Soft Paws® Can Help Save your Sofa
Do you have a cat that likes to scratch the arms of your sofa? It's a common thing for cats to enjoy scratching because sofas are tall, sturdy, and often covered in a material that's fun to scratch. The good news is that you can teach your cat not to scratch your sofa. Here are some tips to help you get started.
Make Your Sofa an Unattractive Spot to Scratch
If your sofa wasn't so nice to scratch, your cat might stop using it. Here are a few deterrents that can be employed to make your sofa unattractive for scratching:
- Cover the scratched areas with a heavy towel or blanket, tucked in well. Towels, especially, can catch cats' claws when they scratch and make them think twice before doing so.
- Cover the sofa arms with foil. Some cats hate the feeling of aluminum foil under their feet and claws, so covering the sofa arms with it can deter them from scratching.
- Try a citrus spray on the sofa arms. Cats dislike the smell of citrus, so using a spray on the sofa arms can deter scratching. However, always check for colorfastness in a non-visible area first.
- Spray the sofa with Feliway. Cats often scratch because they feel stressed, and Feliway helps calm them down and defer the urge to scratch that area. Learn more: "What Is Feliway and How Does It Work?"
Cats need to scratch to help keep their toes, feet, and backs healthy and to release stress and stay mentally healthy. Your goal should not be to stop your cat from scratching but to protect inappropriate scratching spots from damage and provide appropriate spots.
Provide Attractive, Acceptable Scratching Posts
If you want your cat to stop scratching your sofa, you will need to provide him with proper alternatives that are OK with you. Scratching posts that are tall, sturdy, and covered in sisal fabric or heavy corrugated cardboard are generally the best accepted by cats.
Put your scratching posts in high-traffic areas of your home because that's where cats like to show off and mark their territory. Once your cat is using the posts and ignoring your sofa, you can slowly move them to different spots if you wish.
Sprinkle the new posts with catnip or spray them with honeysuckle to increase your cat's interest in them. You can also use a wand toy to get your cat excited and playing and then drape the end of it across the post. When your cat leaps at the wand, his claws will sink into the post, and that will help him learn that it's a great scratching surface.
If your cat is avoiding the new scratching post, try laying it on its side and putting a cat toy or some catnip on it. This allows your cat to explore it for a bit and discover what it's good for before you set it back up.
Never punish your cat for scratching inappropriate items. That will cause stress, and stressed cats are more likely to scratch inappropriately, so the problem could worsen.
Use Soft Paws® While You Train
Applying Soft Paws® to your cat's claws while you are training him on where you want him to scratch can help protect your sofa. It will also decrease your stress level so you'll have more patience for training.
Cats wearing Soft Paws® can still extend and retract their claws and go through all the motions and feel the satisfaction of scratching. However, because the vinyl caps cover the sharp claw, little or no damage is done to the scratched surface.
Soft Paws® don't hurt your cat when they are applied correctly, and they fall off as the outer part of the claw is naturally shed. They also come in great color combinations, and people have fun choosing them and seeing their cat wear them. You can learn more here: "Facts About Cat Claws."
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