How do you stop your cat from scratching the furniture?

Question

My cat scratches the furniture all teh time ive tried getting him a scratching post and i even sprinkled it with cat nip but it doesent seem to help

Answer 1

As Seana has already said, cats have their likes and dislikes just as humans do. Some textures seem to be more comfortable for them than others. Also the height of the scratching post may be a factor. When I train cats for rehoming, I usually use cardboard boxes flattened out or a couple of rubber tiles linked together (like the ones you often see with the alphabet on it). They are cheap and can be placed in different rooms so that when the cat gets the urge, there is always one handy.
Your cat seems to require retraining before you let him run around all over the house. Put him in a small room with his potty, scratching post or pads, food, water and toys. The bathroom will work fine. Leave him there for a day. Be sure to visit him frequently and praise him if he's doing things right. If not show him ( cats do understand gestures.) Once he has demonstrated good behavior in the bathroom you can let him have more space, for example the kitchen. Again, give him a lot of attention and praise when he scratches on his post. In the meantime, get a strong smelling furniture cleaner and polish all the furniture he has touched. I would keep him in the kitchen for a couple of days. When he seems comfortable with his scratch pads, then you can let him into the other rooms. As I mentioned before, be sure to have these pads in every room. It may seem a little messy but well worth it.
If the cat reaches for the furniture, catch him immediately and put him on the pad and mimic scratching. He'll get the point.
I would also suggest getting ordinary nail clippers and clipping the sharp tip of his claws about every ten days. If you need help, ask the vet to do it. Good luck.
Please do not declaw as some have suggested because it is like amputating the fingers at the first joint. The practice is illegal in many parts of the world because it is considered cruel and inhumane.
http://declaw.lisaviolet.com/declawpics.html

Answer 2

Nothing seems to work for me either. I've tried sticky tape, pads from the pet store, foil, spraying the cat with water, shaking a can of pennies, clipping their nails scratching posts, etc. I also bought these things called soft claws, which worked for my friend, but my cat wouldn't sit still long enough and got mad when I tried to glue them on. I don't want to declaw, and right now my furniture is trashed, which kind of sucks, but I love my cats more. I'm still in college and live in an apt., but once I get a nicer place and new furniture I'm going to try to fix the problem again.

Answer 3

It sounds mean, but when my cats used to scratch furniture or the carpet, I would squirt them with a little spray bottle full of water. They would stop instantly. Now, if they ever start to scratch, all I have to do is shake the spray bottle and they stop. I also set the bottle in front of certain areas that they like to scratch. There's also lots of products available to help scratching-- one is called sticky paws. It's basically a sticky tape you put on your furniture that cats don't like. I've never tried it because the spray bottle trick works well for me. If the scratching is really horrible, they also sell little plastic/rubber covers to put on your cats claws (again, I haven't tried this, but it seems like a slightly more humane option than declawing). Good luck!

Answer 4

I clip our cat's nails weekly and sternly say no if someone even looks like they will scratch the couch, but once we got new furniture they stopped scratching the sofa. Seems like if they smell another animal on the furniture they have more of a tendency to scratch it.

Answer 5

Never. Never declaw your pets. It is cruel and unnecessary. Cats tend to have a preferance of material to scratch. Some like the bark of a tree, some like carpets, leather, fabric, rope etc. Your cat may just prefer the material from the sofa. Usually I tell kitten owners to see when they kittens start scratching before they go out and get a scratch post of similar material. Wrap your scratch post with a material to your sofa and bring your cat to it. A suitable sized scratch post may also help. Cats tend to like to scrath when they can get a good stretch as well. Hope it works.

Answer 6

Spray the cat with water and firmly say no when you cat him scratching the furniture. Spraying water is temporary, and is not harmful to the cat, unlike declawing. This is called "punishment", according to Operant Conditioning, where "a particular behavior is weakened by the consequence of experiencing a negative condition".

Read more about conditioning at this website:

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/nru/opcond.html

Answer 7

Just as with a child, consistency. Squirt your cat with a spray bottle every time you see him about to or in the act of scratching, then pick him up and move him to his scratching post.

Answer 8

OH MY GOD!! ARE ALL YOU PEOPLE IGNORANT? DON'T SPRAY YOUR CAT WITH WATER!!! And don't declaw your pet either. It hurts them and is unnecessary surgery. They don't even understand that type of punishment. It is just CRUEL! CATS HAVE TO SHARPEN AND GROOM THEIR CLAWS!! THEY AREN'T DOING IT TO BE VICIOUS! What you need to do is first look at the furniture that they are scratching and then look at the scratching posts. Cats like to scratch up high. If you just have smaller ones I noticed that my cats don't use them because they are easy to knock over and they aren't high enough. You need to also look at the type of material the like to scratch on. My cats hate Sisal, but they LOVE Cardboard. Try some of these
Kitty Hoots Big Mama's Scratchy Box
http://www.petco.com/Shop/petco_Product_R_67_PC_productlist_Nav_208_N_23+146_sku_416223_familyID_14654.aspx
Then you can try some of these http://www.petco.com/Shop/petco_Product_R_2547_PC_productlist_Nav_208_N_23+146_sku_677540_familyID_5840.aspx
or just put double sided tape on the places where they are scratching. If all else fails, just put a big cardboard box in the room and my cats love to scratch and play in these so much that I bought them a cute cat box for Christmas. Here is that link http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15265&rel=1

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't listen to the people that say spray your cat with water! Cats HAVE to scratch! PERIOD! If you don't find something for them that htey like, they will find something themselves and you might not be happy with their choice. The tape works and as for the scratchers, you just need to keep trying. Cardboard boxes are cheap and always please my cats and those links I sent you are all product that I use and have in my own living room. Good luck!

All the rest of you should look at this link http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=edu_kids

Answer 9

Spray the furniture with lemon juice

Answer 10

you can declaw it
you can put double sided sticky cat scraching tape on the furniture.

for the post
cats hate post beacause the material is to tight. go out and by some material about the same as the cat and loosly satple it over the cat post