Congrats on the sofa--don't you feel like a bona fide adult right now?

Good luck with the cat stratch fever but remember: scratching, it's what cats do...

Howsabout you just shoot them with a water gun any time they walk near it?

Jess,

Please don't be mad, but that pic with the aluminum foil has me giggling like a madman over here!

The photo of the pants viewed 1,000 times? Do you think it has anything to do with tagging that bad boy as 'elf'? LOL!

That couch is awesome! We got a leather couch to for the purpose that the cat wouldn't want to sharpen his claws on it. It worked. How long will the foil thing have to be done before the cats understand that this is a no scratching zone?

Interesting about the Feliway... Sounds like Moses is a cat you don't mess with, huh?

Oh and the photo of Chris' pants, well it is the money shot, right? There are some weird people on Flickr. One of my most viewed images is one of my foot. Huh? Weird.

Nice couch! The Feliway really works huh? My cat Mary likes to wake me up at 4:30 in the morning by patting my head and face with ever increasing force... I wonder if it will calm that behavior down... As for Soft Paws - I have used them in the past when Mary started scratching the carpet for some unknown reason (she has posts, and uses them frequently - I think it is a ploy for attention) They do work, but are kind of a pain... First, make sure they are the right size (the first ones I bought were too small and didn't fit at all). Also, if you have trouble clipping their nails I don't know how you are going to get them on. Basically it involves supergluing them to their nails. (Don't freak out people, it doesn't hurt them. And also you have to check them like every day, because they will fall off when the cat sheds the outer nail layer (which is natural).

I've been coveting that C&B sofa for ages. It's my favourite. Good score! As far as vertical scratching goes, I managed to save all my chesterfields by putting one of the lame carpet-type scratching posts close by. The kitties walk over to the couch, think about scratching, but go for the post every single time. It may have helped that we dosed it with catnip for the first week or three.

Oh, the agony of kitty-upholstery love. When I bought my first house, my mom bought me this stunning leather club chair from Robb & Stucky, and I adored it beyond measure. It's now so worthless, thanks to my two cats, that we have it hidden in the Junk Room.

When we got new couches, I asked a resident cat expert at work what to do to make sure they didn't meet a similar fate. She suggested a bunch of different things, and I went for the least labor-intensive and cheapest first. And it worked - buy some unscented aerosol deodorant (yeah, underarm deodorant) and spray the couch with it. (Test a small hidden area first just to make sure it doesn't stain.) Spray it all over the couch, especially on the arms, always a kitty favorite. They HATE it - it makes their claws feel funny and tastes like arse when they try to lick it off. Worked like a charm for us! Re-spray it every couple of days for a little while, and eventually they just stop even trying.

double stick tape works wonders in getting cats to stop scratching. I put it on mesh and safety pin it to furniture. It works better for me than tinfoil. Do they have a good scratcher to unleash their scratchy wrath on otherwise? Scratching is as much a social activity as it is personally satisfying for a cat- they are telling the world that this is MY SOFA! MY CHAIR! MY DOORFRAME! MY (insert scratchable object here) and even a cardboard scratcher is helpful in situations like that.

Oof. We've got a new sofa being delivered on Monday and I can't wait to watch them try to get that thing through the doors.

The old one is being pitched because the dog ruined it with his dirty little feet. The new one has a slipcover, so we're good. So, I feel for you on the cat scratching.

But YAY, new sofas for all!! Yours is GORGEOUS.

how'd you get your photos to have rounded edges like that?

it's the sofa of the future!

Hi. I don't think I've commented before - so I guess delurking time is the right time!

I've used the soft paws for about a year and a half. It started out as a real pain because the cats struggled, but its not as bad now. They struggle at first but are resigned to it in the end. The claw caps work really well though we haven't had any furniture scratching problems. You can also fill them all first and then just pop them on really quick. We've had luck with that too.

My cats also prefer the cardboard scratching disks that you can get at the pet store and now seem to prefer those over fabric.

We all need friends like Shiri!
And good luck with the Destructo-Felines.

oooh... nice sofa!

We've had good luck with Scat Mats from Foster and Smith...

The couch is awesome, very tailored looking. I love the aluminum foil barrier.

