Cat scratching furniture

[tillytoodles1]

My cat has absolutely ruined the arm and front part of my sofa and it looks a right mess. I've tried throws, but they fall off and always look messy. I'm looking to buy a new sofa but don't knowcwhat to do. Any ideas?

Do the cats have anywhere else to scratch?

Mine have a variety of posts, a tower (well they like the tower but don't scratch it) and one of those corrugated cardboard things (which one is obsessed with and the other ignores).

That and telling them off every single time they go for the sofa and our furniture is more or less intact.

She's had a scratching post and a corrugated board, both ignored. Occasionally she scratches the doorframe, but her favourite is the sofa.

@tillytoodles1 could you get a spray bottle and zap her with water??? Sometimes the noise of the spray is enough to put them off. Also you can get anti scratch pads that sticks to the furniture. Yes I have cats and I know how destructive they can be. ..but still love em

I sprayed ours with Impulse body spray. Dcat hated that!!

The cats will most likely scratch any new sofa aswell, unless you protect it with throws etc…

Its just what cats do

Spray bottle of water, try to hide that it's you controlling the trigger though. You only need to squirt them once, after that just show them the bottle and they'll scamper.

Thanks everyone, got a few ideas to try.

I gave up, and just live with awful looking sofas.

This. Unfortunately my cat scratches the carpet constantly. I need to get the spray bottle out. I can’t leave her on her own in the house as she would rip the carpet to shreds.

It's normal cat behaviour - they have to scratch to wear their claws down so that they can walk, balance and climb properly.

Please don't spray your cat with water - it's unkind and could lead to other issues like anxiety and stress, which will lead to even more undesirable behaviours like inappropriate peeing, or aggression.

Does your cat go outside and have the ability to explore and wear her claws down naturally?

We bought wicker (conservatory) furniture for our living room. It has been surprisingly cat proof for the last 25 years or so.

I just didn’t buy a new sofa.

We’ve recently replaced our destroyed sofa and armchair with velvet ones. He tried scratching a couple of times but lost interest when he couldn’t get a good grip and so has moved on to his scratching post at last! It does attract more cat hair and so we’ve also bought a mini cordless hoover and lint remover so it’s fine, I’ll take the cat hair over the shredded sofa any day!

Once they’ve scratched it’s too late but when you get a new sofa spray it liberally with diluted lavender essential oil especially in the areas they like to scratch. But new scratch posts and spray with cat nip. Put one near the sofa and maybe one by the door. You can also buy sticky plastic training sheets that you attach to the sofa to stop them scratching.

I found putting a scratching post in the way of the bit of the sofa they like to scratch has been quite effective. Move the scratching boards to where the cats have got in the habit of scratching so you can redirect them. Put catnip spray on scratching posts to make them attractive.

I have also found covering up scratched areas with tin foil temporarily can break the habit

I have found these type of Scratching posts to be effective. Worth looking at if only for the bad photoshop of a cat using it 😀

You can get a roll of sticky back plastic specifically for stopping cats scratching sofas off of Amazon. It's worked really well for us, ours doesn't scratch it now.