Cats are adorable

They are very loving pets

Until they start doing things which annoys you

And one of those things could be

Scratching your furniture to a point where it’s actually destroyed

Don’t worry it’s not the end of the world

Carry on reading to discover why

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Do Cats Destroy Furniture

Yes!

They do and they will

You’re probably thinking

What?! They will?!

It’s true and sometimes no matter how hard you try

Your cat will do something that can annoy you

And one of those things is

Scratching the furniture

Let me tell you

Seeing scratch marks all over your brand new cupboard is not something you would want!

For example

My cat Tigger,

He literally scratched my leather couch

It got to a point where there was no leather left!

And boy was that frustrating!

Leather couches are expensive

But my cat thought it’d be fun to scratch it

Of course for his own benefit

But could I blame him?

No not really

Yep, I can’t blame him

Why?

Because he’s just being a cat

Cats will scratch for all sorts of reasons

It’s not like my Tigger was doing to this to get me angry

For him it’s completely normal

So let’s understand why cats like to scratch

Why Do Cats Scratch?

Let’s look at some of the reasons why cats love to scratch things especially your beautiful furniture

• Removes the dead outer layer of their claws. It’s good for their claws and keeps them healthy. It also keeps them trimmed too
• Marking their territory. Yep, they don’t just mark their territory by spraying, they also do this by scratching. Cat paws have scent glands in them so when they scratch your wall or furniture, they’re actually leaving both a visual mark and a scent. This is a way of telling other cats that this area belongs to me! It’s amazing how cats communicate right? But not so good for your furniture!
• Scratching vertical objects allows your cat to stretch their body and flex their claws and feet. I’m sure you see your cat sleeping right, they’re always curled up like a ball so imagine how it feels for them when they stretch!
• A stress relief! When your cat scratches objects it’s a way of them releasing stress. Cats do get stressed so it’s important for them to release it just as important as we want to let go of stress. As you know stress can lead to problems

As you can see, it’s normal behavior for your little furball

It’s not something you can stop because they are pretty much motivated to do this

So how do you stop this behavior?

What’s the solution?

Does this mean your furniture will never be safe from a cat?

The answer to this is

Your furniture will be safe

Like I said, you can’t stop this

But it doesn’t mean you can’t redirect their scratching to something else right?

So let’s see how we can do this

How To Redirect Your Cat From Scratching Furniture

There are two ways of doing this

It’s that simple

1. Associate scratching your furniture a negative feeling 

2. Redirect the scratching to something else 

Not bad right?

Let me get into more detail

Associate scratching your furniture a negative feeling 

What you want to do is,

When your cat scratches the furniture make it a negative feeling for your cat

So she’ll think twice if she’ll go and scratch again which most likely she won’t

How do you do this?

Wherever your cat is scratching add double sided sticky tape

The feeling of this on your cats paws is something your cat will hate!

Here’s a good anti cat scratching tape

Anti-scratch Cat Tape for Furniture

You can just stick that on whatever your cat is scratching

And that’s it!

Oh and this is completely safe to use

For your cat and for your furniture

Highly recommend it

Some people say to spray your cat

But I don’t agree with this

That’s going to get your cat scared

And yeah, maybe they’ll stop scratching

But they will associate you with spraying

This could make your cat feel scared of you

Me personally, I wouldn’t want that

With sticky tape, your cat will not be scared of you

I think it’s the best way to stop your cat from scratching

So now that we have associated a negative feeling with scratching

Your cat still needs to scratch

Now the second step

Redirect the scratching to something else 

You need to get your cat something to scratch

You guessed right

A scratching post!

They are designed for your cat scratching

Scratching posts are great for your cat to scratch

You can get many different ones

But me personally, I would recommend getting a Cat scratching tree

This is basically a cat tree that has many scratching posts

Why do I recommend this?

It’s easier to get your cat to use a cat tree than a scratching post

A cat tree is more appealing

Your cat can basically be a cat on the tree

And also use the scratching posts too

It’s also a great way of keeping them entertained

Imagine leaving the house for a little while knowing your cat won’t scratch the furniture! 

Which cat scratching tree to buy?

You don’t need to do the research because I’ve actually written a top 5 recommendation

You can check it out by clicking the link below

Best cat scratching tree – My Top 5 (Review Guide)

I recommend some pretty awesome ones in there

You’ll be surprised!

Your cat won’t destroy the furniture because they have something else to claw at

Wrapping It Up

If you don’t want your cat to destroy the furniture then you need to redirect their scratching to something else

Cats need to scratch as it has many benefits for them

If they don’t have any place to scratch then your furniture, carpet and couch will be scratched!

That is why I recommend getting a Cat scratching tree

This has many scratching posts which your cat can gladly scratch

It’s all about managing this behavior and to be honest it’s easy

Just follow my two simple steps and by the time you know it, your cat will be using the scratching posts and will never scratch your furniture again!

I actually go into more detail on how to stop your cat from scratching your furniture in my article which you can check out below

How do you keep a cat from scratching the furniture