Anyway to break my adult cat from sharpening her claws on my couch. I am now sewing new slipcovers to cover the mess she has made and would love to break her of this habit. She also sharpens her claws outside as well.
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
Cats hate the smell of citrus. Try putting some citrus scented candles or bowls of potpourri around the couch. Try this, too: hang a carpet remnant on a wall or door. Cats like to stretch out their full length when they scratch so buy a piece that's long enough and hang it high enough.
Trim your cat's nails with a nail clipper. Clip only the white portion of the nail. Provide scatching material i.e. paper bags, cardboard, carpet nailed to the bit she uses.
Put tinfoil on the cushions your cat is sharpening its claws on...they don't like the feel of the tinfoil and will remember, so even after you take the tinfoil off, they'll stay away
Rub the area with a fresh dryer sheet (test on a hidden area first). Too much fragrance for a kitty nose, but it smells nice to us.
Squirt her with water from a spray bottle when you catch her scratching your couch.
This is what i did and it worked, make sure they have a scratching post and when you see kitty scratching the couch walk up to her grab her front paws squeeze them and yell no still holding her take her to the scratching post hold her front paws and make like she is scratching the post and say good kitty and pet her, after a few times of that they will get the picture, i trained all 4 of my cats like that or you can use a spray bottle and yell no while squirting them..Good Luck!
Hi Everyone,
Thanks so much for your suggestions. My problem is that I never catch her actually scratching on the couch arms. I think she is very smart and does it when we are not around. I will try some of your ideas.
Rose
I had real good luck with tin foil, too. Just use straight pins to secure it to the sofa, where she scratches. It just takes a couple of weeks.
There is a product that you can buy from the pet department at Wal-Mart that will deter cats from the area (apparently they hate the smell). I had a cat that had scratched the back of my couch to pieces. When I bought a brand new couch, I also bought the spray and used it on the couch. At the same time, I bought some catnip to rub on her scratching post. I did as "Candleglows" did and took her to the scratching post, holding her front paws and did the "scratching" action on the post a few times. She completely avoided the couch and always went to the post after that. Remember, she had completely shredded the corner of the old couch.
What worked for me was to put a small amount of vapor rub in the area where you want the cat to stay away from. The smell and vapor gets to them. Also clipping claws helps and my cat loves these cardboard scratch boxes.
Nails should be clipped about once a month...or when you notice that the tips are getting caught in the carpet or any kind of fabric, or you can hear them clicking on hard-surfaced floors.
Although the water-bottle trick will stop her at the time, it will not prevent your cat from doing it when you're not there.
I put the cats scratching post right in front of the spot where she likes to scratch the couch.
Also, when she would scratch the couch, I would move her to the post and I would scratch it to show her.
It takes some time and patience, but it works.
I'm a firm believer of the card board scratch boxes found at walmart and other stores. One of my cats kept scratching an upholstered chair, so I put a scratch box right next to the chair and would encourage him to scratch there. The catnip helped, too. Usually a package is included in the box. Hope this helps!
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
