How to stop a cat from scratching furniture!!
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free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:34 am

In relation to the explosions in London this morning this seems silly Sad

but I figured I would post what I intended to when I logged on.

We bought a beautiful Natuzzi microfibre couch last week, it was $1600 regular but I got it for a total of $1200 with tax, on sale plus gst off!

We are replacing a cotton Bauhouse sp? We've had it for 14 years Shock

. It's white and blue striped and a pain to clean, ugh, I've wanted to get rid of it for many years now. My little cat has trashed it by sharpening her claws. We lost both our old males in the last 1.5 years but when we had them, neither would go near the couch to sharpen their claws, they always used their scratching post. But our little one, Basil aka The Witch, has always done this. We scold her and she gets all squirrely, it's a game with her, crazy cat.

She kept away from the new couch for a few days, I wondered if because it was not a natural fabric she may not want to scratch it, wishful thinking on my part. This is the reason I didn't go for leather. This morning though hubby caught her with her claw in the arm.

She's 9 years old so she's no kitten and I'm sure this habit will be hard to break. Short of declawing which I could never do, is there any way to deter her?? I've seen those little caps you put on claws, has anyone used those? Any spray type stuff that has worked? I'm going to the pet store to see what they have today. Thanks!

free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:42 am

My cat does this. I've tried a spray from a pet shop, orange peel, lemon essential oil and other things. Very difficult to get them to stop once they've got into the habit of it. I have a toy water pistol that I keep handy and whenever she starts to go for the furniture I squirt her with it. I don't think it stops her from doing it whenever she's alone in the house but she knows not to do it when I'm in the room as she knows that she'll get soaked.
Still, I don't think she does it when she's left alone. She usually does it to get attention and of course she succeeds. Very Happy

free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:47 am

Thanks, Toe. That's the thing, she never does it when we are in the room with her! Too smart for me I guess. I've even tried giving her treats on the rare times she uses the scratching post.

free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 8:02 am

Toe we have exactly the same problem, we got a leather suit last year on the recomendation that cats don't like leather Rolling Eyes

How wrong was that.
Josie goes to scratch it for the attention, we too tried sprays from the pet shop (no good) and water pistol (this worked initially, but then she would fly upstairs and attack the beds, now she is immune to water!!!). She eventually calmed down and we fuss her so much when she is in the lounge, also I (god knows how) managed to train her only go on the sofa if there is a cushion there for her to sit on, it is somehow beneath her to sit on the sofa with no cushion
Laughing

It started off by me putting it on my knee before she sat on me as she likes to dig her claws into my legs.
Try spraying perfume near the area, our cat hates strong smells.

free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:46 am

Perhaps you could try mixing a little white vinegar with water in a spray bottle?

free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:48 am

ooooh, good ideas, thank you!!! Smile

free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:58 am

I've seen those caps before...but don't know anyone who has tried them. They're not that expensive from what I remember so maybe give them a shot?

free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:32 am

Lolli wrote:

I've seen those little caps you put on claws, has anyone used those?

I've never seen these things before. Just checked out the Soft Paws website. The photo gallery is hilarious. The cats look like they are wearing nail polish. Laughing

Don't know enough about this product to tell if it has any negative effects on the cat (and I really hope for the sake of the puss-cats that it doesn't) but if it stops the practice of declawing then I'm all for it. Smile

free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:40 am

Toe wrote:

I've never seen these things before. Just checked out the Soft Paws website. The photo gallery is hilarious. The cats look like they are wearing nail polish. Laughing

Don't know enough about this product to tell if it has any negative effects on the cat (and I really hope for the sake of the puss-cats that it doesn't) but if it stops the practice of declawing then I'm all for it. Smile

lol! I'm off to look. I'm sure she would absolutely hate it, getting them on her would almost impossible, the vet would probably have to do it. She is The Witch after all, very mean, I'm sure she would try to scratch my eyes out even with little fake nails on. Laughing

free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:41 am

http://www.catwebcam.com/photos/softpaws/pages/LO_2427.htm

Ah, so cute! The person who owns this kitty said he forgot about them in 15 mins, hmmmm...

free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:51 am

Hi Lolli,

I'm a vet tech and have put those caps on many cats over the years. There are no negative effects for puss. It is totally painless ofcourse to have them put on, it's just like us getting fake nails. They are simply glued on. It bothers them for a bit but they adjust quickly. They do work, but they fall off quite often and then you have to keep putting them back on again which is a pain. It's a good option short of declawing them.

