How do I stop my cat from destroying (clawing) my furniture?
Monday, October 24th, 2011 at
8:20 pm
What’s the best way to stop my cat from clawing the furniture. I’ve tried squirting him with water 200,000 times and all I seem to get out of it is a wet cat. I know I could do more brutal things, but amazing as it is I have a cat because I like him (but I like my furniture too).
Filed under: Cat Furniture
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Animals respond really well when you get them to "choose" the behavior that you want. My cats (I have 3) have stopped clawing the couch since I started using sticky pads. Sticky pads are like double-sided scotch tape and cats avoid it because it sticks to their paws and pulls their hair.
Clean up the couch first by removing any strings hanging where they’ve shredded the couch. Then attach the sticky paws to the furniture (upholstered chairs too). Next be sure that they have an "acceptable" place to claw since this is a natural activity for them. They need a good scratching post and/or a cat tree. You can find some more info and cat scratching posts on: http://thecatsupplystore.com/
I have the same problem with my new cat. Other than de-clawing him, which is illegal in my county, I have not found any solutions (have tried toys, scratchers, posts, cat trees, taping cardboard to the couch, ‘cat off’ spray, etc)
However, some people have success with rubbing or spraying orange oil on their furniture- apparently some cats don’t like the smell of citrus. There’s a good cheap brand of 100% orange oil spray called ‘Citrus Magic’.
While it didn’t deter my cat, it works for many other people’s cats, and at only $5, its worth a try at least.
Double sided tape on the area he/she scratches.
Cat tree, scratching posts, and those little play toys with a cardboard insert in the middle and a ball on the outside may help. Also they make a spray that cats do not like.
You can get a cat "repellent" if you call it that. I would get it at pet sart or some place like that. p.s. it does work I used it on my cat you just spray it on the thing you dont want him or her to scratch and for some reason they don’t like it.