Bad cats...

elvis_girl

IMO cats will either scratch furniture or they [EMAIL="won@t"]w[/EMAIL]on't! I've been using a citrus oil on my leather settee & that seems to be working ok though we've had a wee bit of plucking when I've been out of the room - cats are so crafty. My cat plucked my last sofa until she busted every seam & then lost interest!

cluuuuur

Double sided sticky tape worked wonders for us - as did sticking foil to surfaces that they liked,though the house looked weird for a while!

I've also had some success in the past with 'redirecting' attention - putting catnip on the surfaces that I wanted the cats to scratch (scratching posts) as encouragement, and spraying some of the bitter citrus-y 'behaviour' sprays on our old furniture. I'm not really a fan of water sprays etc, since previous experience with other cats has taught me that they tend to avoid doing it when you're in the vicinity, but as soon as you're out they're canny enough to realise that they won't get sprayed!

I do clip the claws on my cats, but that's only because they're currently indoors only. I have considered Soft Claws in the past, but decided on them as a last resort only, since my cats would probably manage to remove them somehow and wreak more havoc as revenge!

juliapenguin

Thanks so much to all of you for your replies - I will definitely try double sided tape on our beautiful table legs (shredded by evil claws) but still not sure what to do about the carpets. Tabitha (obviously a Bad Cat name...) scratches all the carpets all over the house, but not when we're nearby - she scarpers if she hears me coming.

faerie_girl

put some tin foil on the area's where they scratch. They will hate the feeling of it on their claws and should stop scratching, even when you take the foil away.

Also try rubbing catnip on their scratching post.

Wonder_Girl

My cat LOVES cardboard, if there is a scrap in the house she will hunt it down and claw it to bits, her scratch post is however as good as new:rolleyes:

Also she really likes the reed mat by the front door, she used to claw the carpet til we got this but as it was only £5 i don't really mind

so maybe they would like something a little softer to claw?