"She's an indoor kitty..."

If you're more worried about your furniture than your cat, please don't get a cat.

Yeah that's kind of where I've been leaning, sadly. the furniture just kinda got tossed in with the house but I looked up the price and it's well over $3k, easily the nicest stuff we own. I mean every cat my Mom had was declawed, ditto with all my friends, thought it was kinda normal, I had no idea it was just a cruel thing to do. But if he starts tearing up the leather then it can't really be fixed can it? I'm sure you can train it, but in the meantime..?

there are SO many jackasses in my neighborhood in Brooklyn who let their cats out...every day there's another poster about a lost cat. once i actually found one and the lady came to get it and said she lets it out all the time...i told her if she cared at all about it she'd leave it inside. she wasn't pleased but i'm glad someone told her.

The only way to get a cat to not claw furniture is to offer it a place (or more likely many places) where it prefers to claw instead of the furniture.

I have never successfully done this.

my plan would be to get the claw covers and to use a spray bottle on him if he starts trying out the furniture and maybe offer some reward when he goes to the scratching post. and just hope he figures it out. I dunno. I'm afraid that he only has to try the couch once before it leaves some permanent damage.

My cat is indoor, but I let him hang out outside if I'm also outside. Because he's a white cat I was told that he is a risk for skin cancer and other issues, so I try to limit his sun exposure. Also there are a lot of tough feral cats and a million guard dogs in my neighborhood. Not worth the risk.

Spray bottle training doesn't work ime. The cat will learn to be scared of you but won't deduce that it's happening because he's scratching the furniture.

Spray bottle may get them off of it initially, but they will keep going back and back and back. And you won't be there to spray all the time.

so what you're saying is...either deform the cat or accept that the leather is getting ruined, sounds like maybe no cat is best

You never know how the cat will respond to the environment, behaviorally speaking. If you provide scratching posts and etc. that might be enough, and there's always the possibility that the cat won't be a big scratcher, especially if you get a more mature cat. I suggest getting a foster cat and see how it goes.

I'm sure you can train it

It's a cat, you can't really. Some cats will learn that their human doesn't like this behaviour, some cats won't, some cats will learn but not care. Declawing is illegal here, and rightly so.

Not going to weigh in on the indoor/outdoor thing again, I've stated my position in other threads. Basically, be as good as you can be to your cats.

so my other question, do those claw covers work?

Our cats don't claw our leather couch to sharpen, but they do scratch it just by jumping on it. Animals be animals, they scratch, they puke, they break stuff.

do those claw covers work?

Not in my experience, but I also wasn't diligent with the nail-trimming every other day routine either.

the possibility that the cat won't be a big scratcher, especially if you get a more mature cat

I just got a 9 year old, and I caught her scratching the arm of a chair once, told her no, and she hasn't done it since. I realize some cats scratch and some don't, but older cats seem far less interested in doing it.

cats hate citrus smells so maybe mix some grapefruit oil and water in a spray bottle and mist the corners of the couch? those catnip scratchers are also really great.

Aluminum foil also works, I've heard.

my parents' cat, who they got at age 12 or so, occasionally scratches specific bits of furniture -- usually one armchair that had already been scratched up by a past cat, sometimes the carpet. I sometimes wonder whether it'd be worth getting her a scratching post to use instead but she seems a little too old for new habits.

leather doesn't seem like it'd be very satisfying to scratch tbh.

frogbs you should get this cat:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/1de0f67a621b9127e7c1c7065722a0e7/tumblr_mke0j4tPB61qfhg93o1_250.gif

Aluminum foil is hi-LAR-ious. My roomie's cats would jump on the sheets of foil I'd put on the couch and do something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv8ARvJzCYU

fwiw we have 3 cats and leather sofas and they do not scratch them at all. Just doesn't seem to be good scratching material for them. They scratch the hell out of other stuff tho. Our bed is one of those solid base ones with some kind of fabric all around the bottom and that has been shredded.

We taught Cosmo and Bob to use a scratching post when they were kittens; every time it looked as if they wanted to scratch we picked them up and carried them to the scratching pillar, and rubbed their front paws on it. They learn pretty soon, and are really good now, so our furniture is pretty fine. Not unscathed - there are some pulls on the sofa and chair but they're accidents resulting from sketching out and flexing paws.

Sometimes Bob shouts at you until you pick him up and stroke him. This isn't normal, is it?

what is that cat in the gif, he's amazing

my parents bought my girlfriend and I a large leather-lined mirror as a housewarming gift and within 10 minutes of unpacking it our cat had climbed on top of it and started ripping the top apart. I cannot deny a cat an experience that awesome.

