By Donna from Ontario, Canada
Try buying a bottle of catnip spray. It drew all 12 of my cats to our scratching post, now they are happy to scratch that more than the couch, when they stop I respray it with the catnip spray again and they all come back to the tower.
Lizzyanny, Thanks for the idea of SSsoft. Cats didn't like the smell but dog did!
Misty the Dog licked it off the leather...lol.
Crazy animals! :D
Mrs. Story, We found the log down the back of our property and thought it would make a good scratch pole and place for maxx and charlie to play.. all recycled items.. I always wanted the round cylinders to make them a sleeping place..lol. :)
My cat liked to sharpen his claws on my new hooked rug. He hates the smell of my hand lotion so I put a little hand lotion on a kleenex and tucked it under the rug, He never touched it again. I understand cats do not like the smell of Avon Skin So Soft bath oil. Might be worth a try. Good luck. I have used the sticky tape too. It worked well.
Donna --
That's an EXCELLENT post! My cats would love something like that. We started making one for them last fall, but never finished. We got the big circular forms that they use when pouring concrete . . . I think it's like a heavy cardboard with a slight plastic coating . . . that was going to be a tube for them to lie/hide in. (We really should finish that project!)
I hope you find a good solution for the scratching. And I hope your cats enjoy their fresh catnip! We rescued our youngest cat last summer. Until a week or two ago he had only been exposed to dried catnip (which he enjoyed). But then I got a fresh plant and gave him a few leaves. Oh, MAN! He turned into a maniac (more than normal). It's quite entertaining. :-)
Let me know how it goes with the scratching . . . best of luck!
Thanks Very Much Mrs. Story! I will try that, they are not into cat nip but i am looking. I may try some fresh and see if that works!
I use Sticky Paws. It's like super extra large double stick tape. I purchased this kind:
http://www.cat-alog.com/stain_remover/stickypaws-big.jpg
But when I went to Petsmart the other day, I saw it on rolls, too. There used to be a favorite corner of the couch, so I place our scratching post right at that corner. I also keep spray bottles around the house, set to "stream."
Some cats prefer a different type of scratcher. One of ours only uses the corrugated cardboard type:
http://www.catsplay.com/imp_10651.jpg
If your cats are affected by catnip, you might want to pick up a fresh plant. They're more readily available at this time of year -- look where they sell herb plants. Pinch off some leaves, and rub them against the scratching post. There is definitely a dramatic difference between fresh and dried!
Luckily when we got new furniture last year, the cats left it alone (except for lounging on it!). Best of luck getting the scratching under control.
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Julie from Albany, OR
By Glenn'sMom
By frostbite
By Allison5
By R
My cat used to do the very same thing until I found a material he prefers to "everything" else. He finds his special scratching mat irresistible. I found it quite by accident when I needed a good mat to wipe our feet on. I'll try to describe it: It's a half circle mat that's made to wipe your feet on. This mat is made of jute or natural jute-like fibers.
They make 2 kinds, one is made of loops or twisted fibers. Don't buy one of these because the loops make it impossible for cats to rake their claws through. Mine is made of tiny straight pieces of a natural jute-like fiber that stick up with a rubber backing. This mat doesn't have other fibers or rubber mixed in patches, it's all made the same stuff on the front.
First, buy a test mat to see if your kittens will like it, if they do, you should buy several of them, possibly 3. I have one at my back door and one at my front door for us humans to wipe our feet on when we come in. I also have another one that's placed near my cat's bed. I would recommend you cut one of these mats up and attach part of it vertically it to a wall, a post, or a box that you can move around from place to place. You can use an empty box to attach half of this mat to and put several cans of food in it to weight it down. I would also recommend placing a mat close to your sofa or your kitties favorite place to scratch.
In the beginning, when my cat would start to scratch, I would pick him up and drag his little foot over the matting to show him where he was supposed to scratch. Now, when I see him scratching where he's not supposed to I'll say, "No!" sternly, sometimes he'll stop and sometimes he'll just ignore me (as all cat's do!), but if you put enough of these mats around the house, your kittens will surely pick them over the furniture eventually.
I didn't realize at first that all cats "have" to scratch until a vet told me that they get a flaky type of buildup on their claws that bothers them. This buildup has to be removed. That's why they need to scratch. The jute-type fiber mats work very effectively. I think the fiber feels good to their claws, because my cat can hardly walk by his mat without using it!
My daughter couldn't stop her cats from scratching and didn't want to discipline them anyway so she hung a towel with safely pins on the arms of her furniture to help protect it. I've also read that cats have scent glands in their paws and are leaving their scent and marking their territory when they scratch.
Lots of people use a piece of extra carpeting for their cats scratching needs, but this only confuses them because they then think scratching carpeting is the okay thing to do. The problem is made even worse if you use a slice of your own newly installed carpeting on scratching posts, etc. Because this is "exactly" the same as your home's carpeting. I've read that if you do use a piece of carpeting, make sure it's different that your home's carpeting.
More Information: http://www.catscratching.com/ Please do not de-claw your cats! Rubbing catnip on the mats as the post from Glen'sMom said is a good idea too! (11/15/2008)
By Cyinda
By guest
By Angela
By louel53
By Lynn
By SweetCali40
How do I stop the cat from scratching my leather sofa?
By Sophie10 from London, England
By RealtorRose
First get a catnip toy and put it next to the cat scratch post. Call the cat. Have a bag of yummy treats, hot dog pieces that are no bigger than the size of a pencil eraser or smaller or some other treat like you can buy at stores that come in small pieces in bags.
Put the catnip toy in front of the cat's nose and then onto the cat scratch post so that it is on the top laying down. (the toy). When she goes over to investigate it, make a clicking sound with your mouth and throw a bit of the hot dog over to her.
At this point you will see whether this will work or not. She will either eat the hot dog and then come over to you for more or go on about her business and you can keep pitching hot dogs to her whenever she is close to the cat scratch post or when she goes near it. If she comes to you, lead her to the post and when she is near it, click and throw a piece by the scratch post.
If she runs to you for the treats, you go to the post. When she gets near or sniffs the post by accident, then click your mouth and throw a treat down by the post. This can happen as many times as you want it to. If the cat gets good at sniffing the post then wait for her to touch it almost with her head or paw and then reward. If she won't, hold the hot dog piece next to the post and when she sniffs it click and treat.
Always follow a mouth click with a treat. This is really fun to do with dogs and I was wondering if it would work really well with cats. Hope this has helped. I know that dogs and cats need 30 or more repetitions in order to learn, so it takes a lot of work so why not have fun doing it with clicker training?
Robyn (04/28/2009)
By Robyn Fed
By jannieb
By SheilaAnn
By kimhis
You can grow catnip in a container in the house. They absolutely loved fresh catnip. Our cats never bothered it when it was in the pot. It seems that when I would pick off the leaves and crush them, was when they went after it.
To keep dogs and cats from furniture and such, use Vicks Vapor Rub. Apply a bit to foil, and devise a way to place it on or near wherever or whatever you want the pet to avoid. They hate this smell as well as some people. So after awhile, when you feel your pet is broken from its bad habit, you can then remove the Vicks Vapor Rub.
For training purposes, we used this on a frisky young Rottweiler puppy. We applied some to the back of our hands and when he would misbehave, we would calmly walk over to him, and matter-of-factly, put our hand near him and firmly say no. We didn't wave our hand, just got close enough. Since dogs have a strong sense of smell, this worked great for us. (05/06/2009)
By mkymlp
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Cork Cat Scratching Post