HELP! Cat scratching new sofa !!!!

daphne_descends

Good luck Muppet. Ours are only young - it must be so much harder to try and teach an older cat, when they're not the most receptive of creatures anyway! You could also try an aversion technique - shaking a newspaper or spraying your cat with a little bit of water whenever she scratches there - she shouldn't associate these things with you, but they might make her wary of what she is doing and stop - I think with cats it's always a case of trial and error, error, error before success!

sharon_currie

Just to say that you can buy Feliway or pet behave from ebay much cheaper than from the shops or vets. The Feliway comes in a spray or plug in.

dmg24

stebiz wrote: »

I'm ready to be shouted at - but here it goes.

We had the same problem a few months ago. The cat which we had looked after for 8 years put her claws in a brand new leather suite. It took me 1 minute to decide what to do (needless to say we don't have her anymore).

The kids have not forgiven me. The wife agreed (under duress). Now we have 2 guinea pigs which live outside. Wife still has regrets but the cat had already ruined one 3 piece suite and it did go to a nice home.

Stebiz

You clearly thought very little of the cat in the first place.

Your poor children ...

asea

stebiz wrote: »

I'm ready to be shouted at - but here it goes.

We had the same problem a few months ago. The cat which we had looked after for 8 years put her claws in a brand new leather suite. It took me 1 minute to decide what to do (needless to say we don't have her anymore).

The kids have not forgiven me. The wife agreed (under duress). Now we have 2 guinea pigs which live outside. Wife still has regrets but the cat had already ruined one 3 piece suite and it did go to a nice home.

Stebiz

I think if I was your wife I would have kept the cat & gotten rid of you!

Muppet81

I'm smiling, even in the face of damage to my new sofa :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

stebiz

dmg24 wrote: »

You clearly thought very little of the cat in the first place.

Your poor children ...

I have to live with the guilt every day

Stebiz

stebiz

asea wrote: »

I think if I was your wife I would have kept the cat & gotten rid of you!

There's no more marks on the suite though:rolleyes:

Stebiz

ailuro2

"Pet behave training spray" £3.50

Scratching post covered in a free carpet sample and then sprayed with catnip- less than £4

Knowing your kids and spouse will love you forever- priceless.:rotfl:

ailuro2

In all seriousness, the first two work well together- pet behave is lemon or citronella scented, and you don't smell it by a day after you spray the sofas.

Catnip attracts the cat to the scratching post, giving it somewhere to sharpen it's claws. fwiw I also shouted or smacked my leg with a paper any time our little cat looked like it was going near the soaf- then I remembered pet behave and she hasn't even thought about it since.:D

Hope this helps.

pusscat

I found Feliway/Herbal remedys/smellies to be absolutly no use at all - I know it has worked for some people though!

I have always used the ""NO" loudly and a face full of water from a water pistol - you normally only have to do it once or twice and they learn....
Every time your cat gets a claw anywhere near your sofa you say "no" quite loudly and squirt them in the face - the first time you need to do quite a lot of water, after that you can just do a little squirt in their general direction

Even more MSE - use an old, clean washing up liquid bottle in place of the water pistol....I used it for stopping them jumping on work surfafces.

Puss
xx