Is your pet cat scratching and clawing the life out of the furniture in your living room? You’re not alone, every cat owner deals with this inconvenience.

If you’re wondering how to keep cats from scratching furniture, this article is for you. Read on to find out how you can get your cat to keep her claws off your couch.

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Before trying to rectify your cat’s destructive behavior, you first need to understand the motives behind it. These motives include the following. 

To be healthy and happy, cats need to be active. Scratching is one of the ways in which felines exercise and stretch out their muscles. 

Scratching engages muscles and tendons all over your cat’s body, from her toes all the way to her neck and shoulders.

Scratching is also a form of communication in feline social structures. 

There are glands between cats’ paws that secrete scents that enable them to mark their territory upon scratching. Your cat will still deem it necessary to do this even if she’s the only feline in the household.

By scratching on things, including your furniture, felines are able to shed old layers at their claw tips to make way for new ones. This helps your cat maintain the sharpness of her claws. 

Finally, scratching simply makes cats feel good. It’s a way for them to release built-up tension and stress. 

Also, it reduces the risk of them developing unwanted behaviors such as forgoing the litterbox and doing the deed on your carpet.

Why Do Cats Scratch Furniture in the First Place?

Now that we’ve established that scratching is an integral part of a cat’s well-being, the next step is to discuss the measures you can take to keep your cat’s claws away from your furniture. 

Here are some tips on how to redirect your cat’s scratching elsewhere:

Make sure that your house contains at least one surface that your cat can scratch away at with no issues. This can come in the form of a scratching post. 

Make sure to get one that’s tall and stable, and that’s made of a suitable material such as sisal fabric. Materials such as sisal will entice your cat to scratch on them, while other materials may be completely ignored by your cat as she continues to scratch away at your furniture.

Where you place scratching posts around the house is a key part of their effectiveness. Some general guidelines to follow when positioning scratching posts are:

Place the scratching posts in places where your cat likes to rest and play. These may be places such as the living room and near windows.

Cats get the itch to scratch after waking from a nap, so placing a post next to where they sleep is a good idea.

Place posts near the furniture they tend to scratch.

Don’t place posts in secluded, hidden parts of the house. They must be in conspicuous spots that allow your cat to mark her territory in front of everyone.

Make Your Furniture Undesirable For Scratching

You can discourage your cat from scratching the furniture in several ways, these include:

Spraying a citrus scent on the couch, as cats aren’t very fond of citrus.

Using aluminum foil or a sheet to cover the area your cat likes to scratch.

Making the areas your cat likes to scratch hard to reach. 

Sprinkling catnip or spraying honeysuckle on scratching posts will make your cat much more likely to explore it and get to scratching away on it. 

And like we mentioned earlier, there are materials that entice cats more than others, like sisal fabric. So, be sure to invest in a scratching post that’s made of such materials. 

When you catch your pet feline red-handed scratching at furniture, make a loud noise to get her attention and lead her to a scratching post instead. 

Teach your cat that scratching on posts comes with rewards. You can do so by giving her catnip or treats when she does it.

Overgrown claws can increase a cat’s desire to scratch. That being said, you need to make sure you’re maintaining your cat’s claws correctly by clipping them every few weeks. 

Ways to Stop Your Cat From Scratching Furniture

In order for scratching posts to be effective in becoming your cat’s alternative scratching surface to furniture, she must take to them willingly.

What you should never do is try to force your cat to use a scratching post. For instance, holding your cat next to a scratching post and dragging her claws on it will definitely backfire. It’s likely to make her give the post, as well as you, a wide berth.

Another mistake that some people make is discarding their cat’s favorite scratching post when it becomes an eyesore. These posts should be kept because they smell, feel, and look familiar to your cat. This makes her less likely to relapse into furniture scratching.

Things You Should Avoid

As frustrating as cat scratching can be, it’s definitely not a justification for declawing. 

There’s a common misconception among cat owners that declawing is the equivalent of clipping your nails, but that’s not true. 

Declawing your pet feline involves the amputation of the last bone of each of her toes. This is equivalent to cutting off a human’s fingers at the last knuckle. Needless to say, that’s incredibly painful and inhumane.

Declawing is a highly serious procedure that offers no medical benefit to your cat, and can also cause her a number of issues, including:

The declawing process inflicts severe pain in your cat’s paws, and this pain lasts well beyond the average recovery period.

Declawing leaves your cat with significant wounds in each of her paws, drastically raising the chances of infection.

Declawing is a highly invasive procedure in which mistakes can happen. These mistakes can potentially lead to bone spurs and nerve damage.

Claws are a way for cats to feel safe because they allow them to defend themselves. Removing a cat’s claws will make her feel unprotected, leading to her having an aggressive demeanor and being more likely to bite.

Is Declawing a Good Idea?

Scratching is a behavior that is innate to cats and it provides many health benefits to them. It’s a method of stress relief, as well as a way in which they keep their claws in tip-top shape. Further, scratching is also a way for cats to communicate that they consider a certain area their territory.

Having your cat leave scratch marks all over your furniture can be quite frustrating, but there are many ways that you can curb this behavior.

Investing in a scratching post for your cat, and making it an attractive scratching surface for her, is the best course of action.

How to Keep Cats From Scratching Furniture

Why Do Cats Scratch Furniture in the First Place?

Ways to Stop Your Cat From Scratching Furniture

Things You Should Avoid

Is Declawing a Good Idea?

Conclusion

How to Keep Cats From Scratching Furniture

Why Do Cats Scratch Furniture in the First Place?

Ways to Stop Your Cat From Scratching Furniture

Things You Should Avoid

Is Declawing a Good Idea?

Conclusion

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