How to discourage cats scratching furniture

[carbuckety]

We have three cats. We moved house with two of them over a year ago. These two cats obviously were stressed by the move and one of them still exhibits some stress signs, like paddling me ( never used to do that) so much that many of my tops now have holes in them. Also he and to a lesser extent the other one has started to scratch furniture, table legs, sofas, a new leather chair has been destroyed as has a mirror that leans against a wall. He never used to do this. Apart from this behaviour they seem very happy and settled and like the garden and house.. Always very cuddly. But the scratching is driving DH mad and he shouts and shoves them away. Have installed feliway units and give tons extra cuddles etc but as we want to buy a new sofa I'd like to stop this. They have scratching posts and toys and loads of places to climb ( we are in rural setting). I've had loads of cats in my time but never ever had a cat do this! Any ideas? I don't want to punish, just discourage.

Bump

I've heard citrus scents are not liked by cats, can you spray the furniture? Also they don't like sticky surfaces, you could temporarily put double sided sticky tape on the surfaces to discourage them?

Wrapping table legs in sellotape stopped mine from shredding them. Not elegant, but effective!

You can buy sticky strips online, much like the cello tape idea. They are double sided and transparent. You couldn't see them on my leather couch, until I peeled them off and all the sticky residue gathered dirt and dust!

Think I bought them on amazon, they are marketed for cat owners but can't remember what they are called. Sorry

Double sided sticky tape!
They hate the sensation of their paws sticking to the tape so it helps to discourage them from trying again in future!

Thank you for the replies. I will google sticky strips for cats and see hat I come up with. This sounds like a kind way to discourage them!

I have a 5 year indoor cat who is an absolute demon for scratching. But thankfully,not the furniture. When she arrived,we had a few boxes with flat-pack self assembly furniture around the place,and she took to scratching at these boxes. When we took the furniture our to assemble,we put the boxes back,weighed down with brick inside each one,so it didn't tip over,and she carried on happily scratching at them. When they became totally shredded,we replaced them with new ones from appliances that we'd bought,and saved the boxes especially for. So far,it seems to prevented her clawing the furniture (or wallpaper,as my late DM's cats used to). I do need to sweep or pick up bits of shredded cardboard every day though,but I think this is preferable to a shredded sofa! Incidentally,we DID buy her a scratching post to start with,but she expressed zero interest in it. The only commercially available 'scratchers' she will use are the ones that are made of pleated cardboard,and lay flat on the floor. We got one of these and placed it alongside the chest freezer to hold it in one place,and she soon got the knack of sitting on it to scratch,with one back leg on the floor to steady herself!