I'm delurking to second the double-sided tape anti-scratching technique. They also make some overpriced double sided tape called Sticky Paws, which is just thicker and more heavy duty. Our new Pier 1 sofa is currently sticky on all corners, and our little scratching machine has stayed away. Good luck!

all those methods have never worked for any cat i've had, they are far too hedonistic and don't give a poop about making you happy. so when it came to me, the sofa, or the cat(s), we got Soft Paws and LOVE THEM! Boo has been wearing them for 4 years now, and neither he nor Noel ever gave us much of a hard time in application.

I will tell you it's easier with two people - one to hold/calm the cat and one to put the glue in the tip and apply it. Also, once you have the initial set on, then upkeep is easier if you replace the missing ones right away, as they can do alot of damage even with one claw.

My white Boo is currently wearing black ones, but he's tried all the colors - can't say enough good about Soft Paws!!

holy crap! i nearly died when i saw the robo-sofa! we have a double-sided tape-sofa here. covering all the tempting areas has really helped.

i tried the soft paws, and they are a pain to glue on, i'm lucky i didn't lose an eye, because my tabby, buddy, was having no part of that nonsense. he ripped 3 of them off in the first day, then 2 more within the first week. that being said, i think he was so preoccupied with ripping them off that he didn't bother to try scratching the furniture with his exposed claws.

we stick to just the double-sided tape now, it's the least stressful for all of us.

enjoy your cool new sofa!

Try filling up the spray bottle with 12 M sulfuric acid.....that'll do it. No? A bit too harsh? Okay....10 M then. Guaranteed.

Great sofa! Thanks for the cat claw tips (no pun intended) We just might order those for our cats. Good luck with your beasties!

I love the sofa and the portraits above. What a dramatic difference the sofa makes in the room! I probably will get hate mail after suggesting this but here it goes.... De-claw the kitties. They are city cats they don't need claws. Your sofa is too fab to cover with the silver stuff.

the double stick tape thing works ok for a sofa, but Hartz used to make an aerosol product called "Indoor NO" that worked like magic. You spray it on whatever you don't want the cats to go near AND THEY WILL AVOID IT LIKE THE PLAGUE! I once picked up the cat and tried to gently toss him onto the sofa after it had been treated with that stuff, and i swear to god, he was twisting in mid air trying to avoid landing on the sofa. I think they still make it, but check with the company.

hope that helps

oh, and i second (or third) the thing about making sure they have a good place to scratch. my cats really do love that stupid cardboard scratchy box with the catnip in it ( i think the catnip is a big help in getting them to use it, no suprise, huh)

the double stick tape thing works ok for a sofa, but Hartz used to make an aerosol product called "Indoor NO" that worked like magic. You spray it on whatever you don't want the cats to go near AND THEY WILL AVOID IT LIKE THE PLAGUE! I once picked up the cat and tried to gently toss him onto the sofa after it had been treated with that stuff, and i swear to god, he was twisting in mid air trying to avoid landing on the sofa. I think they still make it, but check with the company.

hope that helps

oh, and i second (or third) the thing about making sure they have a good place to scratch. my cats really do love that stupid cardboard scratchy box with the catnip in it ( i think the catnip is a big help in getting them to use it, no suprise, huh)

Delurking to add another "yay for Softpaws" comment =) We used them for a short time and loved them! I highly recommend the colored ones, not for fashion reasons, but because they are easy to see so when Kitty looses one, it is immediately obvious. It's definately a two person job, but after you've been doing it a while, they'll adjust and it won't be so bad.

Make sure to provide them with a good *solid* scratcher. Some cats freak out if the post moves or tips. Sofas don't do that ;) Also, some kitties prefer carpet, some sisel, others cardboard or wood. I've got three right now, two love carpet, one sisel. Another we had, *only* used cardboard. Try different things to see what they prefer. And like someone else posted, keep it near (or in front of) the place(s) they tend to like to scratch.

Good luck! It's a lovely sofa =)

De-lurking to say 1) beautiful couch and 2) try putting a couple drops of Rescue Remedy in their water bowls. If they won't drink it, you can rub it on the tips of their ears. It's basically Kitty Prozac, and can be found at any health food store in the homeopathic section. Or here:
http://www.bachflower.com/rescue_remedy.htm
And it works wonders for nervous humans too, if you ever encounter one of those. ;-)

Good Luck!

