What can I do to stop my new 1 year-old cat from clawing my furniture? I already have a carpet stand that I bought from PetSmart but she just ignores it and goes straight for my chairs and sofa!! Help. Is there anything I can do to stop this habbit? Two of the chairs she goes for all the time were my grandad's and they mean a lot to me, they have the original 1950's material and I don't want them to be ruined.

1. Rub catnip all over the pet furniture. Take her to it and let her smell the 'nip. If she scratches on that instead of your good furniture, give her a treat as a positive reward. Reward her every time she chooses the right thing to scratch on.

2. Soft Paws. (http://www.softpaws.com/faqs.html)

3. Squirt water on her whenever she goes for grandad's furniture.

Clipping nails once every couple of weeks. Putting tinfoil down on her favourite scratching spots will discourage her too. Catnip on the scratching post, as mentioned.

double stick tape anywhere she tends to scratch can also help. Make sure her scratching post is large enough too, she needs to be able to extend her full body length and stretch or she'll never bother to use it. You might also try different textures, etc.

We have applied Sticky Paws (doublesided tape stuff) to all the pieces that potentially could be scratched and we put a cheap cover on the sofa. We have a catnip treated scratching post which they both seem to like, and we are using squirt bottle training sparingly. I have to use it more to keep Cotton from chewing wires than I do for scratching. Softpaws are also a great idea.

You could always get your cat declawed, if you do not morally object to it.

Felt a knot in my stomach when I got to that last post. Declawing a cat just because it's scratching furniture? :(

There are so many other options to try before cutting off their fingers. Not to mention that declawing a cat often brings out even more behavior problems (aside from the obvious pain and awkwardness of having their fingers cut off at the knuckle).

The Soft Paws I mentioned in my previous post were invented as an alternative to declawing.

You could always get your cat declawed, if you do not morally object to it.

:no:

would you like a part of your fingers cut off?

I think there was a thread somewhere recently about declawing. It is illegal in many countries. And hopefully one day will be illegal all over the world.

In my experience (which is limited obviously), there is nothing one can do about a cat who scratches furniture.

Thank you for all of these wonderful suggestions, this is my first cat and I have a bit to learn.
A BIg Thank you :-)

I personally know a vet (my boyfriend's Dad) and he does declawing, obviously. Our cats are both declawed, and it didn't seem to do damage at all to them. They bounced back in about one full day after the surgery. I've heard so many bad things about it, but never seen anything personally that was bad.
I just don't understand it, to tell the truth. My boyfriend has assisted with the surgeries and has assured me there is no bleeding, they just pull the claw out. No finger lost. Maybe I need to suit up and watch a surgery so that I will understand?

So does soft paws work 100%? --when they are used what exactly do they do? --what happens when the cat scratches furniture, is there still damage but less? this just seems strange to me :-/

I personally know a vet (my boyfriend's Dad) and he does declawing, obviously. Our cats are both declawed, and it didn't seem to do damage at all to them. They bounced back in about one full day after the surgery. I've heard so many bad things about it, but never seen anything personally that was bad.
I just don't understand it, to tell the truth. My boyfriend has assisted with the surgeries and has assured me there is no bleeding, they just pull the claw out. No finger lost. Maybe I need to suit up and watch a surgery so that I will understand?

My anatomy class has several full skeletons of cats set up for us to study. It's VERY obvious that the declawed skeletons are missing a piece of their digits.

There is bleeding in most surgeries, though they reduce it by using glue or lasers to suture the wounds, and declawing is definately a 'real' surgery. It's also very painful for kitties (requires medication just as if you had your fingers cut off and would require meds to keep from freaking out b/c of the pain--a cat w/out meds might not meow in pain like a human would cry, but that's just the nature of animals--often times they suffer silently. But they're still suffering).

I personally know a vet (my boyfriend's Dad) and he does declawing, obviously. Our cats are both declawed, and it didn't seem to do damage at all to them. They bounced back in about one full day after the surgery. I've heard so many bad things about it, but never seen anything personally that was bad.
I just don't understand it, to tell the truth. My boyfriend has assisted with the surgeries and has assured me there is no bleeding, they just pull the claw out. No finger lost. Maybe I need to suit up and watch a surgery so that I will understand?

I have personally known several cats who underwent drastic personality changes for the worst ( becoming fearful and hiding constantly) after declaw surgery, and they never bounced back, even though its been 5 years. I also have a friend who adopted a pedigreed hairless cat that was given up because after her declaw surgery she became afraid of the litter box, and started biting.

If you have a cat then guess what? They have claws! If you can't deal with that then get a pet without claws. I agree with kpickell, declawing for something as simple as scratching furniture, especially as a first solution is disgusting and I can't wait for it to become illegal world wide.

So does soft paws work 100%? --when they are used what exactly do they do? --what happens when the cat scratches furniture, is there still damage but less? this just seems strange to me :-/

Unless the weave of the fabric is really really loose I don't think they could damage the furniture.
Also, my boyfriend just got a floor to ceiling scratching post with two perches for $35 at walmart and his cat LOVES it! Hes spent the past week going up and down pretty much 24/7 and hes having way too much fun with it to destroy the furniture.

