I have a waiting list a mile long for family because they've fallen in love with its awesomeness. Right now I have two matching white leather chairs that came from another cat rescuer's home. Its almost pristine. Needs a good cleaning to get the dye from jeans off it, but otherwise, perfection. My mom is super excited about them; she's the last holdout of team "I don't like leather"


Leather is more affordable than ever. REAL leather is not hot in the summer or cold in the winter. I swear to you, buy leather and you'll never be sorry. It take OVER 300 pounds of pressure to cut leather. 7 cats with calws, Cameron, and Callie haven't done anything to mine. The biggest scratch? Someone visited with fake nails that scracthed the surface. I took shoe polish and filled it in.... never saw the scratch again. I do have a leather chair in the bedroom thats covered in a blanket, but I cover it for Flutter to get up to the bookcase. She can't climb the leather as easily as fabric.



Back to fabric, I could type a book on fabric and pet durability. I talk to customers all day long (I sell furniture!) and I've been considering writing some type of blog about design and living with pets. PM me with what you bought and I could try to help you keep them disinterested in scratching it. The fabric you bought will be the key. Some fabrics are great with pets, others are disasters waiting to happen... no matter how many scratching posts or nail trims or squirt bottles you use. Some fabrics are just enemeies to pet families. A woven chenille fabric is the worst. Anything nubby is just begging the cats to say, "Hey look at my HUGE new scratching post!" A velvet is good. and so on.....

thanks catnapper,that made very interesting reading, however real leather is not affordable for me, you are looking at 2 to 3 thousand dollars for one here,and i now have my new suite,which i love and am more than happy with, was half price on sale, and is just the right size, comfort, very ultra modern type with a chaise,and two headrests,in a black/grey colour they call midnight, i did the research and found out it is polyester/acrylic, don't know if that helps any.

I think it does depend on the cat, my friend has a leather suite and the cat has clawed that,however i have two look like leather ottomans, and the cats have not touched it.

As for catnip, well i believe nz and australian cats do not have what they call the catnip gene, and i think it possibly is true as neither my cats respond to it very much.

i think a spray bottle with water would work for nikki, she would hate it , mind you she might be confused as to why i am doing that and would be very hurt, emotionally i mean, she does not even like it if i raise my voice and put my growlie voice on,i think i will try the double sided tape as well, for a start anyhow and maybe cover it at nights, as that is when i am not around she could well start doing it.

Thanks for the advice guys, keep your fingers and toes and paws crossed my lil monkey leaves well alone.