Can cats be trained

[Sparkles29]

Am I being naive to think that cats can be trained not to scratch at furniture & use their scratching post instead?
We have a 12 year old rescue cat arriving on Thursday...!
Planning on covering the sofas with throws & see how he goes!
Any experiences greatly appreciated!

good luck! Could try sticking a bit of catnip on the scratching post. Our rescue boy took about 6 months to start scratching the post but still goes for the carpet etc...

Scratching posts are ornaments. I love your optimism

Ours scratches his post.

He prefers the sofa, carpet, chairs etc. So scratches those more.

I keep any Amazon packaging for our cat. As soon as he looks like he's going to scratch I give him cardboard. He's had several scratching posts but never used them. If he's in the kitchen he'll go for the chair, I normally wag a finger at him and he stops.
He's very well trained at playing fetch, thanks to the kids!

Haribo scratches his post. He also has a sly scratch of the sofa when passing by after scratching it. It's attention seeking mainly for food, being let out, wanting to play.

Mine use their post. Cheddar occasionally uses the carpet, but rarely. Magic has just started being naughty and scratches the sofa (while looking me in the eye) before she jumps on.
They absolutely shredded my old fabric sofa. But have been ok with leather

Ours only ever scratches the doormats, or the big tree at the back of the garden. We got rid of the scratching posts eventually because I kept falling over them. Not for scratching, but I “trained” her not to do other things (kitchen counters for example) with the same sharp “ah ah” that I used to train my dog. Similarly I trained her to sit like a dog, with Dreamies!

We got some brilliant stuff from the vet to put on scratching posts. DCat loves it and throws himself at it. I'm afraid I can't recall its name though.

The sofas survive longer if they have throws over them, and the cats aren’t allowed in the same room as the sofas unsupervised.
Current cat only rarely scratches the sofas because the above measures, she does sit on the sofas sometimes, she favours the pushchair but only when it’s empty.
Current cat likes to scratch on the carpet and the tree outside.

Thanks for all the advice!!
Gulp....off to gather up all the throws

@Lickofpink

We got some brilliant stuff from the vet to put on scratching posts. DCat loves it and throws himself at it. I'm afraid I can't recall its name though.

I'll call them...! Thanks

We have 2 posts plus a scratch mat which they love. I read you're supposed to put one wherever they start scratching something they shouldn't and encourage them to use it.

This led to a very strange afternoon of me scratching the new post to encourage them to use it while the cats looked at me as if I'd gone mad.

The mat was £10 off Amazon and came with a bag of catnip. Mat is great, catnip was a very bad idea, all 4 cats went loopy, running round the house screeching and trashing various rooms.

Good luck!

@Finfintytint

Scratching posts are ornaments. I love your optimism

Mine likes the flat cardboard type scratching boxes
He's never scratched any of my furniture

@CornedBeef451 Thank you for making me laugh tonight! The mental image of you frantically scratching the post!

I had to get a new dining room table as black cat had taken to using one of the legs as a scratching post (it was 3 feet from his actual scratching post) he’s scratching the wallpaper in revenge.

I’m looking at new sofas just now (why I have no idea) I’m going to wrap them in tin foil

Mine mostly use the scratching posts on their tree, and have luckily avoided the furniture to date. However Boycat has a "thing" about wallpaper, so a couple of walls in my living room plus some corner bits in the hallways (e.g. top & bottom of the staircase) have been shredded. Painted wall will be the way to go in the future I think!

Mine ignore their scratching posts in favour of rugs, the carpet, my sofa and door frames

We've stapled carpet over the arms and sides of the sofa to prevent damage though.

Would pallet wrap, round and round the sofa stop the scratching?