I personally know a vet (my boyfriend's Dad) and he does declawing, obviously. Our cats are both declawed, and it didn't seem to do damage at all to them. They bounced back in about one full day after the surgery. I've heard so many bad things about it, but never seen anything personally that was bad.
I just don't understand it, to tell the truth. My boyfriend has assisted with the surgeries and has assured me there is no bleeding, they just pull the claw out. No finger lost. Maybe I need to suit up and watch a surgery so that I will understand?

There are a lot of websites out there which explain why declawing is cruel and why it is illegal in quite number of countries. Here is a website which explains exactly what a cat claw is (it is not like a human nail as you will see). The word "declawing" is actually a politically correct term for "amputation".

http://maxshouse.com/Truth%20About%20Declawing.htm

Some more websites:

http://cats.about.com/cs/declawing/a/declawing.htm

http://community-2.webtv.net/zuzu22/STOPDECLAWCOM/

And here is a list of countries where declawing is illegal or considered extremely inhumane and only done in extreme circumstances. The list will grow hopefully (I think this list may be a bit of of date and actually there should be a few countries added to it already):

http://www.declawing.com/htmls/outlawed.htm

i dunno what your bf is telling you but they don't just pull the claw out, it would grow back. they sever the toe at the first kunckle

long term affects include leg, hip and back problems, the clawing action is more to stretch joints and muscles than to sharpen their claws.

plus if kitty gets outside and gets into a fight with another animal or runs into an abusive human, they have no self defense.

declawing is cruel. period.



anywho pick up some bitter apple spray from a pet food store, it's sold as a chewing deterrant for puppies/dogs but my cat developed a taste for electrical wires so i picked some up and he haaaates the smell of this stuff. he'll avoid the area i spray. it's nontoxic colourless and odourless to humans, safe for fabric etc. i spray it on all the wires in the house and he hasn't chewed through any since. i imagine it also would keep them from scratching. even if they did scratch the sprayed area, they'd probably only do it once or twice cause the smell/taste would rub off onto their paws, they'd later lick it and hooboy.

my boy hates it so much that when he gets somewhere he's not allowed, on furniture etc, or starts eyeing/pawing at a wire like he might chew, i just show him the bottle and he runs, hides under a table, and gives me dirty looks :p

We've unfortunately seen several cats turned into our shelters because of behavior problems (usually no longer using litter box) that occured as a result of declawing.

If you must declaw, use laser surgery, it's quicker and recovery is easier. Either way, they definetely do have to cut each finger to prevent the claw frow growing back.

Soft paws do work great, except that some cats will chew them off, and they only last a month or two then you have to reapply them. If you can learn to apply them yourself, it'll save a lot of time and money.

My anatomy class has several full skeletons of cats set up for us to study. It's VERY obvious that the declawed skeletons are missing a piece of their digits.

There is bleeding in most surgeries, though they reduce it by using glue or lasers to suture the wounds, and declawing is definately a 'real' surgery. It's also very painful for kitties (requires medication just as if you had your fingers cut off and would require meds to keep from freaking out b/c of the pain--a cat w/out meds might not meow in pain like a human would cry, but that's just the nature of animals--often times they suffer silently. But they're still suffering).

Cats are so strong and proud. They often don't make their suffering known. That's why it's important to be in touch with your cat all the time, to know when something's wrong that they're not telling you about. It definitely causes cats pain...

I won't bother educating rainbowmoon on what declawing is since others have already done so...

Good tips!


anywho pick up some bitter apple spray from a pet food store, it's sold as a chewing deterrant for puppies/dogs but my cat developed a taste for electrical wires so i picked some up and he haaaates the smell of this stuff. he'll avoid the area i spray. it's nontoxic colourless and odourless to humans, safe for fabric etc. i spray it on all the wires in the house and he hasn't chewed through any since. i imagine it also would keep them from scratching. even if they did scratch the sprayed area, they'd probably only do it once or twice cause the smell/taste would rub off onto their paws, they'd later lick it and hooboy.

my boy hates it so much that when he gets somewhere he's not allowed, on furniture etc, or starts eyeing/pawing at a wire like he might chew, i just show him the bottle and he runs, hides under a table, and gives me dirty looks :p

Yeah, they sell it at petsmart, and knock off brands at wal-mart and k-mart.
I used it to stop my dog from chewing... never thought to try it with my cats for scratching. hmm.

FWIW, I would never consider de-clawing.

Someone mentioned using a water spray bottle a while back but the thought of that seemed kind of mean. --BUT-- using a spray bottle is much better than de-clawing.

I am definitely going to rub our carpet-stand with catnip and I’m going to keep sheets on top of my nice chairs for a while.

I also LoVe the idea of using sticky tape on the arms of the chairs and sofa -{{brilliant.}}

Thanks again for all these great ideas! :-D

I just have to "plug" my new recue cat. She is a rescue cat and she is so darn sweet!!

I have never even liked cats, the ones I've met in the past always bit and scratched me, but this one is SOOOO gentle. She loves to cuddle with me and even licks me like a dog would!! She loves my dog too, she licks him all the time too.

I just have to "plug" my new recue cat. She is a rescue cat and she is so darn sweet!!

I have never even liked cats, the ones I've met in the past always bit and scratched me, but this one is SOOOO gentle. She loves to cuddle with me and even licks me like a dog would!! She loves my dog too, she licks him all the time too.

sounds like a cutie.

i just got a "rescue" cat too. he's my new sweetie.
:smitten: