Cat Owners

[Football_Bat]

Two part solution - make sure there are things they are allowed to scratch (carpet-covered or disposable cardboard doesn't really matter) and use a squirt bottle when they start to scratch things they're not allowed to. Most cats hate water and learn fast that if they stick to scratching the appropriate things, they'll be safe.

That's all well and good until the cats wise up that you aren't watching them 24-7. One day you'll turn around and find the back of your couch shredded to tatters.

Declawing is worth it.

 

[bagelchick]

Declawing (front claws only!) is worth it, however I don't think most vets recommend that you do it much past one year of age. And you should call around for best price. A lot of vets don't like to do it anymore, so they can gouge you (ha ha). I think the price range I found was from $150 to $800.

First thing Kringle did after he was adopted was get declawed.

 

[JackReacher]

kill it.

 

[BRoth]

kill it with love.

edit

 

[J-School Blue]

I really, really dislike declawing, but it's not something I'll get up on a soapbox about if it's a make-or-break issue with a pet. There are so many cats without homes that, if an owner has to declaw it in order to be able to keep it, that's certainly the lesser evil. If it's a strictly indoor cat, I don't see declawning as quite as bad.

My cat, thankfully, doesn't claw the furniture or walls but he as a thing for clawing the carpet. I got him a scratching post. He is using it. He still claws the carpet. The water bottle idea strikes me as a good one, but the bastards really are hard to train.

 

[crusoes]

Rent a coyote.

 

[JR]

My mother suffered from serious ailurophobia and I think I inherited it from her.

Sneaky gosh darn animals.

 

[outofplace]

kill it with love.

edit

I do NOT recommend stepping into a shower with a cat that has claws. heck, even if that person is wearing something over the private parts, he or she is just begging to have his or her legs shredded.

When Mrs. OOP and I got a cat, we tried bathing her. The first time was rough, but we managed it. The second time, the cat panicked and bit me. Hard. Somehow, she managed to get me up under the edge of my fingernail on my thumb. I highly recommend never letting something like that happen to you. The swelling against the nail was not pleasant.

One thing about declawing a cat, it can make them more likely to bite because they feel vulnerable. Though that was the only time our cat bit anybody. (For the record, no, I didn't hurt her. We had her for another four years before having to find her a new home due to little OOP's allergies and my own.)

 

[Bad Guy Zero]

Wait till you start discovering that you can never, EVER get rid of the hair covering your clothes. A scratched-up couch will be the least of your concerns.

 

[Armchair_QB]

The tape that was mentioned early in this thread does work, however if your couch is already shredded, it's probably too late.

Blasting it with a water bottle works any time a cat does something you don't want it to do but you can't watch the little forker 24-7.

Declawing is the best option but a lot of vets will refuse to do it if the cat is more than a year old.

 

[Point of Order]

Sorry, HB. Cats are a bench to train, especially if it is an adult cat already set in its ways.

If this is a permanent arrangement, I'd push harder for the declawing as a compromise and hope whoever brought the cat into your home doesn't realize how they do it.

How do they do it?

 

[Mystery Meat II]

I've been told declawing isn't a good option because a) it's very painful to the cat and b) if it gets out, it has no way of defending itself and will get eaten in short order.