Spray bottles are also good as mentioned but yes you have to catch them in the act.

Another suggestion is to put double sided tape on the area of the couch she likes to scratch. Cats hate sticky things touching their feet. Your couch will look ridiculous for awhile but it can sometimes really work. Once they get used to knowing they will get some sticky tape stuck to their foot if they do it they usually give up.

I once had a canary and my cat kept jumping up on the shelf below it's cage. So I put loops of scotch tape on the shelf. Well she jumped up once, got a piece of tape stuck to her foot, went ballistic, jumping all over the place (the entainment factor was worth it alone)and never tried it again.

Worth a try anyways!
Good luck
Dianne

free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 3:06 pm

Dianne

classic

free skin care · Thu Jul 07, 2005 5:45 pm

I have a set of those nail tips for Kitty. I'm not going to put them on until I redo the teak decks on the main level. She loves to run full speed at that section of wood floor and then skitter around trying to get traction. It has a lot of scratches in it. I have the deck sanded but I haven't decided what product I'm going to use on it yet. She also loves to scratch furniture but when the owners aren't here we keep everything covered in white sheets. I have used tape and she hates it but she is very clever and when we took the tape away she was back to that spot. Tim once stuck a tiny bit of blue masking tape on her tail and she ran all through the boat with the tape chasing her. I know I won't have any trouble putting the nail caps on, she is so submissive, I can clip her nails, brush her teeth, clean her ears. She's my little doll-baby. I wish I could teach her not to shed so much.

free skin care · Fri Jul 08, 2005 2:07 am

I used to have that problem with Gucci. He is the best wallpaper stripper in England. He was that bad we have had to have all the rooms skimmed and they are now just painted!...

I got a plug in called feliway from my vet, and also the spray. You spray the furniture or walls that the cat is scratching and it is repulsive to them. Also the plug in makes the cats calm and serene....Its worked for Gucci and he was seriously bad! Bad Grin

free skin care · Fri Jul 08, 2005 4:08 am

Okay, here comes one of my infamous “home remedies,” but we have always had cats in my family so we experienced this problem more than once during my lifetime. What my mom learned to do was splash a tiny bit of ammonia on the area of the furniture where the cat/s liked to scratch. Cats HATE the smell of ammonia (why do you think they get pissed off when their litterbox hasn’t been changed in a while??) so they avoid the areas with that smell.

One disclaimer: ammonia can causing fading on some material, so do a patch test on an out-of-the-way portion of your couch (perhaps on the bottom-side of a seat cushion) to make sure the ammonia won’t react and ruin the fabric of your sofa.

The other thing is along the lines of what Toe suggested (spraying kitty with a squirt gun): mix 1-2 drops of ammonia with water in a squirt gun or squirt/spray bottle and whenever your cat gets anywhere near your sofa, or beguns to “assume the position,” you point and squirt kitty in the face. Again, they hate the smell of ammonia, so it only takes a couple times of getting sprayed in the face and from then on, all you have to go is say, “No!” and point the gun/bottle at kitty and kitty has got the message!

free skin care · Fri Jul 08, 2005 4:16 am

Lolli,
My mom uses those Soft Paws tips on her cats. She gets them in all cute colors so it looks like the cats nails are painted! Laughing

They do work.

free skin care · Fri Jul 08, 2005 4:53 am

Carrie,

You should never spray a cat in the face with a water pistol. My vet told me its ok to spray the cat on the body but never in the face and especially not with ammonia mixed in..