The couch is gorgeous. When we put together our son's crib, I thought, "Does he want to be a single parent?" I think Ikea has split more familes than a mistress.

Robosofa is awesome!

We have a tall scratching post in our living room. It's not the prettiest thing around, but it works pretty well for our cats. We did did get them adjusted to it as kittens, so it may not work as well for your stubborn adult cats.

However, I did buy this adorable jewelry box from the now-gone Hold Everything that has fabric on the top, and someone l-o-v-e-s to knead their claws on the top of it...

hahaha, robosofa. i love it.

believe it or not, your post makes me happy that i'm allergic to cats. still love them though :) little furrballs.

We actually bit the bullet and bought leather furniture. The boys (3 of them) don't have much interest in scratching it and it has held up famously. Leaves with a few less design choices, but it does seem to be kitty sturdy. :-)

As a one-time softpaws user, I thought I'd toss in my two cents on the destructive kitty issue:

Softpaws are pretty cool, but you have to trim the claws before you can stick them on. My cat was still able to use her claws to hook into things like loopy carpet and then learned to pull straight up to be destructive instead of dragging the sharp claws through. And, once a plastic cover is shed, there's one wicked sharp toe in the mix that you have to deal with.

For my money, the softpaws just weren't worth it and I find that trimming is just as effective. My cat goes absolutely spastic when I try to trim hers so I take her to the vet every couple of weeks where she becomes the most complacent mush ball you've ever seen (I'm certain it's just to spite me) - for the $12, it's worth it. Petsmart will trim also for about $8, but the dogs are scary for a little cat, and I'd rather keep my cool vet in business.

I'm going to investigate the Feliway - sounds very cool. And I LOVE the sofa - what an awesome find - it looks fantastic!

I completely understand about the foil and non-trainable cats. My cat Sunny has a whole whack of strange things that I can't get her to change. Her favourite thing to do is poop on any piece of new furniture we own. She only does it once but it always happens! Good luck with your cats and the couch.

Congratulations on the adults-without-children sofa. It's lovely. The tinfoil takes it down a notch, stylewise, but at least alien invaders won't be able to read your thoughts while you're sitting on it. How cool is that?

Yikes! Does the foil seem to work? My last cat had no fear of the tin foil. And the same reaction to the spray bottle, just wrinkled her nose slightly and took it right in the kisser. I read this thing somewhere once involving chicken wire, but that seems incredibly complicated.
Good luck. The first few scratches are the most nerve wracking, like on a new car.

Oh I am so jealous! I love how it gives your living room a whole new look! I need a new couch badly, but I'm afraid for all the same reasons. I wonder how a leather couch would work, hmmm......

Gorgeous sofa! What a score! It looks fabulous.
Good luck with the cats - with 3 of our own here, we can certainly sympathize with you. Unfortunately, we have no helpful suggestions. You should see what our sofa looks like. The before and after photos are pretty striking. I hope that the Soft Paws and Fellway work well for you.
I'm really digging the rounded corners on the photos - very cool.

I have no idea on the cats... but you can decorate my place any time :)
And I might make you go to Crate and Barrel with me if I move there... Hehe!

I'VE heard that the double sided sticky tape works brilliantly, they hate that sticky stuff. They also don't like orange smelling products so I don't know if you could use this to your advantage and find some sort of product that will deter them. Good luck, I've only just been able to remove covers from my leather sofa's after 7 months of the kittens liking to lever themselves up on it using their claws, few marks but they aren't too bad. Now they are bigger they jump up.

The robo-sofa picture just cracks me up!! Hope you get the kitty claw issue sorted out fast.

here is the hartz stuff - they renamed it "stay off" - i guess that's a little nicer that NO. used to work like a charm

http://www.hartz.com/Our%20Products/Browse.asp

My old cat was incorrigible - nothing ever stopped him from scratching the furniture.
New cat - a bit of a scratcher. But it suddenly occurred to me that I never got her a scratching post (old cat trained me to believe they didn't do any good). One cardboard scratch toy and a load of catnip to make it appealing and she hasn't scratched the furniture since Christmas.

So maybe a vertical scratching post, a load of catnip.....and a couple of scat mats around the couch for good measure?

