Cat Destroying Your Furniture?

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Lucy, too cute to be bad…

Furniture Being Destroyed by the Family Pet?

Cats love to scratch to mark territory, or maybe just for fun.

Have 2 cats and Lily uses the scratching post. Appropriate, wanted behavior. Lucy scratches on everything but the post.

Lucy loves to scratch on the tightly woven rugs. Not much of an issue. Questioning how much damage is done and is there sufficient reason to stop her? She wasn’t interested in the tight woven carpet on the scratching board.

The carpet she has chosen isn’t expensive. No evidence of the ritual of daily abusive attacks. Keeping her claws clipped helps.

Unfortunately, her carpet attack isn’t the only thing. Horrified to notice her stops along the sofa has done an incredible amount of destruction. Out with the heavy duty clear packing tape. It works wonders for bringing the material back together (although not fixed) to disguise the damage. She has done her interior decorating on 3 sides of the sofa and the back top.

The love seat made of velour has survived. For whatever reason, it doesn’t appeal to her decorating style. Grateful, as I doubt the tape could do much for covering any shredding.

As my daughter once said, “Pick your battles.”

So Lucy gets to scratch on the carpet, to her delight, but gets scolded when she uses the back of the sofa. She never bothers what I have taped, at least so far. Taped the sides up higher to cover the latest territory of her ambitions. Trying to avoid covering more of the sofa in packing tape. Older sofa, but reluctant to invest in a new one. If I got a velour, would she ignore it? Not banking on it.

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Clear Packing Tape or Spray to Deter Scratching

If your cat insists on scratching on your beloved sofa or easy chair, try heavy duty clear packing tape. I had other cats that scratched on a couple of velour easy chairs, so no guarantee. I kept one chair and put a blanket over it. Another blanket over the cushion. It’s fine and functional. Neither cat tries to destroy it.

With new furniture, ignoring the assault would be exceedingly difficult. May want to try a spray to deter scratching. Some have success with sprays. But you can count on each cat having a distinct personality. My cat, before Lily and Lucy, only scratched on the little scratching board, never even scratched on the scratching post. She played on the tree, but never scratched on it.

Had a Kimball organ years ago. Several cats scratched on the material that covered the portion beside the pedals. Used clear packing tape and they left it alone. So the tape comes in handy. It works great for removing cat hair… but that is another issue.

Do you have a furniture destroying feline?

Have you found a successful solution?