I will not declaw them...

[femke]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has any tips for stopping cats from scratching thing you dont want them to scratch. We have three cats (all males) and they are all awesome and sweet. We bought a new house last march (brand new), it's our first house and we were so proud to get it. The cats absolutely love it coz they can look outside all the time and they have so much more room than in our old basement appartment.

The thing is that they have picked up the habit of scratching our stairs. (they're covered with carpet) not just one particular spot either but all over. They have done the damage, nothing can be done to fix it other than put new carpet on it. Which is not worth doing while they have not gotten out of the habbit. We have bought them scratchposts, they dont even look at them. I have tried to clip their nails so they're not so sharp coz someone advised me to do that but I find that just makes them do it more (to sharpen their nails again). I tell them off, scold at them if I catch them doing it.

Some of my friends told me to get them declawed but I refuse to do that. I am against that and think it's cruel. Did anyone else have to deal with the problem? If so what worked for your cat? I heard that you can buy spray that they're not supposed to like the scent and leave it alone, does that actually work? I have been tempted to buy them one of those " cat tree houses" where they can climb on and lay on and scratch etc. but am afraid to spend a lot of money for nothing coz they were never even interested in the scratchposts we bought...

All three of them do it and I'd like for them to stop, any advice is welcome!

 

[Fran27]

No help here, but I got a story for you.

When I moved in here, my husband didn't have a couch. He had nothing in his living room in fact. I don't watch tv much, but I wanted one and a couch. Luckily for us, my parents in law bought a new couch, so they offered to give us theirs.

So we went to pick it up (5 hours away). I had a very bad feeling as soon as I saw the couch, because it's one of those canva couches (not sure if I make sense, but they're made of lots of strings with colors applied to them, there is a pic somewhere in my gallery of the dogs on it). We warned the parents in law, but we got the couch anyway.

I think it took a whole week before the sides were totally ripped off, and now since we got Tips the bottom of it got partly eaten as well. Needless to say, I don't dare inviting the parents in law anymore

Moral of the story... when you have cats, just make sure that everything you buy is claw-proof. I've lived with 8 different cats, and they ALL clawed the couch, carpet etc...

 

[femke]

LOL that sounds bad!! They did claw our old couches, but have left our new (secondhand) ones alone. i think they dont like this material. hmmm I'll have to consider something other than carpet for our stairs then I guess haha. By the way your dogs are adorable!

 

[Saje]

Have you tried rubbing cat nip (or cat nip spray) on the scratching posts? They usually love that and it's supposed to help encourage them to scratch there. Or wood or tile floors???

 

[Gempress]

There's a product out that I personally haven't tried, but a neighbor swears by it. They're little plastic caps that fit over your cat's claws and are secured by a non-toxic glue. Your cat can still extend and retract his claws normally, but the caps keep them from scratching. Here's a link:

cat caps

 

[Zoom]

There's a product out that I personally haven't tried, but a neighbor swears by it. They're little plastic caps that fit over your cat's claws and are secured by a non-toxic glue. Your cat can still extend and retract his claws normally, but the caps keep them from scratching. Here's a link:

cat caps

Exactly what I was going to suggest. And they come in such neat colors!

 

[AmberwayGSD]

Tinfoil works too.Your place will look like a spaceship but cats dont like the feel and sound of it.Wrap it onto whatever you dont want them to scratch ie couch chair etc.

 

[LorriF]

I would rub catnip on the scratching posts, and sprinkle some on the base of the post as well--they will then be attracted to that. Cats HATE the smell of citrus, so try spritzing an orange scented spray (cleaner or whatever) on your carpeted stairs--I would say check to make sure it doesn't change the colour, but you said the carpet is already barfed anyway. Or you can put some orange peel on the stairs to see if that deters them.

I have used cat repellant before, and it also seemed to work pretty well--I found that the scent/deterrence was short lived though.

 

[Ash47]

Softpaws or Cat Caps. They work wonders and cause no harm to the kitty. One reason I would never get mine declawed is because you never know if one day you may have to give them up or they may escape... Then what?

 

[femke]

Thank you so much for all the help! I've been talking to my husband about it and we're probably gonna get the soft-claws to try and see if they work. I will also get some catnip today and a citrus scented spray. I'm really hoping that it'll work! I would also never declaw my cats but mostly for the reason that I just think it's cruel. It's causing your cat a huge amount of pain just for your own convenience. Where i'm from (The Netherlands) it is actually illigal to declaw a cat coz it's considered animal cruelty, same in a lot of other european countries. I just couldn't put my babies through that... I'd rather have my stairs wrecked lol. Thanks again!

 

[Irish]

Femke-
I just wanted to say I think its great that you won't get your cats declawed. I agree with you, it is so painful to them. My cats have destroyed more than a few things in my house, but I still refuse to get them declawed. Good luck with the cat caps, let us know if they work!

 

[Sheba]

We got our cats declawed, well I think they came declawed, I'm not sure... They sometimes claw at the couch but only when we are around to stop them LOL!I'm pretty sure ours is one of those threaded ones, too.

 

[Fran27]

I don't like the idea of caps at all personally I don't even want to imagine how annoying it must be for them, and if they get out of the house they will still be unable to defend themselves.

 

[mwood322]

One Thing I might recommend.

Make sure the scratching posts aren't carpeted. Just like dogs, cats don't generalize well. I buy my cat the cardboard box scratchers, and she doesn't scratch anything else in the house, at least not heavily. Catnip generally comes with them, and they aren't very expensive. I also used the citrus spray, which works great until it wears off.

--Mia

 

[amymarley]

I have to agree with all above! Declawing is barbaric...most vets won't even do it anymore. Use the caps, use the cat nip on a few scratching posts. As for them going on any surface, again the tin foil, baking sheets on the couch will also work. One great thing is 2 sided tape. Esp. for counters, or tables. Cats HATE the tape (it won't hurt them) and usually only takes a couple of days for it to work, if not sooner. If the tape, cookie sheets, and tin foil don't work, then go for the caps. Every once in a while, just to make sure, use the tape when it's un expected. They will stay off the furniture... as for scratching, you can put the tape on that as well. But, for a positive reward, have several scratching posts with cat nip.

 

[moe]

I wouldnt dream of declawing our cat, but in the early days she tried destroying our house, so I took her to the vets and had claw covers put on her(she is a house cat never goes out) these little covers are like gel sheaths that slide over the claws and prevents the cat from scratching everything in sight,you glue them on, they do fall off but you just replace them, they were a god send, they never harmed the cat, she did not mind having them and I only used them til she had gotten out of the habit of clawing furniture, I placed a scratch post directly in front of her favorite place to scratch(my armchair) and within a few weeks it was all over, she is now 6 years old and never scratches anything other than her post.

Mo

 

[Naturegurl]

All of my cats are indoor only cats. I have declawed (front paws) on all of them. Thrust me they aren't helpless they can rip you good with the back claws.
My cats have suffered no ill effects from being declawed. I have them spayed/neutered and declawed all at once soon as they are old enough.