Cat Scratching Preventative Measures for new furniture

[ACG]

My cat of 12 years scratches furniture. No matter what we tried she scratched the corners of 2 of our chairs and the couch. Both the chairs and couch are super old anyway, so it wasn't like we cared.

I'd like to buy some new furniture, have any of you tried the tape or the spray? Does it work?

I can't lock the cat in another room.

She is old but not that old.

thanks

[Blueberry]

I've had success with using packing tape rolled so its sticky on both sides. Cheap and worked well for us. Try it first on the old furniture, them put it on new for a while.

[lauraelmore1033]

Do you have things that the cat CAN scratch? I've found that having a cat tree with scratchers and regular trims keep the scratching to a minimum. You can't stop a cat from scratching--they have a physical need to do it--but you can redirect it to more appropriate surfaces.

[Norse]

We've even had success with plain old scotch tape - our old cat didn't like the feel. With our newest baby, we bought her a couple of high quality scratching posts and steered her towards them when she strayed via: gently taking her there and putting her paws on them and making the motions, putting catnip on the posts in various spots (still do that), and the good old spray water bottle. She really has been very good about using her posts 99% of the time. The other thing she loves to dig her claws into is my rubber mat that's under my bike that's on the trainer.

[Sylvia]

I have couch covers on my couches and that has helped quite a bit. The covers are fit loosely and you tuck them in around the cushions and tie them on the sides. Very similar to this one. Because they don't fit tightly, when the cat puts their claws in them and then tries to pull their paws back, there is little resistance and the cats don't seem to like that because their claws get stuck. In addition I have scratching posts and mats around the house that they can use and work better than the covered couches. That said, my covers have a few holes from the cats trying to scratch, but at least the couches are reasonably protected.

[TrekDianna]

I used doublesided tape -- it did not work for one cat and we had to put the nail tips on her -- but they come in fun colors.

This isn't the brand I used, but there's a good photo of them here http://www.amazon.com/Claws-PURPLE-M...itty+nail+caps

[nuliajuk]

Can you growl convincingly? When my previous pair of cats were kittens, we growled at them whenever they started to do something they weren't supposed to, such as scratching furniture or trying to run out the front door. It let them know, in their own "language", that they were being warned off, and we never had a further problem in their long (15 and 18 year) lifespans. It can give you layrngitis if you do it too much at first.
Our present cat was trained by her previous owner, so I don't know what training method she used. It must have worked, we don't have a problem with her either.

[Crankin]

We used doubled sided Scotch tape and that worked for most things. We did have to get arm rest covers made for our living room couch. We also growled!
But, my cat never would scratch anything we bought for her to scratch.
This is why we didn't get another cat when she died.

[zoom-zoom]

We're going to have to start getting creative, too. 2 of our 3 cats are good babies and scratch only appropriate scratching towers and toys (and we have EIGHT of these damned things in our house -- horizontal and vertical surfaces...sisal, carpet, other woven materials). The 3rd is a jerk. He prefers the leather sofa (purchased because we figured he'd be less likely to go after that than he would upholstery...and this was the case for about 3 months, before we discovered that he'd been going after the back corners of the sofa, too) and our $$ wool area rugs to his $$ cat towers. He also went after the corner of the bottom carpeted step and just weeks after moving into our new home had it looking like it was 10 years old. Yelling and spraying water are only temporary deterrents. Feliway diffusers have only helped on a limited basis, too.

Trimming the tips off of his claws helps, but we've got to keep up on it. He really seems hell-bent on destroying everything...this is why we can't have nice things!

[malkin]

Our cats' nails need trimming at least weekly, but they all love their little scratching towers, of which there is one in front of every seat and screen and two at the foot of the bed. Around here, more stuff gets wrecked from them careening around after each other and knocking stuff off of horizontal surfaces than scratching.

[GLC1968]

Our cat doesn't scratch the furniture intentionally (luckily). He is good about using his scratching thing or the dog bed, so I don't really have any advice for you. We do have a problem in that he leaves little claw marks all over the new leather furniture when he leaps up on it and doesn't quite make it. Or when he does a running leap onto the ottoman and has to grip with his claws to avoid flying off the other side. One chair and the ottoman are littered with puncture holes!

Any suggestions? We can't use tape and still be able to sit in the chair. Training him to stay off the furniture is an unlikely scenario as well. We do trim his claws, but that just makes it worse as he grips harder doing more damage when they don't stick in right away!

Do the little claw covers really work??

I may have to have a video camera ready for the first time he leaps onto the ottoman with claw covers on!

[ACG]

Ok ladies, my new chairs have arrived!

We are ready with a scratching post, the anti scratching tape and some throw covers. The throws are to help keep the chairs clean, we'll pull them off when company comes. Wish me luck.

[TrekDianna]

Do the little claw covers really work??

I may have to have a video camera ready for the first time he leaps onto the ottoman with claw covers on!

Yes, they worked for my cat and also for my son's cat in his new house with his new furniture. His wife puts them on their cat.

[poogle]

One tip for the tape- I had that and the cats would rub against it all the time, coating it with fur, which makes it not sticky, which then makes it ok to scratch. I had good luck using Air scense freshener, which has orange essential oil in it, cats hate citrus, and getting it on their paws discouraged them from scratching the couch. I also got a cat tree for the living room, which also helps.