Pets
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Kitties scratching the leather
Let me start this by saying I love my cats and I'd rather have them than the furniture...
I adopted two kittens a few months ago. At first, I did great with keeping them off the giant leather sectional, but now they go diving over it in their pursuit of fun. They don't scratch the couch intentionally, just when they are jumping with their claws out.
In any event, my couch has tons of holes in it. There are way too many to attempt a leather repairing kit. It may be too late for this couch, and I may just replace it if they ever appear to outgrow this phase, but the couch sort of sections off the living room so jumping over it is the best way to get around it.
Any repair or prevention advice?
Re: Kitties scratching the leather
You can buy a "no-scratch" spray at most pet stores or even Wal-Mart. I use it and it keeps my kitty from scratching our stuff. It doesn't have a smell and it hasn't discolored any of our furniture- but make sure you test it on a small area, first. Also make sure your cats have something else they can scratch. I rub my cat's posts with catnip to be extra sure she will scratch them and not the furniture.
hth
When I got my kitten everything was fine, she never scratched a thing...but suddenly that changed. I tried everything! The sprays, the sticky sheets you stick on things, putting a wooden board under my bed (her favorite thing to scratch was under the mattress), I had scratching posts and toys all over...nothing worked. I was so miserable with her. So I know it's frowned upon but she is an inside cat and I got her declawed. It was cheaper than buying all new furniture, although I did need a new mattress. She is happy and so am I.
Good luck!
Oh I see, you are pretty lucky then. Maybe just don't allow them on the furniture? I used an empty soda can with some change in it and whenever my cat jumped up somewhere I didn't want her I would shake it. For some reason they really don't like this and she learned fast she wasn't allowed on counters and the table.
Our kitten does the same thing. He doesn't scratch intentionally, but our couches are really scratched up from him racing around the house and jumping on and off of them in the process.
We clip his nails weekly and decided we don't care much about the couches; we also don't have holes in them, just scratches.
Have you tried soft paws? That might help.
Declawing is not frowned upon, its a really messed up, selfish thing to do to your cat. Most reputable vets won't even perform the procedure anymore b.c. of the serious effects. The reliable studies show that it causes chronic pain which leads to stress, anxiety, biting, peeing outside the box, and eventually a higher risk of certain diseases like diabetes and kidney failure. My parents had two declawed cats and both had some serious behavioral and medical issues as a result, especially peeing outside the box. Declawing your cat is just plain stupid. It involves an amputation of the bone at the knuckle : /
Honestly, leather is just bad with cats. We've had better luck with microfiber. I think softpaws would be your best bet.
We have the exact same problem. I gave up on it lol The back paws are the worst with it, so on one of our three cats, I do put the claw caps on those for one of our cats which helps. Another one of our cats, well, you can't touch his hind paws or he FREAKS out on you, so that's not an option with him, but he's probably on there the least. Our third cat I just trim her claws, but it doesn't help very much.
Sorry, I'm not very helpful. I am interested in watching this thread for other suggestions, however!