Scratching is a cat’s normal behavior.
We can’t deny the fact, that felines love scratching their claws, sometimes they do it to express their emotions, to remove the dead skin, or to shed old nails, and often it’s just a good scratch.
However, it’s not funny when it comes to your favorite furniture or any other valuable items of the house.
So, to help you out, we have listed out some possible reasons and tricks which will guide you to take better steps in the future to stop your cat from scratching furniture.
Help your kitty by getting a clear understanding regarding, how to stop cats from scratching furniture.
1. Make Furniture Less Appealing to Scratch
One of the possible reason your kitty like to groom her nails on furniture surface is that she might be attracted to the look of the furniture.
As we know, felines are good observers, and they like observing things closely. There is a high possibility that she likes that particular furniture of the house and likes to spend time and groom her claws.
We have a solution for you, make your furniture less appealing, cover it with old clothes, rough material. You can also put a scrapper on the surface, it will work as two-in-one.
First, your kitty will get a good hard surface to scratch her claws, and secondly, your furniture will not get damaged as no scratching marks will be there on the surface.
2. Train Your Kitty Properly
You can stop your feline pal from scratching furniture by providing her with proper training. You can teach her that scratching claws on furniture, walls or any other household item is not a good habit.
Command her “No” whenever she tries to scratch her claws on furniture or any other valuable objects to groom herself. It’s not a one-time thing that you will command her once, and she will adopt it. It will take time to teach your cat to stop scratching furniture and start using a scratching post.
No, my friend, you have to repeatedly guide her, stop her from doing this action. Initially, she will get angry, but once she learns that you are not liking her action, she will try not to repeat it.
Whenever she follows your instruction, you can reward her with a treat, it will encourage her more.
3. Direct Your Kitty Towards Scratching Post or Toys
Next time you saw your kitty damaging your furniture, simply apply this step, guide her towards her scratching post.
It’s not necessary that you can only offer her a scratching post, toys will also work as she will get something to sharpen her nails.
You can also introduce her to a variety of scratching posts, toys that will keep her mind away from scratching the furniture surface.
Make it a habit of offering her scratching post so that her mind will get averted, and eventually, she won’t feel like scratching her claws on any other surface except her toys or scratching post.
4. Trim Your Feline’s Nails
We can’t deny the fact, cats need to scratch their claws, it is part of their grooming.
Cats scratch their claws to shed their old nails, and this not only gives her happiness but also sharpens her new nails.
So, if you take some interest and focus on your kitty’s grooming session, you will be able to get rid of her scratching issues.
Try to trim your feline pal’s claws on a regular basis, by doing so she won’t have sharp nails and even if she tries to scratch furniture surface or any other object it will not get damaged as no marks will be there on the surface.
5. You Can Use Deterrent Spray
The deterrent spray is one of the solutions you can use to stop your cat from scratching furniture. You will easily get this spray in the market, it comes in various strong essence, such as citronella, lemongrass, peppermint, etc.
This spray works as a repellent cat spray as it includes strong essence which is not bearable by your kitty. Just spray it where ever your cats like to scratch her claws, and soon you will notice the outcome.
She will stop visiting those areas or else her scratching habit will reduce, and you will be able to protect your furniture.
6. Create a Spray to Stop Your Kitty From Scratching
Even after trying deterrent spray, trimming your kitty’s claw, still you are not able to get rid of your feline pal scratching habit.
In such a scenario, you can try one more thing, create your in-house spray to stop your kitty from scratching furniture and other valuable household items.
It’s very easy to prepare this formulation, all you need to do is take apple cider vinegar, or citrus juice and dilute it with one liter of water, and store it in a spray bottle.
As we all know, cats have very strong smelling sense, and they are allergic to strong essence. Apple cider vinegar, citrus, is one of the smells she can’t bear it.
So this in-house spray will definitely help you to stop your kitty’s scratching habit.
You just need to spray it on the surface of furniture, walls, or any other objects where your kitty likes to scratch and then wait for the result. Due to the strong essence, she will avoid visiting those areas, and eventually, she will not be able to damage your furniture or any other household items.
7. Make the Furniture Surface Sticky
Tired of stopping your cat from scratching furniture, other valuable objects?
Well, this sticky trick will definitely help you to get rid of your cat’s scratching habit. For this, you have to buy sticky tape and all you need to do is cover your furniture handle or endpoints with this double side tape.
As we know, felines hate sticky paws, and that can be enough to stop her from scratching your valuable household item, including furniture.
8. Redirect Your Cat’s Attention
Another possible way you can stop your kitty from scratching the furniture is by redirecting her to another location. In other words, divert your feline pal’s mind to another task or location.
For instance, you are chilling on your couch and watching your Netflix series. On the other hand, your kitty is sitting in one corner and grooming herself. What do you notice next?
Suddenly, she started scratching her claws on furniture, according to her, she is just grooming her claws, but actually, she is damaging your furniture.
Here’s a tip for you for such a situation, just divert your kitty’s mind by playing with her or spending quality time giving her love. Or else, you can also direct her to another location like the backyard or something where even she scratch her claws on walls or any object it will not bother you much.
You can also divert your feline pal’s mind by offering her treats. In simpler language, bribe her to stop scratching your furniture, other valuable objects.
9. You Can Also Try Cat Socks or Nail Caps
How to stop your cat from scratching furniture?
Well, one of the solutions is to start using cat socks or nail caps to stop your kitty from damaging your furniture.
You don’t have to do much, just need to buy good quality socks for your kitty and cover her claws. Initially, she will refuse to wear it and try to remove the sock but don’t give up, repeatedly make her wear socks. It will help to protect your furniture from scratches.
Another alternate option is nail caps, you can also cover your kitty’s claw with the nail cover. The plus point of using a nail cover is that it will not only help to protect your furniture but also give the attractive look to your kitty’s personality.
Furthermore, even if she is not comfortable with the nail caps, your kitty won’t be able to remove them. So, you don’t need to check on whether she is wearing caps or not.
10. Protect With Vinyl Guards
After trying plenty of options and tricks, still, you are not able to keep your cat away from furniture or to stop her from damaging it.
My friend, this Vinyl Guard will help you out a bit. All you need to do is buy good quality of it and place it over the surface of your furniture or other valuable objects where your kitty likes to scratch her claws.
Once you are done with covering your furniture with this guard now you just need to relax and observe your kitty’s action. Even if she tries to scratch the furniture she won’t be able to do it as her claws will not be able to hold the grip and after giving several attempts she will definitely give up.
Hopefully, this trick will help you to get rid of your feline’s scratching habit and protect your valuable household items.
Conclusion
Scratching is normal cat behavior, you cannot totally get rid of it.
However, if it’s getting excess then you can refer to our tricks and solution which you must have gone through, it will surely help you to protect your furniture from kitty’s scratching habit.
A piece of advice for you:- Never try to declaw your kitty’s claw, it is a very painful procedure, and it might affect your kitty’s behavior also. We never recommend declawing your cat’s claws, as it not only impacts behavior but your kitty will also lose her claw grip, she won’t be able to protect herself from threats, predators.
Here, we would like to conclude our blog on how to stop cats from scratching. Confidently, we were able to serve you the appropriate trick and solution which might help you out in the future to stop your cat from scratching.
References
- Destructive Scratching — ASPCA
- Train Your Cat to Stop Scratching Your Couch in 7 Days or Less — Purrfect Post
- How to Stop Your Cats From Scratching Furniture — Jackson Galaxy