There are good and bad things about soft paws. There have also been a couple of threads about them. I am sure if you do a search you will find them. I used them for a short time when one of my cats was clawing up the back of her neck. She was making horrible deep scratches so I put them on her back claws only so that she could still scratch but not do herself any damage. Once she got past her need to claw herself raw I stopped putting them on. They worked great for that. Some people have used them and had strings and such get caught in them.

As for the potted plants. I have heard of many possible remedies. There is putting foil over the pot with the plant sticking out...there is putting citrus rinds in with the plant. If you eat oranges a lot that is better. There are some different sprays they makes for keeping cats out of plants. I personally just don't have real plants in my home. But that is my solution

Denyce