how to stop them from straching funiture? Help Please

On Jul 16, 11:01*am, ensoul wrote:
as an adult I've always had cats, this is the first for 2 (litter
mates,neutered, indoor) and I'm get a good used couch

they have 3 straching posts..one is too small but they still use, the
other just goes straight up and is more than tall enough and the 3rd
is one the climbing types taller than me, I'm 5ft with plently of room
to strach

I live in a small 2 bdrm place

I can't be here all the time to correct it and all the cat books I've
read say to divert them to the real post unless you're home 24/7 I
can't do that

be damned If I cover the thine in plastic, but I can put it against
the wall to limits their area to get at
is there anything I can cover the sides with?

with the old one I tried those plastic mats you use during winter and
used unholestry tacks to keep them up no matter what I did the plastic
doesn't stay up

I read that cats hate citrus, anyone had luck spraying area's with
citrus or can think of something I can cover the area with? they don't
strach the area you sit on

appreciate any help

Lynn

Hi Lynn,
I was in the same quandary a month ago, with a wing chair. Here's what
I did. First I covered the corners and lower back with Sticky Paws.
Then
I got them a new scratching post with both sisal and carpet surface.
I bought a product called "No Scratch", a pump spray and used it too.
It's working so far.
They go after the new scratching post with gusto, but they are
completely ignoring the chair. And they were well on their way to
shredding the corners & back a month ago.
I know all that is expensive. Even if you could use the sticky tape,
and either fashion a homemade scratching post, or recover their
old one it would probably be enough. The attraction is that it's
new. You know how cats can't resist something new.
As far as the pump spray, I really don't know if it deterred them or
not.
It was a clear spray, and the first ingredient was "garlic" although
it
had no scent at all that was discernable to me.
Last resort tip: If your kitties stay indoors, you can clip the ends
of their
claws. Just the edge, the little hooky part at the very end.

Good luck!

Sherry

Sherry sriddles aol.com wrote:

I was in the same quandary a month ago, with a wing chair.
Here's what I did. First I covered the corners and lower back
with Sticky Paws. Then I got them a new scratching post with
both sisal and carpet surface. I bought a product called "No
Scratch", a pump spray and used it too. It's working so far.
They go after the new scratching post with gusto, but they are
completely ignoring the chair. And they were well on their way
to shredding the corners & back a month ago. I know all that is
expensive. Even if you could use the sticky tape, and either
fashion a homemade scratching post, or recover their old one it
would probably be enough. The attraction is that it's new. You
know how cats can't resist something new. As far as the pump
spray, I really don't know if it deterred them or not. It was a
clear spray, and the first ingredient was "garlic" although it
had no scent at all that was discernable to me. Last resort tip:
If your kitties stay indoors, you can clip the ends of their
claws. Just the edge, the little hooky part at the very end.

Nothing wrong with that. The only concern is like with a male cat
that could conceivably get outside, not come back, and end up
having to fight with some other male cat before his claws grow and
shed enough to become sharp again (about two weeks). Clipping
their claws is harmless with that very unlikely exception. Not
sure about climbing trees, I guess it depends on exactly how much
you clip, and again that is a very unlikely situation for an
indoor-only cat.

Clipping a cat's claws is a very effective method to modify
behavior, since they totally depend on their claws.

In case anyone has not mentioned this... Upside down packaging
tape works wonders for keeping your cat off of an area. It is
cheap and easy to replace. It is a very good hands-free method of
correction. When your cat trespasses and gets stuck to the tape,
you even get to play "rescuer" as if you had nothing to do with it
and you are just rescuing the poor thing. Used responsibly and
conservatively (without overdoing it), it is an excellent method
for keeping your cats away from things they are better off
avoiding. One of the best uses I found was when living in a
no-pets apartment and taking care of a stray, to keep it off of
the windowsill. The only real drawback is having to avoid the tape
yourself.

Good luck and have fun.

"Sherry" wrote in message
...
On Jul 16, 11:01 am, ensoul wrote:
as an adult I've always had cats, this is the first for 2 (litter
mates,neutered, indoor) and I'm get a good used couch

they have 3 straching posts..one is too small but they still use, the
other just goes straight up and is more than tall enough and the 3rd
is one the climbing types taller than me, I'm 5ft with plently of room
to strach

I live in a small 2 bdrm place

I can't be here all the time to correct it and all the cat books I've
read say to divert them to the real post unless you're home 24/7 I
can't do that

be damned If I cover the thine in plastic, but I can put it against
the wall to limits their area to get at
is there anything I can cover the sides with?

with the old one I tried those plastic mats you use during winter and
used unholestry tacks to keep them up no matter what I did the plastic
doesn't stay up

I read that cats hate citrus, anyone had luck spraying area's with
citrus or can think of something I can cover the area with? they don't
strach the area you sit on

appreciate any help

Lynn

Hi Lynn,
I was in the same quandary a month ago, with a wing chair. Here's what
I did. First I covered the corners and lower back with Sticky Paws.
Then
I got them a new scratching post with both sisal and carpet surface.
I bought a product called "No Scratch", a pump spray and used it too.
It's working so far.
They go after the new scratching post with gusto, but they are
completely ignoring the chair. And they were well on their way to
shredding the corners & back a month ago.
I know all that is expensive. Even if you could use the sticky tape,
and either fashion a homemade scratching post, or recover their
old one it would probably be enough. The attraction is that it's
new. You know how cats can't resist something new.
As far as the pump spray, I really don't know if it deterred them or
not.
It was a clear spray, and the first ingredient was "garlic" although
it
had no scent at all that was discernable to me.
Last resort tip: If your kitties stay indoors, you can clip the ends
of their
claws. Just the edge, the little hooky part at the very end.

Good luck!

Sherry

I have a keyboard amplifier my cats liked to sharpen their claws on. I
covered it with a cloth cover, and they didn't like the flimseyness of the
cloth, so they stopped using it for that. I think if you sewed flimsey cloth
covers for the furniture you didn't want them to claw at, it would
discourage them. They seem to like soft wood best, and things covered in
carpet next.