Is your cat slowly shredding up your living room couch or favorite chair?  While frustrating, you are certainly not alone among cat parents.  Keeping your cat from scratching furniture, carpet or window dressings in your home may seem next to impossible at times, but with the right method and attitude, you can help save your household’s look while still fulfilling your cat’s needs.  This article will help you understand why scratching in cats is perfectly natural and healthy, and give you some concrete steps for redirecting their scratching onto surfaces that you approve.   

Understanding Why Cats Scratch

Scratching is a normal behavior in all cats, and cats scratch for a variety of reasons.  Understanding the drivers of scratching can help us design better strategies for getting our cats to stop scratching the things we want them to avoid, and redirect that behavior to a human approved place.  Marking territory, both visually and with their scent, is one reason for scratching.  Cats have scent glands in their front paws, and scratching leaves their scent on their objects of choice.  While not easily detectable for humans, this scent can most certainly be picked up by other cats and animals.  Further, scratch marks provide a visual marker of their presence to other cats and passerby.  This is why cats tend to eschew scratching objects in tucked away places and prefer to showcase their markings on what is centrally located.

Cats also scratch for exercise.  They often love to stretch their backs by reaching their front paws up high to scratch, often after waking up from a nap.  They might also scratch when excited or high energy, allowing them to release some energy and enjoy themselves doing it.  

Scratching also helps keep your cat’s claws from becoming overgrown. The act of scratching enables your cat to naturally slough off the outermost layers of their nails that have died, keeping them sharp and ready for hunting, climbing, defending themselves, or whatever else life might throw their way.  

If we see cats scratching objects that we’d prefer they’d avoid, don’t simply react in the moment and assume they ought to know better.  Scaring your cat into stopping something that is as natural as breathing to them will likely only serve to confuse your cat, and may harm your relationship. 

Steps to Curb Unwanted Scratching

Knowing the rationale behind the behavior, what steps can we now take to curb unwanted scratching, and direct it somewhere else?

Nail Health

Keeping your cat’s claws well trimmed can be helpful in controlling excess scratching.  Typically, the younger you can start proper nail trimming, the easier it will be to get your cat to accept it.  If you have an older cat who does not take well to nail maintenance, or if you’re uncomfortable or unable to do this yourself, consider asking your vet for a groomer recommendation.  Frequency will vary, but keep and eye on nail growth at least once every two weeks, to ensure they don’t become overgrown.

Making Furniture Unappealing

If your cat seems taken to scratching your favorite chair or sofa, don’t despair, you have a few tricks up your sleeve to make it less appealing to your cat.  For starters, you can use a variety of material to cover or coat furniture.  For instance, using double sided sticky tape on parts of furniture that your cat likes to scratch can act as a deterrent, as cats don’t typically like the feel of sticky surfaces.  Tin foil can also accomplish the same goal and can cover more surface area.  Larger ‘sticky pads’ can also be used on larger or uneven surfaces like drapes or carpets.  Alternatively, getting a cover might help save the surface of your furnishings.  You can use something as simple as a thick bed sheet, blanket or a plastic cover, particularly if your cat often scratches when you’re not around.  Make sure to tuck it in securely so that your cat can’t take it off easily

Limiting your cat’s access to certain areas in the house with special objects is also an option, when possible, and can be as simple as keeping a door closed.

Giving Your Cat Better Options

Providing an alternative scratching place and routine that your cat enjoys is maybe the most crucial part of getting them to break bad scratching habits.

Make sure that you give them at least one (and preferably more) object that is positively associated with their need to scratch.  A scratching post is usually the best and easiest choice.  Take stock of what kind of post they like, what sort of material they like to scratch, and where and when they are doing their scratching now.  For instance, some cats will like vertical posts, while others will like horizontal.  Some may like to scratch sisal rope, while others might prefer wood.  Not all scratching posts are the same, and getting the right post might make the difference between being able to keep furniture in good condition or not.

However, simply buying a post usually isn’t all that’s required to change your cat’s habits.  Training them to use the post can really help make sure they use it.  Make it more enticing to them by engaging them in play close to or on the post, perhaps by using a toy that makes them reach up the post.  Placing catnip or treats on or near the post can also give them reason to investigate.  You can also place the post in areas your cat is more likely to use, like next to furniture that they currently scratch, and avoiding out of the way areas like basements or dark corners.  Praising your cat for using the post is also important – the goal is for them to associate positive outcomes like petting, snuggling and/or treats with using their new scratching post.

What Not to Do

Declawing your cat is typically strongly discouraged, both by vets and animal advocacy groups.  Declawing involves the amputation of the last bone on the end of each toe, which includes the nail bed and the nails themselves.  Cats who undergo this procedure can be left with chronic pain, and can develop other behavioral issues like not using their litter box or becoming aggressive and lashing out in other ways like biting.  Taking away a cat’s natural self defense mechanism also means they are at increased risk of harm if ever outdoors.

Moreover, try to avoid negative reinforcement training as much as possible.  As scratching is natural to cats, being scolded can often confuse and stress them out, and may cause them to start avoiding you.  They will associate being caught scratching with negative consequences, so may simply just scratch when you’re not around.  Instead, be patient and reward desired behavior with treats and praise.