How to stop my cat scratching everything

[Hellsbells]

It's driving us crazy - she's destroying our new sofa, chair, rug....everything

We've tried everything we can think of. She has several scratching posts, we've put obstacles up, covered things with cushions, sprayed things with water and lemon juice....Nothing works.

She's an older cat and doesn't go out. She's always scratched tbh, but we've never had decent, new furniture or rugs before so it's never bothered us that much.

Are there any other options? Or will we just have to put up with it?

 

[bimble]

This is why i can't have nice things.
*written from my scratched-to-bits flat*

 

[cupid_stunt]

Pull her claws out?

* this is, of course, not a serious suggestion.

 

[bimble]

Pull her claws out?

* this is, of course, not a serious suggestion.

My downstairs neighbour has actually done this to her cat. She's from america and i think its normal there?

 

[Hellsbells]

This is why i can't have nice things.
*written from my scratched-to-bits flat*

 

[Hellsbells]

I think I may take her to the vets to get her claws trimmed tbh - certainly not pulled out though She'd claw the vets eyes out if they tried to do something like that. All the vets are scared of my cat

 

[cupid_stunt]

My downstairs neighbour has actually done this to her cat. She's from america and i think its normal there?

It ain't normal!

8 Reasons Why You Should Never Declaw Your Cats

 

[Pickman's model]

little cat boots

 

[bimble]

Quite interesting.. looks like declawing was made illegal in the uk (with up to £20,000 fine) over a decade ago, whilst in the US bit by bit parts of it are following suit but its still really common.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I think I may take her to the vets to get her claws trimmed tbh - certainly not pulled out though She'd claw the vets eyes out if they tried to do something like that. All the vets are scared of my cat

When my old cat was very old, he stopped going out and stopped looking after himself so well (bit senile, tbh , but he was 18). His claws became very long. I cut them down with nail clippers. It's not so difficult to do - you just need to be sure you don't nip the flesh.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

It ain't normal!

8 Reasons Why You Should Never Declaw Your Cats

Bizarre what some people think is ok to do to an animal. I've never heard of that before. Didn't realise it was a thing.

 

[StoneRoad]

Years ago, I asked my previous vet (before we moved house) to show me how to trim cat's claws. The current practice did the same for our dogs.

Practice helps using the proper clipper ... cat probably needs towel wrap / helper to hold the bundle and for a dog you need a good grip, their claws are much tougher.

 

[WouldBe]

Boxing glove on each paw.

 

[Calamity1971]

Seen these on a telly prog a while back!
Homepage - Soft Claws Nail Caps - UK Official Seller - Soft Claws® Indoor cats only obvs.
I used to have a spray years ago which wasn't unpleasant that you sprayed on your furniture.
Eta. My first cat was terrible for it, my scratch post was inadequate cos she couldn't fully stretch to scratch. Bought a taller one and things got better.

 

[trabuquera]

^ was gonna suggest those SoftClaws things, no first hand experience of them, but while declawing is a 100% no-no, it's vicious and cruel, trimming is a temporary solution. Scratching is behavioural and mostly about establishing dominance over the home range, very especially as part of routines going into/ out of that range. Cats can get completely fixated on such routines and it's really hard to break them of it. You can try moving the furniture about - but that's a limited solution - and/or using a Feliway diffuser, which pumps out chems which make cats feel chilled out and at-home - that might possibly limit the scratching a bit.

 

[Calamity1971]

^ was gonna suggest those SoftClaws things, no first hand experience of them

Im guessing there would be blood.

 

[xsunnysuex]

My Toby has wrecked the wall I've just had papered. Very expensive wall paper I might add too!!

 

[Fez909]

Have you tried making the scratching posts interesting to the cats?

Put catnip on the post
Point a laser pen at the post
Dangle string on the post to get the cat to attack it
Give her treats when she goes near/uses the post

etc

 

[Calamity1971]

Have you tried making the scratching posts interesting to the cats?

I have toys/shoelaces tied to mine with a smattering of catnip. One loves the catnip, t'other one is a bit meh.

 

[Mrs D]

You had a scratchy cat and then you bought new furniture

Usually people with this problem did those things the other way round

Maybe just try and not think about your already scratched new furniture and get on with life. 2nd hand furniture doesn’t have much resale value anyway, regardless of its condition.

 

[Fez909]

I have toys/shoelaces tied to mine with a smattering of catnip. One loves the catnip, t'other one is a bit meh.

Yep, one of mine doesn't care for catnip. The other goes wild for it.

The roles are reversed for red laser dots

Cats are weird

 

[Fez909]

You had a scratchy cat and then you bought new furniture

Usually people with this problem did those things the other way round

Maybe just try and not think about your already scratched new furniture and get on with life. 2nd hand furniture doesn’t have much resale value anyway, regardless of its condition.

One my my friends lets her cats absolutely ruin the furniture. I couldn't believe it the first time I went around there...I'm a pretty messy cunt, but I was genuinely gobsmacked.

The sofas are literally torn to shreds, and while it's probably too late to care now, she just lets them carry on ripping them up as if they were scratching posts. I'm talking about stuffing pouring out of cushions bad.

 

[Calamity1971]

I knew someones that was that bad from the cats scratching the back of her sofa, the house rabbits were living in it !

 

[Callie]

Horizontal scratching posts? Very tall scratching posts so they can have a proper stretch? You could also protect things you don't want scratched either temporarily or permanently..tin foil, plastic covers, fabric covers etc apparently citrus works as a deterrent

 

[Hellsbells]

She quite happily uses the scratching posts. But she likes attacking everything else aswell. Her current morning routine is kitchen scratching post, gallop to living room scratching post, leap dramatically in the air, land on NEW rug and violently hack at it whilst glaring smugly at us. Then she'll leap to the sofa arm where she'll rip at it with her head turned towards us, still with that bloody smug look on her face

Then after 20 minutes of destroying everything we own, she'll wolf down her breakfast, leap on to her cat tree and settle down in a ball for the day while we head out to earn a living for her, like the slaves we are.

Cats!

 

[skyscraper101]

My Mum's cat does it to her furniture too. It's proper annoying. The cat has been shouted at, scolded, pushed away, but it persists in being a vandalising cunt.

 

[Callie]

Do you play with her much? I'm just trying to think of things the dude on "my cat from hell" suggests

 

[editor]

This beast has DESTROYED a sofa and two chairs



The scratching post was derided from the moment it appeared. I threw it out in the end.

 

[Callie]

This beast has DESTROYED a sofa and two chairs

View attachment 138543

The scratching post was derided from the moment it appeared. I threw it out in the end.

AHH you have a box loving cat too!

 

[editor]

AHH you have a box loving cat too!

And bags, of any description.