Does anyone have a cat that does not scratch the furniture?

[itmustbewineoclock]

I'm thinking of getting a cat but am slightly put off by the prospect of it scratching everything in sight. Do all cats do this? Is there a way to 'train' a kitten not to do it? Thanks

[rockinhippy]

some do, some don't :)

give them scratch posts or somewhere they can scratchs citronella helps keep them off furnitur as does training them,

my old cats tried when they arrived, but soon stopped, our current one has never bothered at all,

but to be honest, once you get one, you'll be hooked, & you;ll find they bring you so much, you probably won't mind as much as you think anyway :)

[witchinthewindows]

I had two, and they never really bothered in the first house we had, then we moved to somewhere with pine doors and pine table, and they did scratch that, never the carpets though, luckily. The pine table was easy enough to put right.

I agree with the other poster, just get one, or two is better.

[thelittlestkiwi]

Our adopted cat doesn't. But she did accidentally rip the leather seat on my new dining chair. Grr. But she's a cat, she doesn't know it cost me an arm and a leg. WE still love her.

[booyhoo]

and at all these non scratching cats. i have two cats and two cream leather sofas scratching posts.

[1Catherine1]

You can train them where it is acceptable to scratch and where it isn't. You have to make sure you have a decent scratching post though or you are fighting a losing battle. I found to make my eldest happy I needed a tall one as she likes to stretch as scratches but my younger one lies down to scratch.

The positioning of the post is also important in the house. My eldest used to scratch the corner of the banister until I moved the scratching post next to it. She then used the post instead like she was supposed to. My youngest scratches an old sofa that I'm too lazy to throw out but she doesn't scratch the one that I care about because she gets shouted at for doing it.

One thing I can't stop her doing though is running with her claws out. This is a warning if you have wood floors - buy rugs, lots of rugs or your floor will pay with a younger, more active cat. My oldest never runs anywhere but my younger one darts from room to room making a strange squeaky noise as she goes so you don't trip over her. Within a month of moving into a house with wood floors she had put scratch marks all over the floor where she'd obviously used her claws to stop her slipping as she changed direction mid run. Now there are rugs everywhere and problems solved.

[DooinMeCleanin]

I have none scratching as in he does not sharpen his claws on my leather sofa. He does however 'grip' the sofa with his claws if he lands awkardly, leaving little pin prick holes in it.

If you are very house proud I would suggest not getting cat just incase...

[itmustbewineoclock]

Thanks everyone - I've been a cat owner in the distant past and certainly had scratchers then but loved them so much it didn't really matter. I do have cream leather sofas and wooden floors - oh dear. 1catherine - just LOL imagining your cat squeaking as she skids all over your floors .
It would be lovely for DC's to have a pet though......Hmmmmm, Guess I'll have to chill out about the furniture then. And try a scratching post.

[Bearcat]

Our cat had a scratching post (in fact 2) with carpeted platforms on top that my husband made for him when we got him 7 years ago. Never used it, but loved to lie in his side by the bottom stair and scratch the carpet on there. I took to clingfilming the bottom stair with sellotape to hold it on. If it fell off I would give him the benefit of the doubt for a while until he started it again and reclingfilm. He has done it on other stairs but not so bad (and I really can't be bothered to clingfilm all the stairs, besides one of us may do ourselves a grave injury tripping over the clingfilm and falling downstairs!)
He has also scratched our beautiful John Lewis runner rug in our hall, we can always tell when as there are tufts of pulled out wool on it.
His latest scratching post is on the log store in the garden that husband has recently built and we really DON'T mind this at all!

[DilysPrice]

Scratching post (with catnip in) rubbing orange skin over the furniture you really don't want them to scratch, and shouting loudly when you see them approaching prized furniture with their claws out (last two suggestions only need doing for a few weeks until they've got the idea. If you see them about to scratch then you can also pick them up and take them to the scratching post).
I have a prized vintage 3 piece suite so I take this seriously and it does work if you're determined (the carpet on the bottom of the stairs is scratched to hell though, but it's a crappy carpet and I don't really care).

[itmustbewineoclock]

Thanks all - dilys - your suggestions sound good thanks. Bearcat - gosh clingfilm on the steps - very impressed - what ingenuity.