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Hi,
We have a couple of cats and a new sofa is arriving next week.
They have shredded the old one. The only thing that stops this is a throw. Scratching posts parked directly infront of the favorite scratching place were pushed aside in favor of the couch.
Other than a throw has anything else preserved your sofas?
Citrus spray?
Double sided tape?
Anything else?
Cheers
Martin
Smear it in lion poo.
A sack and a couple of bricks?
We got a couple of scratch pads made out of corrugated cardboard and regularly sprinkle them with dried catnip. Virtually all scratching is focussed there.
Scratching posts parked directly infront of the favorite scratching place were pushed aside in favor of the couch.
Put a sign on the new one "Cats scratch here". They're cats, they always do the opposite of what you want them to do, just to prove their independence.
But seriously, I don't know and will be watching this thread for ideas, we keep ours out of the room with the good sofa.
🙂
The final solution is clearly no cats. That was vetoed!
Catnip and cardboard will get a go. On of them loves sitting in cardboard boxes and shredding them loudly 🙂
It's like having a new bike once it's got a few scratches you still like it. I like cats not so keen on dogs
Google cat anti scratch tape. You'll probably only need to keep it on temporarily as they'll keep the association.
Funnily enough I also have this issue. 3 siamese with new expensive couches arriving next week. I said I'd never ever have new couches again but the wife pulled rank and ordered them. We usually have a couple of plant sprays either side of couches which works great when we are in the room.....
Have you tried the flat cardboard scratchers? Mine loves them (doesn't touch the upright ones) and will scratch on his cardboard in preference to the sofa (usually).
Yeh ours went mad for the flat cardboard scratcher (with catnip). The sit on it, scratch it, sleep on it, they even have an excited scratch whilst I'm sorting their dinner. Its got holes both ends right through now.
The downside is you end up with bits of cardboard everywhere
Oddly enough, I'm in the same position only the other way around. I have an expensive leather sofa and inherited a cat a couple of weeks ago. She's absolutely destroyed the sofa at her old home.
I got one of these and screwed it to the most prominent corner:
https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/owl-on-a-branch-corner-cat-scratcher
One downside, it needs to be screwed to the sofa. It seems to mostly work, she took to it straight away. It didn't stop her having a go at the other corner though, so I've ghetto-fixed that by taping a couple of cushions round it until I can get another one. I might give this a punt:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/iPawde-Transparent-Protecting-Upholstered-Scratching/dp/B07NW8HCG7
And this looks like it might be promising:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Navaris-Cat-Scratch-Sofa-Shield/dp/B07NF16F1G
Nope.
Other than cutting your cat's feet off, I can't see anything working!
Spray it on the sofa, not the cats. It stopped mine from scratching the sofa
https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/pet-behave-training-spray
Our cats destroyed the leather sofas and the dining chairs. New sofa is cloth and we have scratching pads over the corners. Re-covered the dining chairs with fabric.
We got two new leather sofas and our cats absolutely destroyed them within weeks. Completely shredded.
We recently replaced them with another two leather sofas and the cats haven’t touched them, other than to fall asleep on them. We’ve had them a couple of months now and there’s not been the remotest interest in tearing them to pieces.
I’m pretty sure the little bastards are just lulling us into a false sense of security before they spend an entire day going at them with Stanley knives
How about Kevlar fabric? https://www.mcmaster.com/kevlar-sheets
@cranberry - that is one stunning feline! Beautiful animal. 😍
Or even better there’s this stuff, ballistic nylon/Kevlar cloth, it’s the same stuff that’s used on the impact/abrasion points of gloves etc for motorcycling, mountain biking, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Denier-Coated-Ballistic-Nylon/dp/B00I80KU7C/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=kevlar+fabric+sheets&qid=1578846560&sr=8-3
CoutZero -thanks, one of a pair, who like to play Leopards and Tasty Atelopes with my leather couch.
I love the idea of a Kevlar sofa corner!
While looking for that I dick eyed you can actually buy Kevlar underpants- perfect for brambles or motorbikes😀
We have 2 cats and got some leather sofas a few years ago. I made some corner cardboard protectors from supermarket cardboard boxes which have done the trick.
The cardboard is black so doesn’t look too rubbish with grey sofas.
@cranberry - they’re adorable, but they’ve got mischief written all over them!
Just look at those little faces, butter wouldn’t melt, etc... 😊
@CountZero = I still have flashbacks to when they were kittens.
@disco_stu - cardboard can be defeated...
kitty in kayak's post looks like he wants to be put out his of misery!
"What kind of a life is this!"
The horizontal cardboard scratchers get a big thumbs up from me. Ours loves them, she sometimes sleeps on it, which is about 2ft from her bed. So get one either way!
What about one of these, not tried them personally but looks like it could help deter them. I can't imagine they would be needed long term, just enough to put the cats off perhaps.
What about one of these
I linked to something near-identical earlier in the thread, and have since bought them. They're basically Blue Peter-esque sticky backed plastic. It was like having to fit the world's largest phone screen protector and I had to make a couple of snips to get them to fit round a funny angle, but so far so good.
Sofa, so good 😀
The cats have shown 0 interest in shredding the new sofa!
I’ve bought a roll of double sided tape, I’ll try it out on the older sofa where it’s been shredded and see if it makes a difference 😀