Max spent his first six months outside under a house, and now he lives inside with me. My face got a scar the day we drove him home from my friends driveway. My carpet got destroyed when he wanted in my room when I was sleeping. The couch will be replaced or re-something-holstered. He got a bladder infection, and the carpet by the litter closet is now tile.

We got him a kitten (Kali) early on, and she tamed him in a way we never could have. Teased him and bathed him and put him in his place.

I'll never regret the damage or the expense because we missed Chloe and Milo so much after all those years of faithful service.

Max and Kali will be allowed outdoors eventually, starting with supervised time on the patio, followed by supervised strolls and lay-downs in the courtyard (just like Milo and Chloe). As soon as they and I aren't too scared of sudden startles.

Lots of folks let their indoor cars roam freely on my residential block
I approve in that I get one frequent visitor to our backyard who is friendly and let's my kids pet him

If I fell into $3K worth of fancy furniture I'd immediately craigslist it for $1K worth of shitty furniture and a cat.

^^^^

wish I could get my wife onboard with that!

Oh word. I'm sorry frogs.

what is that cat in the gif, he's amazing

Colonel Meow

cats hate citrus smells so maybe mix some grapefruit oil and water in a spray bottle and mist the corners of the couch? those catnip scratchers are also really great.

― clouds, Wednesday, October 9, 2013 2:24 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Aluminum foil also works, I've heard.

― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, October 9, 2013 2:25 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The citrus defense is what I was going to recommend.
My ex roomie heard aluminum foil works, too, but my cat was only put off for a couple days then tore through that shit. Added bonus fun of explaining why you have foil in random places of your home to guests.

you can buy tape that you put on your furniture ('sticky paws' or something) and that keeps em at bay while you keep this weird tape on your couch, but in my experience, they just start scratching it again when you take it off. I've given up tbh.

thred revive tl;dr but try poking around your local ASPCA/Shelter for cats that have been declawed by a previous owner -- downside it is not a kitted, it has already been declawed (eg mutilated). upside -- giving what is surely an older cat a second life/good home.

When I went to get my cat I knew I wanted an older cat bc birth-death cat ownership was something I didn't think I was ready for and potentially getting one that had been declawed would have been a bonus.

Outcome: older non-declawed cat that is not a "clawer" so to speak. She gets off on cardboard scratching posts. ymmv

not a kitted = not a kitten

Kittens are overrated. Older cats are rad.

Years of experience have inured me to the inevitablity of feline domestic destruction but also taught me that the most liberal sprinkling of cat scratch devices lessens the impact somewhat. Once cats become used to scratching somewhere, they'll continue so new furniture needs to be policed pretty strictly for awhile after it's bought.

also dose said scratching devises w catnip often @ first, or as often as you like, depending on how funny the outcome is

Kittens are overrated. Older cats are rad.

― Johnny Fever, Thursday, October 10, 2013 6:02 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Kittens are not overrated, Albert will have you know.

On the other hand, older cats are totally rad AS WELL.

thred revive tl;dr but try poking around your local ASPCA/Shelter for cats that have been declawed by a previous owner -- downside it is not a kitted, it has already been declawed (eg mutilated). upside -- giving what is surely an older cat a second life/good home.

This is a good point. Our cat is declawed, but he was that way when we adopted him. It was not a factor in our adoption (he was at the end of his stay at the shelter).

in london everybody lets their cats out. do brooklyn cats just get lost more easily or what?

little buggy wumpums is basically a glorified baby

also there is a lot of shit on the street and a lot of places to hide? like, if I was a cat I would totally leave for days at a time and kill rats n shit

Re leather furniture, even if they don't enjoy scratching it on purpose, they'll poke holes in it every time they jump up on an arm or the back of the couch and use their claws to hold on. It's doomed. My parents' cats did srs damage to the only leather armchair we ever owned.

yep I was thinking the same, I may just get one that's declawed already

pets ruin everything

It's been just under a month, but my cat has been trouble free (except for barfing on the rug in my bedroom once). But who's to say I would never have barfed there myself had I not gotten a cat?

"I want a mutilated cat but I don't want to mutilate it myself" is sort of a weird way of approaching it imo

I agree that it's a weird approach. But cats are out there, at shelters. Gonna die. Thousands every day. It is likely that frogs can find one that is already declawed.

maybe you disagree but I think living in a house declawed is probably better than having your claws but being at a shelter where you may remain unwanted until you die. I agree it's kind of a weird rationalization but those are the parameters I'm working with!