We have a water pistol for Gucci, but he loves water. Also another method my vet told me is to put coins in a glass jar and shake it at the cat whenever it scratches, the cat should run away. Also silver foil taped to the furniture, cats hate the feel of it!

free skin care · Fri Jul 08, 2005 12:29 pm

I agree with not spraying ammonia in a cat's face -- it might cause blindness or have some other unhealthy effect, just not worth it.

My cat happens to HATE the sound of crinkling plastic bags and the vacuum cleaner, so you might want to give these a try too.

How about a sofa cover and some double stick tape? Maybe if you left this contraption on long enough the cat will get used to not wanting to be around the sofa.

free skin care · Fri Jul 08, 2005 5:27 pm

Thanks everyone! I wasn't able to read/reply at all in the last 30 hours or so. Our ISP decided to upgrade some equiptment with no warning!

I think those little fake nails would work but she would need to be sedated, I'm sure. I'm really glad to hear the fake nails aren't painful for the cat if all else fails, we will try them. I would spray her if I could catch her. No ammonia though, this couch is too beautiful to risk fading it not to mention my cat would most likely lick herself clean and I don't want her eating ammonia, plus I worry I would spray her in the eyes, I'm not a good aim! She hasn't scratched it in my presence, if she even gets within 2 feet of it, I scoot her away. Laughing

Poor thing though doesn't understand.

The tape idea is a really good one, I bet she would hate that! I could stick some on before bed at night because it's usually at night she does it.

free skin care · Fri Jul 08, 2005 7:37 pm

You could also tape some small blown up balloons on the couch. The next time she scrathes it & hears a "pop", she will never go back to it.

free skin care · Sat Jul 09, 2005 7:50 pm

Gucci wrote:

I used to have that problem with Gucci. He is the best wallpaper stripper in England. He was that bad we have had to have all the rooms skimmed and they are now just painted!...

I got a plug in called feliway from my vet, and also the spray. You spray the furniture or walls that the cat is scratching and it is repulsive to them. Also the plug in makes the cats calm and serene....Its worked for Gucci and he was seriously bad! Bad Grin

Ok, Gucci, what's a 'plug'? I'm going to look for a spray too, I was wondering what I could use to spray that would be repulsive to her but not hurt the couch. She scratched today and I sprayed her with water, hope it works. I caught her and clipped her nails, I'm completely amazed she let me.

free skin care · Sat Jul 09, 2005 9:29 pm

Cats hate the smell of orange. You could mix some orange essential oil in a water bottle & use that. Just make sure you shake it up well each time before you spray! Wink

free skin care · Sat Jul 09, 2005 9:47 pm

Thank you, Darren! Smile

Do you think the orange would stain or damage the couch? I have aluminum foil stretched out on it right now, it looks pretty funny. I realise now that scolding her when she scratched the other couch just scared her but it didn't solve the problem, she just learned to do it when we are not in the room. I'm also going to get her a rope scratching post tomorrow. She has a carpet one but we probably need more than one anyway.

free skin care · Sat Jul 09, 2005 10:01 pm

My cat refuses to use rope or carpet scratching posts. The only ones she will use are the cardboard ones. They come with catnip to rub on them to make them more appealling -- she absolutely loves them!

free skin care · Sun Jul 10, 2005 6:17 am

Since we were leaving Kitty in the care of her new "Uncle" David, I thought I'd better put the nail caps on her in case she gets into the main salon unsupervised. She let me put them on but afterward was really put out. She tried desperately to pull them off with her teeth but couldn't. Tim was really disgusted, he thought I was torturing her because I thought they looked cute. Within a few hours she gave up and was back to business as usual including using her scratch mats. She loves these:

They are sisal infused with catnip.
My biggest fear has been that she will put claws into the 2 original oil paintings on the boat. She can reach them because they both have ledges under them that I've seen her up on. Now I can relax on our vacation knowing that even if she decides she needs to trash something all she can do is rub at it with her soft pink rubber toes!

We'e had the sofas covered with sheets for over a year, only uncovering them when the owners are here. When the sheets are on she leaves them alone but as soon as we remove them she sees that tapestry fabric and just has to scratch it. I don't think we ever train them, they train us eventually.

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