soft paws??

[Element~5]

I recently came across this website (http://www.softpaws.com/) and was wondering if anyone has any experience/opinions/pro's/con's, ect. about this product. My boyfriend and I have decided to moved into together, and when this happened a few months ago, he brought his leather furniture and I brought my cat. lol! I'm sure if you do the math, you can understand why I'm asking this question. He is getting a little bit upset that my little guy loves to use the furniture as a scratching post, and I'm looking for alternative ways to avoid this.

Also, I refuse to de-claw my cat!

[krdahmer]

Keep his claws clipped and get a cat tree or two, with lots of climbing spots and a place to hide etc.... and sisal rope. I have 6 cats, so thats 108 claws, and I have all leather furniture, and with the exception of the odd accidental scratch (falling/ running) I have not had a problem at all... they prefer the cat trees because I put catnip on them and they are their area.

Oh and my aunt has used those soft paws, but doesn't anymore, they didn't work too well for her cats. And I read something about after using them for a period of time that the cats are then unable to retract their claws all together.

[want4rain]

also, to prevent those accidental ones, get a nice thick blanket for the back of the couch and a second one to use as arm covers. that will stop the clipped nails from leaving surface scratches.

-ash

[rjesak]

I have six cats and all leather furniture as well. My cats much prefer to scratch on their cat condo or the corrugated cardboard scratch pads (in fact they LOVE the cardboard). My furniture has a few scrapes from them landing on it when they take their flying leaps accross the room, but they never actively scratch the furniture. I put down a few blankets to cover the backs and arms and, poof, no more problem - unless you consider a cat sleeping on the armrest a problem!

[Element~5]

I have a cat scratching post for him, and cat nip as well...but maybe I should get one of those larger trees/condos for him. I do trim his nails, and have a blanket hanging over the back of the couch, as well as a couch cover, but he's one of those types of cats that loves to play under the blanket! LOL I think it's cute.

I'll just have to keep a better eye on him, and get some other alternatives for him to do his scratching on

Thanks for the advice everyone...much appreciated

[rjesak]

If you can find them, try the little round plastic toy/scratch pads. It's a round ring with a ping-pong ball trapped in the ring and the inside of the ring is a replacable corrugated scratch pad. My cats just love them - they almost never scratch on anything else. You do have to vacuum up the bits of cardboard paper but it's not a big deal.