New couch + old cat...what to do about her claws???

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Ok, my family is getting a new couch this coming weekend and we are going to have to do something about my cat's habit of sharpening her claws on our furniture. Now since she's my cat my parents are making me decide what to do.

They have given me four different solutions to decide from:
#1: Have her de-clawed
#2: Have some kind of cap glued to her claws every month
#3: Give her away
#4: Move out and take her with me

I have until Friday night until my dad makes the decision...which will probably be sending her to the pound. I don't like any of the suggestions that were given to me by my dad for different reasons. Any suggestions would really be appreciated.

 

Are you telling me that the couch is more important than the cat? What kind of people are you anyway?

Now that I have that out of my system try giving the cat a scratching post, maybe you could give the cat treats every time s/he uses the post and in that way you'll never have to worry about the couch. Having the cat declawed is stupid because said cat will never balance properly again, and it will also be unable to defend itself.

 

My cat loves to scratch the couch and he's had a scratching post since I got him! He prefers the couch to the post!

 

Try a nail file

 

The easy solution is to get a wooden board and place it against the couch. Once it realises that it can't scratch the furniture, it will use the post that you will end up needing.

What is happening to your old couch? If your gonna ditch it, dont. Try and find some space in your room, and put it in there. That way, you have a comfy place to sit and a scratching post for the cat.

 

If you can, keep the living room door shut to keep the cat out. Get the scratching post, train it to use that, then if the living room door is opened the cat shouldn't use the new sofa.

 

Buy a dog.

 

Don't worry about getting the cat declawed, but do the front feet only and plan to be vigilant about keeping the cat indoors. That crap about "never be able to balance again" is pure BS. When Velcro and I got together, he had one indoor-only cat with no front claws and I had three indoor-outdoor fully armed monsters. All three of mine were promptly declawed and kept inside. They don't seem to miss the outdoors very much and there were never any issues of balance. The only behavior change I noticed was that one cat didn't enjoy playing with balloons anymore, because popping them became so much work.

 

Do what you think you should, but remember that having a cat declawed involves cutting off the ends of its toes, not just cutting the claws.

 

Never de claw a cat, a cat needs those things as much as it's tail!

Never buy a dog!!

Just get some anti cat odor, it's completely odorless for humans but for cats its bitter as hell. Just try that, it helped for our cat.

 

I'm against de-clawing as a whole, because I know what can happen to a declawed cat that happens to get outdoors. However, if you're confident that she will *not*, then you should go with that option. I mean, it's your cat.
But, assuming that you don't want her declawed (which I'm just doing for the sake of this argument) there are several ways you can go about this....
Keep her nails trimmed regularly. You can buy an inexpensive nail clipper from any pet store, but MAKE SURE you get the one for cats. If you hold a cats paw by the middle pad and push very gently, you can unseath her claws. If you look, you'll see a dark line that starts halfway down her claw. This is a vein. You do not want to cut too close to that. It's hard to miss it, but look and make sure you can see it before you go near her with any sort of clippers. It's also best to see how well she reacts to you manhandling her paws before attempting to do it yourself. Some cats are perfectly fine with it and some go nuts. If she's not comfortable with it at all, it's best all around to have a vet or a pet groomer do it for you.
Anyway, trimming them about once every couple of weeks will help to curb her urges to sharpen her claws on any piece of furniture. The next thing to do is to buy a spray bottle. This is the hardest, cause if you're a big, fat meanie like I am, it's hilarious to spray the poor little guys and watch them whip around and try to figure out where the hell the water came from. But the purpose is, if you see your cat scratching or attempting to scratch the furniture, squirt them once really quickly. A couple of times, if once doesn't get her attention. The biggest thing is to make sure that she doesn't see you do it..... that way she associates scratching with the squirt, and not you.
I also had a vet tell me once that you can use a mixture of vinegar water, which is worse because it smells bad and the cat can't get it off their fur. I never tried this, so I'm not attesting to how it works.
Actually, you know what? Go out and buy Cats For Dummies, seriously... it covers most of your basic training things, and everything I said here as well. And if all else fails, just have her declawed and don't worry about it.

