never owned a cat with claws

Rottielover,I've always had cats with claws,been through a lot of sofas,but for about 10yrs now,we've had leather and it works like a charm..the cats do NOT claw it and I have 3.There are a few scratches but they are from their crazed period when they jump and run all over.
However it does not make the sofas look any worse for wear.
Another material that is very good is the Ultra Suede(fake suede),easy to clean my cats also don't scratch it and it is really nice looking.

A cheap doormat from the dollar store works for my boys, the roughest you can find (not the kind with holes, more like carpet).

Speaking of wood, I brought in a thick birch branch. I wrapped sisal around part of it, and secured the branch tightly to the wall. The cats really enjoy that as well.:)

Hi everyone. Tigger has been a blessing to own, he has become part of the family so quickly. He even takes turns in the dog crate with Harley. Plays fetch, and wants to go for a walk, when I bring Harley out.
My only major problem is his claws. I have a couple of sratching posts, and remove him when he starts to claw the couch, but he wakes me up every night with his scratching my sofa. How can I stop him from doing this. I do NOT want to declaw him, but I will be getting a new sofa soon.
Help please

I can't believe you never had a cat with claws. I have never had one without claws. In fact, I only heard of declawing a feq yrts ago and was so sppalled I was almost ill. But that's another story!! (Declawing is not at all popular in the Maritimes).

Please do NOT declaw your kitty - he needs them and declawing him can create so many more probs, litter box avoidance, personality changes not to mention the pain et al. It takes work like everything else - You just interest him in his scracthing post, get him several and see which ones he likes best. You can make them with sisal. And don't hit him- cats do not react well to punishment (who does?) but it does not work - it only nakes them fear you. Praise him for scatching on the posts and not the furniture. You can also buy furniture cats dislike like leather.

As I said I do NOT plan on declawing him. All my cats were adopted without claws. the actual 2 I have had. As for not liking leather that is false. Tell that to my friend who had throw away a beautiful leather sofa chair beacause of a cat.
I do not plan on hitting him, never said I did. I have tried a water spray, not working... A loud noise, not working.. I guess I will have to see if I can make something. In the mean time what can I do. Very determined kitty. Pretty much like my Harley. But harley does not claw furniture.:thumbs up

Rottielover,
You can get a spray at JE Mondou made by Hunter called Repulse... it won't hurt the fabric but will discourage the cat from clawing the sofa. There was a lady there a few weeks ago who fosters kitties and she said it works like a charm to discourage them from using the sofa, carpets, etc..

Thank you, I will go get some tonight, and pray it works, because I bought another type of spray that said it did the same thing, and it did not work, actually he went directly to it about 5 mins after.

I never had a cat without claws, so have spent a lot of time teaching them to use scratching posts.

As BMDLuver said, you can get repellent sprays to use on your furniture until the cat breaks the habit of scratching it. Most of these sprays smell nice to us, but cats hate them. And for now, you can also put strips of two-sided sticky tape where he likes to scratch. Cat do ONLY what pleases them, and most cats hate having anything sticky on their paws. If the sofa causes him discomfort most likely he'll learn to leave it alone.

What kind and how many scratch posts do you have? They must be long enough for the cat to stretch full length to scratch and they MUST be rock solid. A wobbly post will quickly make a cat decide not to use it.

Also, you need several, since when a cat decides to pull his nails, he's not going to go to another area of the house to find a scratch post.

The best posts I've used are boards wrapped in sisal and bolted to the wall. Each and every cat I've had love these!
They are also flat and non-obtrusive and because they are sisal, they do not teach cats to scratch carpets, as carpeted scratch posts do.

Put a few of these in convenient areas. Put a little catnip on them. When you see your cat going to scratch furniture, make a little noise "AH AH!" to interrupt him then VERY gently take him to the scratch post and put his paws on it, while sweet-talking him.:)

Keep his nails clipped too.

Here is my sisal post screwed to the wall. As you can, it's very popular!

If the store bought spray doesn't work, there are a few other home-remedies you can try, (if Harley will leave them alone):

put sheets of aluminum foil on your couch, and over the arm rests. Cats don't like the feeling of the foil.

put citrus peels (I like Lemons & Oranges) on the couch - not only does it smell nice, but repells cats.

** your couch will resemble some strange science experiment with the above two, but they both worked for me ;) **

Make your own citrus spray & spray the couch (better option if Harley will eat/play with orange peels) tip: test a hidden spot on couch to be sure the fruit oils won't harm the fabric.

Harley will eat the lemons and oranges, and suck off the spray, so nope does not work.....I will go and find a couple of scratching posts to mount on walls, I have the standing ones. Where did you pick that one up LR.... I try to stay away from J.E mondoux. Used to work for them, and hate the franchise. I do not mind travelling

Hmmm..I"m not crazy about Mondou either, especially the one on St.Charles..:rolleyes:

Anyway, I can't remember where I got that board, I've had it so long.

BUT, if you want to try making it instead, it's not complicated! Here are the instructions.
http://www.tcainc.org/city/sisal_instr.html

LOL, I know the one on st charles very well, But I used to work for st jean. I was working at animax ( a company that cared about animals)and then it was bought out. so after a couple of months they fired me because I did not believe in their crappy products, and would not push to sell it. LOL Oh well I miss animax though. I was the one who started the adoption days there orginally. My first dog and I were in the paper promoting the adoption days.
I have to find the equipement to make it, but I think it is such a great idea. So much better than my couch

If you want to go "au naturel" get a tree trunk. It was the best scraching post ever. We found a small sized tree that had died and cut off small branches and left the bigger ones, build a stand si it wouldn't tip over and voila;The cats climbed it and clawed it. :D be prepared to vacumm, but the cats will love you. It lasted over a year and then replaced it. Rottielover...we can go hunting for one, although Harley might think its his throw stick and get it, chew it, run with it sideways in his mouth...could get ugly:D

the chewing would be an issue based on it being wood, and so would peeing on it, which I know he would do.

Rottielover,you'll have to read the replies from the top:D the once dated november 2003:D