Love the new couch, and as the lucky owner of a cat who makes sure you're watching before he scratches something, completely ignores being squirted with a water bottle, and now gets disciplinary showers on occasion, I sympathize. I wish you good fortune and also hypnotic powers to deal with those little beasties! Also, try bundling them into a towel before you try to clip their nails or apply the Soft Paws. They'll make angry noises, but you won't get hurt and they don't freak out as much if they can't see what's going on. It's easiest as a two-person job.

The new couch is fantastic, but I can't help imagining you guys wearing aluminum foil hats while you're sitting on it. You know, to keep the alien rays from penetrating your brains.

OK, that's too funny. Your sofa looks like it's wearing a tinfoil helmet to prevent the radio from controlling its mind : )

My own invention for discouraging furniture destruction is to safety pin slices of lemon to the furniture. It doesn't stain (although I've never tried it on something completely white), and they hate it. It's worked for four sofa-hungry cats that I've known.

I hear soft paws work well. Also, there are sheets of double sided sticky plastic that you can use to cover large areas. These work well, as cats don't like the sticky, and they look a heck of a lot better than foil!

Good luck with the training!

I love the collection of portraits above your sofa (and the sofa is pretty nice too!!)

Wow, the couch is lovely and the before and after shots incredible. Robosofa made me absolutely snort with laughter! I have two declawed kitties, but can still sympathize. I think I will try the pheromone dispenser too- mine aren't shredders, they are malicious pee kitties.

Hope some of the great suggestions work and that you are able to enjoy your couch for a long time!

We recently got new furniture, and invested in a Purrfect Post (http://www.purrfectpost.com/) -- while it hasn't eliminated scratching altogether, it has dramatically declined!

hi there,
nice new sofa! the cat defenses crack me up :)
i've used the stay off spray with my 2 cats and it's worked really well... with mine i had to use it over a couple of weeks and then they just, well, stayed off. and it didn't stain, which is good on the new furniture.

I have two cats but they have never damaged any of our furniture. The trick is to get them a couple of scratching poles. When they try to scratch them something else, immediately demonstrate them by scratching the pole using your own paws! Another trick is to trim their nails regularly. Hope this helps! Btw, Nice sofa!

Um, now the picture of Chris's pants has been viewed 1908 times. And I confess to being the 1908th viewer. The question is, how does Chris feel about this?
Your foil-covered new sofa sent me into fits of laughter. I still like the idea of a gigantic plastic slipcover. ;)

Awesome couch. Go to the pet store and pick up these wide strips of double siding super sticky tape. Each time the cat goes to scratch it'll get it's paws stuck...
that and a toss in the shower got my cat to stop scratching my couch :)

Congrats on the new sofa, it looks great. I've tried the Soft Paws and they didn't work for my cats. They would just gnaw on her nails until they pulled them off and putting them on was more work than trimming the nails. What did work was buying a really good vertical sisal scratching post. I bought mine at topcatproducts.com (I have no connection to the company). Easily the best purchase I've ever made for the cats. I also have a cardboard scratching pad to keep them from scratching the carpet. Good luck!

I didn't read all the comments so sorry if I'm repeating myself. First of all, what is this miracle stuff? A pill? a spray? Second, double stick tape especially made to discourage scratching on upholstery might be more attractive that tin foil, although a admire your creativity!

The new couch bring a whole different look to you living room!

Double-sided tape, for sure. They hate the feeling of tape on paws. The ready-made ones are nearly invisible but can be pricey - you can manipulate packaging tape to do the same job. In the end, this is the only thing I have found that has worked. I pet-sit on the side, and many of my clients are very well-to-do and have beautiful furniture, and they have even resorted to the tape! Be sure to put vertical scratching posts and/or cardboard scratching items next to the couch once you have it taped. Good luck - your place is looking wonderful!
Kat

great sofa!

thanks for sharing some solutions for the scratching problem. i am not a cat person, but inherited one when I met my fiance. We have a 200 year old house and she is ruining all of the woodwork and some of the antique furniture! Your solutions are alot better than mine, I assure you! ;)

Oh-ho-ho, the Ikea Fight: check, check, CHECK.

That couch is too fab.

