this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2024
966 points (99.4% liked)
cats
19295 readers
1050 users here now
typical internet cats. videos, pics, memes welcome!
rule 1) be kind
other cat communities midwest.social cats
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
My one cat has soggy noodles for brains and has decided after nearly seven years that she's going to start scratching on the corners of our couch. She hasn't done any real damage yet, but she's caught in the act and ran off at least once per day. To make it worse, her cat tree (complete with multiple scratching posts) is in front of the window between the two couches, and 2/3 of the time she chooses those.
The couches are old at this point and covered in stains (they've survived nearly five years of parenthood), so they're not of significant value to us, but we would like to buy a new livingroom set. I don't know how to break this cat of her noodle-brained choices before doing so. Spray bottle doesn't do much good, as the noodles don't store enough memory to ever connect her actions to her consequence, and de-clawing is extremely cruel and not something we're open to.
You might want to try soft claws. They're little plastic caps in the shape of a cat's nail (except soft not pointed) that you fill with a non-toxic adhesive that comes with the pack and attach to the cat's nails. Over time the cat naturally sheds their nails and the nail caps come off with them and you just replace them again when that happens. They say it doesn't bother the cats and they don't even notice but I think they're exaggerating a bit there because my cats hate the process of having the nail put on which makes me feel bad but once it is actually on they quickly forget about it and it doesn't bug them.
It's not a perfect solution the claws are finicky to work with, the applicator for the adhesive gets clogged with dry glue, the cats don't really like having the nails applied, the caps themselves are really quite expensive and some items like wooden furniture, still get damaged even with the soft claws but the damage in such cases is still greatly reduced and for soft items like a couch it pretty much stops them doing any damage.
One thing to keep in mind though, don't buy cheap ones off eBay, they're not worth a cent, the cats hate them for some reason, they don't seem as well manufactured and they don't come with little cleats inside to help lock it in place. Because the cats absolutely hate them so much and are definitely bothered by them they immediately pull them off straight after you've applied them and they're just a waste of your time and an unnecessary source of stress for your poor kitty. I've found 2 brands that seem to actually be good and they're both a lot more expensive then I'd like but at least you can buy a supply of several months and save your possessions from destruction. The two that worked for me are Soft Claws and Soft Paws. Claws seems slightly cheaper. I think they might actually be the same product since they have the exact same artwork and typeface for their packaging and logos and the caps themselves seem to be identical, one of them just says claws and the other paws. Weirdly enough they've both chosen to use Garfield on their packaging and somehow I'm fairly sure neither has paid for the privilege.
I'll give these a shot if other approaches don't work. Thanks for the info!