cats scratching furniture

[jenny]

hey guys. bit of advice needed.
my parents, whom i dont live with. have 6 cats, all but 2 are rescue cats.
They have basically wrecked the furniture in the house by scratching on it. any suggestions?

so far ive suggested putting up some scratching posts that go on the wall, so they are a bit higher than the normal ground level scratcher. and i have also suggested a cat pheremone spray thing, dont think its called that, but some cat behaviour people advised this to spray onto furniture, and apparently cats prefer to rub their faces onto this rather than scratch

[Jac]

Try cytris oil on the furniture.

[Kim]

The pheromone spray or diffuser is called feliway and you can buy it at vets or online pharmacies such as vet medic. It might be worth a try. You could also try using catnip on the scratching posts to lure them onto there. I put throws onto my sofas (mainly because of muddy paw prints!) but is also protects them from claws! Other than that, well, cats will be cats I have had cats all my life and unfortunately some do scratch furniture.

[dinahsmum]

Double sided sticky tape sometimes puts them off.
Me, I prefer a sharp psssss, psssss, psssssss till they've got the hang - but you need to start that early.

[Fran]

It's a toughy. The advice given so far is very good and all those things are worth a try. I have some cats that like to scratch the furniture and others that don't. Lucky my old girl that I lost last year was the worst culprit tbh and my settee is ruined but I just accept that as part of having cats really. Do let us know how you get on and if you find any of the above things help..Good Luck!

[Julie84]

As well as the good advice above, I have found regular nail trimmming stops my boys from wanting to use the sofa for scratching as well as positive 'no' if I see them with their paws on the sofa (they can sit or sleep on the sofa but not put their paws up as though to scratch). Trimming nails can be difficult if the cat is older and not used to it or you are nervous though.

[andrew021]

Jet scratches everywhere, wallpaper in bedroom, legs of coffee table, chest of drawers, wooden bannister.

I bout a couple of large plants (Yukka & Coconut) the other day, she cried with excitement when I took them into the house, after her initial investigation/curiosity she began to use them as scratching posts.

She has 2 scratching posts but seems to prefer to use anything but them.

[Donna]

A quick spray of water when they are scratching soon deters them. Chloe used to climb the curtains and sit on the curtain rail when she was smaller. Only had to squirt once or twice and never done it since.

Just one look at the water bottle and she runs away!

[andrew021]

Thanks, have to try that.

Might invest in a hose, maybe that will teach her.