Clipping kitty nails totally sucks, but definitely helps. When I was living in the Slope, my roommate got a little itty bitty kitty who grew into an enormous scratchy cat. We would tag-team him and cover him with a towel, which he of course hated, and one of us would soothe him while the other spread the paw to get at his nails with a clipper she got from the vet. It definitely worked, even though it sucked and we both got hurt every time. Good luck!

i am a kitty person to. my husband, not so much. we traning my cat to stay away from furniture with the use of duct tape. sticky side up. they hate the way it feels on thier little paws!

I wussed out and paid $20 to have my kitties claws snipped. I just can't bring myself to that battle.

Good luck with yer tinfoil, didja make a hat too? (j/k) I read the comment about deoderant, now THAT sounds like a good idea.

Oh and congradulations to grown up furniture, its beautiful.

wow, the couch looks great, and your space is really nice. Too funny about the foil...

Fantastic sofa, Jess! I"ve never checked out Craig's list, but I will now! I'm having a problem with my 18year old cat, who never has scratched in the house, but now has non-retractable claws which get stuck everywhere.

Oh you lucky one, I've fondled that Petrie sofa many times at C&B but cringe at the whiteness factor. The foil is so....loftlike...so....INDUSTRIAL CHIC....! You might be starting a new trend.

Cool sofa- with the foil, it looks like it could be in Robbie the Robot's living room too :)

Maybe you could get some cat sized oven mitts to keep them from scratching...

Ok all those views of Chris' pants - hilarious! You do know that the viewership is going to jump after this post right? Good for his ego I am sure!
I am totally going to try the double sided tape. We just got new sofas and hardwood flooring so spraying with water is out. The tape seems like the best solution to me. Though I am thinking you have to cover the couch pretty thoroughly to discourage scratching or wouldn't the cat just stretch farther to avoid the tape? Why won't they just keep scratching the cheap throw rugs??

We trim our cats' claws, and provide them with a couple of cardboard scratching stations. Trimming is a bit of an ordeal. We wrap 'em in a towel (kitty burrito) and use a nail clipper designed for cats. I think the human clipper we used to use hurt their toes.

Here's a photo of the clippers we like:
http://www.mccfabc.org/images/cat4/cat-cutter2_t.jpg

Thanks for linking to me and my ganomys! Your blog is really fun to read.

I have 4 cats, and they mostly leave the furniture alone. This is because I have constructed elaborate cat things for them to scratch, mostly covered in sisal rope. You can make things that look cool and not like the typical cat furniture stuff. And it is important that it is in the living room and not stuck in some far corner of the house that you guys never go in, because it has to be where you are a lot as well. We made some ceiling-high posts (peeler logs from home depot) wrapped in sisal rope (that we dyed in the washing machine different colors with Rit dye) that have a plank running between them over an archway. Don't know if I'm describing it well, but they love it, and that's the only thing they scratch on. And it was fun to make!

They're uh...they're just a great set of pants!

I love how your place is decorated and the sofa is a great find!

When trying to get our cat to stop scratching our door(She hates closed doors), we used some double sided sticky tape strips. It didn't mess up our door or the chair that we put it on, but she did stop for awhile. A little while after we took them off however, she started scratching again. It might be worth a try though, you can find a similar item if you look up "sticky" on the drsfosterandsmith site.

I'm with the people whose cats became more destructive with Soft Paws. We used them for a couple of months when I brought home a kitten we found in the street (yeah, I'm a sucker) who was constantly kneading everything with these little needle-sharp claws, and we learned two things really quickly:

1)If your cat is not naturally snuggly, there is no way s/he would sit still while you are super-glueing these things to his paws so I'm not sure how most people put them on, and

2)While the actually use of claws was less, the destructive behavior went way up *and* he started using this back paws a lot (we didn't put Soft Paws on the back ones) so you'd pick him up and get maimed. He spent half his day gnawing at the Soft Paws chewing them off one by one and the other half figuring out what he could tear up with them on.

Wow, that's a really nice couch!
I like it!

ok... i'm allergic to cats (but love them) and i'm AMAZED at not only the robocouch (which is gorgeous btw) BUT all the other ideas... cat people are crazy (my mom's one so i say it affectionately) but crafty!!!
and the couch would deter my SISTER from even entering our house (she's got an aversion to it much like cats) go figure

De-lurking to say nice couch and sad looking alpaca. My Portuguese Water Dog recently absconded with my Scotian Silk and a side of me came out I didn't know was there. Seriously, no physical harm, just a yell that came up from my toes. We tried Nature's Miracle and Bitter Apple on our stuff and Lola the dog thinks we're funny. The soft paws might work only because they may think the task of applying them so miserable that it may trigger them to stop scratching. If you say, "No couch", point to the couch, then put the Elvira colored nails on them, they'll either stop, or go goth...

