My wife and I have had this experience with our cats over the years. We know there is not one miracle solution, as what works for one cat may not work for another. A cat's personality, its breed, age, and health will determine the best solution.
We know how frustrating scratching furniture can be. But we also know the joy when you hit on the correct solution and stress levels drop - yours and your furry family!
Here are 5 different ways that can work individually or in combination with each other.
Manage Your Cat's Claws
The first way for you to stop your cat scratching furniture is to understand why cats need to scratch and then learn about managing your cat's claws in order to reduce its need to scratch.
This involves learning how to trim claws correctly, and, if necessary, using cat claw caps to reduce future damage to your furniture.
Provide Scratching Alternatives
Scratching is natural for cats. So even though damage to furniture can be reduced by trimming cats claws and / or using cat claw caps, there still is a need to provide an alternative scratching solution than the furniture.
There are many different type of scratching solutions such as wall mounted, cat trees, scratching posts (vertical and horizontal), etc. Before choosing the best cat scratcher for your situation it is important to consider these 7 key decision making factors or criteria.
Protect Your Furniture
Scratching Alternatives are a great way to redirect your cat's natural scratching behavior, but they may not always be immediately successful.
So whilst we encourage our furry family member to use the scratchers, we need to protect the furniture from further scratching.
Use Deterrents
Another solution is to discourage our furry family member from even wanting to approach our furniture. To do this we use sprays and physical deterrents.
There are many different products and types of deterrents available, so it is important to choose one that is safe for your cats, your furniture, and you.
Some homemade spray deterrents can be mixed incorrectly and be toxic to your cat and some physical deterrents can be used indoors even though they were designed for outdoor use.
Train Your Cat
Cats love attention and they know you'll give them attention when they scratch the furniture. So by playing with them, giving them toys and snacks when they are using the scratcher, they will obtain the attention they are seeking away from your furniture. There are many benefits to training your cat, including improved behavior and developing a stronger bond together.
However, just like with any animal, it takes time, patience, and consistency to successfully train a cat.