 

I hate cats, but I was sad when we had to give ours away -- weird, huh? I have no problem with de-clawing the cat -- don't let him go out where he can get in any fights, is all. I know some find it cruel, but then so is neutering or spaying if you want to look at it that way. The cat will be fine, and your furniture will not suffer.

 

Unless your cat hunts regularly, or you leave him outside often enough where he gets in regular fights with other cats in your neighborhood, I say declaw him. I have 3 cats, all declawed, and they're just fine. My middle cat, Lucy, has been declawed since she was a kitten and she can kick a dog's ass. She's a lil' scrappah!

A domesticated cat really has little use for it's claws, and probably won't miss them. It's not as cruel as people make it out to be. Sucks for the cat, but he'll get over it. I promise.

 

Perhaps I should have given a history of my cat. Well, here it goes:
My cat has been an indoor cat ever since we moved up to Utah 4 years ago. We have bought her a cat toy that has a scratching pad in the center and a scratching post...she refuses to use the post, but she uses the cat toy quite often. The problem is, she still sharpens her claws on the couches.

I've never heard of that...more info please!

Yeah, that's easier said than done. I think my cat prefers a bath over getting her nails clipped.

I know, I squirt her all the time. My cat is such a fat lazy bum, running down the hall is about the only exercise she gets

 

It's called bitterbite, just spray it over the couch' parts your cat molests and he/she will leave it alone. It's completely odorless and I'm sure you won't be licking your new couch right.

We got the stuff at our local petstore so it should be fairly easy to get.

Make sure you be there the first few times you use it cause cats are stubborn, if he/she still attacks the couch spray some on it's paws, won't do her harm it just teaches it not to touch the couch.

Oh and a cat so needs it's nails indoors, our cat uses it's nails with everything inside except for walking. Jumping running everything, don't de claw your cat or you want a cat that doesn't do nothing all day long.

 

First of all, declawing is mutilation. I know out here in California, some cities are outlawing declawing because of the cruelty. I've worked in several vet clinics where the veterinarian refused to do declawing. If you do go that route, I suggest asking for references. A lot of vets actually can't do it properly which causes a lot more medical problems down the road.
Rastlin, I'm impressed at your suggestion of giving treats. That is probably your best bet. Let me expand on this one. Take your cat into another room. PLace the scratching post on the floor. As soon as the cat makes any movement, or even looks at the scratching post, give him/her a treat. Keep rewarding the cat for showing any interest in the scratching post. Soon the cat will start to realize that it will get a treat by going to the scratching post, with most cats, this should take about 15-20 minutes. After a short bit, you can start rewarding the cat when it touches the post. Doesn't have to be with its feet just yet. Then it will start to realize it has to touch the scratching post. Then move to when the cat touches the post with its feet. And finally, only reward when it scratches it.
When the cat is in the room with the couch, everytime the cat makes a move to the couch, give it a stern, "NO" and pick the cat up and put it near the scratching post. Then reward the cat.
Try to do this little excersise 2-3 times a day for about 15-20 minutes each time. Try morning, afternoon and evening. Or as much as you can during the day. Be patient and most importantly, don't spend too much time each session or the cat will become bored and it won't work.
My wife did this with our two cats and it took roughly four days and the cat no longer scratched on the chair.
I know this was long, I tried to give the basic of operant conditioning in as short a form as possible. Good-luck!

 

Declawing a cat is rather cruel. It's almost the same as chopping off the fingertips of a kid that is touching things he/she shouldn't.

There is a spray that you can get that makes the couch smell bad to the cat (not the human) and they might leave it alone.

 

http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

Read this

 

Most vets have recommened claw caps to me. Lets the cat keeps the claws, but keeps those claws from poking holes in you, or the furniture in this case.
Also, catnip oil spray is a wondefful thig if your cat likes catnip. A few sprays on the post, and suddenly she couldn't get enough of it...
But not all cats react to catnip that way.

 

None....put blankets on the couch....