Glad to hear the Feliway is working. My husband and I have 2 cats also - one of which is very neurotic and has destroyed much of our furniture and hardwood floors with his scratching and marking behaviors. It is also safe to say that our two male cats pretty much despise each other so often times when I get home from work, it looks like at least one cat has exploded (depending on who had the upper paw that day) from the amount of clumped cat fur littering the floor.

Recently we discovered Feliway and now buy it in bulk. Although our cat's anti-social behaviors have not stopped completely, they have improved significantly. Both cats actually get along occasionally and the neurotic one now seems halfway serene. I agree wholeheartedly with your description of Feliway as Paxil for cats :)

I am delurking for the lovely new sofa. LOL! My cats (not sure about all cats) HATE anything citrus. Lemon, orange, grapefruit, etc. Try buying a fabric spray or air freshener (fabreeze) in a citrus spray. It works on my cats. Also, the commenter with the "safety pinning the lemons on the couch" has a good idea too. Citrus works. I had to do the lemon trick this past Xmas to keep my two cats away from my tree.

Good luck and your new couch is lovely.

oh i'm loving the petri sofa, i used to work at crate and barrel, so I immediately spotted it out....awesome! i love this sofa..so cute and very popular

I like SoftPaws, but I do agree it's a pain. However, do not declaw your cats whatever the case. What's worked for me so far with my 3 cats in one room is to drape something soft that they like to lay on (like fleece or a very soft blanket) over my bed (which is their scratch post of choice) and I bought a cardboard scratcher thing. I plan on getting two more out of carpet and sisal rope. Good luck :)

I am jealous, that couch is a great find. I don't have cats but I do have two furniture loving dogs so I sympathize with your pet vs. couch problem.

I just purchased the Petrie floor model couch and matching chair at C&B in Roseville, CA. They're moving and are having ridiculous markdowns. I purchased the couch for $500 off and the chair for $300 off. I also bought a media center for $800 that was originally $2200! I can't wait for my new living room to arrive. BUT I am quite concerned after seeing this post because I do have a cat that likes to scratch. I'm curious to know if the soft paws worked?

Do you mind me asking how much you paid for it secondhand? There is one currently on my local craigslist and I am so tempted but I'm not sure if they're asking a fair price.

I sure am familiar with the furniture scratching problem. I have been involved with cat rescues for several years and usually have more kitties hanging around the house than people! I just did not realize until recently how important it was to give my cats their own place to scratch. Out of desperation, I ordered two scratching posts from TopCat Products http://www.topcatproducts.com and within about a week, my problems were solved. There is something special about these posts because I've tried others before and they were a waste of money. Check out their owner comments on their website. Save those paws! Sammy

Hi, we just had our new white petrie sofa delivered about a half hour ago and my boyfriend has already successfully marked it up with his dirty feet. How do you clean this couch?

As far as your cats clawing your couch, have you tried double sided tape on it? Cats hate that. I use to put that on my bedroom door so that the cats wouldn't claw the door at night. It works really well. You can buy it in large sheets at pet stores.

Hi,
I have the same problem myself. I soiled my Petrie sofa while moving it. Does anybody have experience cleaning it? What works and what doesn't?
Please share your insights.
-Moe

If you have a few sisal, coir or jute rugs around your house, they'll leave everything else alone. I have 2 cats that have never scratched on anything but these rugs. I have a bedroom rugs that's like a sweater and I was sure it would be cat scratching heaven, but those natural fiber rugs just seem to satisfy all their scratching needs like nothing else can. And, they don't even get damaged by the cats scratching. All I can say is that if you don't provide plenty of acceptable scratching surfaces, they will surely scratch whatever is there b/c they need to scratch. Another great item for them is the Scratch Lounge. Its just a nice cardboard scratching box with cute graphics, and costs $20.

I took 1 st loan when I was 20 and this aided my relatives very much. Nevertheless, I need the auto loan again.