Ideas to stop cat from scratching couches

[chillys-willy]

I am a relatively new cat owner and am having trouble with my cats scratching up our couches. I am very opposed to declawing since the cats like to go outside occasionally and I don't want them not to have nature's defenses. I have heard of spray to deter them from scratching. I do have a scratching toy but it is not a stand up one. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[walkonby]

I gave up. We decalwed one cat a long time ago before I knew the horrendous thing they do to declaw them, ( it is not just the nails) so we erected various scratching post(s) over the years for different cats here, and imo...thay either like them or they don't.
Our cats have scratched whatever they dang well please. Oh they get scolded, and shhhshed! at but they look at that as great entertainment.
Oh any spray product you use will be a chemical unless you make a natural one, so decide what is worse? ( the scratching or the lung assault) Good luck.

[janetta]

How old is your cat?

I trained mine when she was a kitten to scratch her DIY carpeted scratching pole.
Now she'll meow to get our attention so we'll follow her to watch her scratch it. She always got a treat for doing it, so she knows the drill. lol

If you do end up buying or making a stand up scratching pole, every time your cat scratches the couch etc. carry her to the pole, bring her front paws up with your hands and manually help her paw at it.
Then praise her and give her a treat or two. Repeat and usually they'll get it.

I also used to pray a fine mist (not a harsh stream!) of water at my cat during training. Sometimes I'd clap my hands really loud together and tell her "NO" sternly. She didn't like it and would stop.
Then I'd carry her and do the above. Cat's are smart and totally trainable!

[kellyp]

I have tried the sprays and the scratching posts with no luck. What I have found that worked very well is a product called Soft Paws. They are nail caps for cats. Our cat is 8 years old and has always scratched anything she pleased. The day we bought our leather couch and she went at it I knew that there had to be something on the market that wasn't bad for us or harmful to her.
I purchased mine at Pet Smart I believe the cost is $13-14 dollars but it is money well spent. I also had to buy cat nail clippers. Approximate cost is about $5.00. I just clipped her nails and glued the soft paws on. She has been sporting pretty blue ones since mid January. The package says they will stay on about 6 weeks, one of hers came fell off but the rest are still on almost 3 months later. They don't bother her at all. There are 2 sets in each package. I watched a you tube video on how to clip her nails, I had never attempted it before and had no problems. Hope this helps, good luck.

[Natalka]

I agree with janetta's post - definitely buy or make some sort of scratching post with old carpet on it - the sharp NO, and/or a squirt of water really works - but you have to be consistent and correct that behaviour every time. Cats are smart, and learn relatively quickly.

[nav0413]

How could I stop my cat doing that craziest thing in my couche?

[matrix82]

We adopted our first cat in 2005, we had ratty, torn furniture, stuffing falling out etc, so my husband let the cat claw at the furniture. Flashforward 8 years, we no longer have the ratty furniture, we have ok furniture and three cats. The oldest cat from 2005 rips at the furniture, the other two cats, do not.

We bought them a scratching post house, a little carpeted house which is on three legs (two carpeted on covered in sisko rope) attached to a carpeted platform. Since we got them this house, they do not seem to bother with the furniture as much at all. I also keep my couch and chairs covered in duck cotton covers to keep the fur off the furniture. The house cost around $50-$60. It was well worth it in my option. Since we bought it in the last year I can count on one hand the amount of times he's scratched at the furniture. He instead attacks his house.

[MortgageQueen]

Depending on your cats personality, you can also give him a time out. . .preferably somewhere he doesn't want to be. It's worked great on my cats and stopped many bad behaviors. . .although one of them will still steal food off the counter if he gets the chance. . .he thinks it's worth it! LOL
I think Janetta's idea works well too. If those 2 ideas don't work, kellyp's idea is very good too

[Patty Smyth]

Get a scratching post and drown it in catnip they love that and will claw the heck out of it. I have 3 and they don't claw the furniture.

Always freshen it up every few days to remind them where to claw.

[Zonny]

In my experience, cats scratch furniture. I've tried training them as kittens, given them scratching posts with lots of catnip, squirted them with water when they did it. All they learned was to do it when I wasn't there (just like sitting on the dining room table - they never did it while I was looking, but I remember going to the dining room in the middle of the night, and there's a cat in the middle of it with that 'Oh CRAP, I'm busted! look).

We bought expensive leather furniture a few years back. Our last cats were declawed (senior cats we adopted that way, the family's children were allergic), I'd never do that, and even with back claws, they still managed to scratch the furniture by accident. Now we have no cats, we have a bird who leaves it alone!

[bluerose]

Good luck.