So, cheap, easily replaceable furnature, is what you're saying...buddhu wrote:It's futile. The cats are always a step ahead...
Cat proof sofa?
- Nanohedron
- Moderatorer
- Posts: 38239
- Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2002 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: Been a fluter, citternist, and uilleann piper; committed now to the way of the harp.
Oh, yeah: also a mod here, not a spammer. A matter of opinion, perhaps. - Location: Lefse country
Catching, I agree in general, but it's no guarantee. As to what they're likely to scratch on, wagers are destined for failure. In my last apartment, herself only used the door hinges for some reason. I'd never seen that before. And there was PLENTY of wood for her to use instead. Gotta love that, right? Well, now she ignores the hinges (same type) and has a little spot on the frame of a glass door to a built-in cabinet that she goes at when I'm not around 'cause I give her hell when she does. It's mission oak. The real thing, too. It was smoothly finished. My damage deposit is flown away, flown away. *rends garment* I've got a pine-framed thingy in the living room. She doesn't touch that.djm wrote:Unfortunately, cats don't think the same way. Smooth wood is wonderful to scratch if it is a soft, yeilding wood like pine. I have the torn up pine furniture to prove it. Plaster walls by doorways are wonderful for scratching, as is any fabric that will catch under their claws and give them something to pull against.fearfaoin wrote:I think smoothly finished wood would be quite unsatisfying to scratch.
This catching is what satisfies their urge to scratch. If a surface does not yeild to their claws, they won't continue to try to scratch at it. Very expensive hardwood furniture with a glass finish is the best way to go .... or plastic.
Moral of the story is, if the cat has its claws, something will be scratched. You can never know what or why.
Mine seems to like the challenge of some things that are less likely to catch, and do them in: outdoors, she's made a project out of a smooth hard plastic garden border thing, going at it with a big smile on her face. It's got little marks in it now, all right. Trees and roots are for just because, apparently.
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Balochi musician
- anniemcu
- Posts: 8024
- Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2003 8:42 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
- Location: A little left of center, and 100 miles from St. Louis
- Contact:
Seriously, I've had good luck with a good quality scratching post, and especially a two tier cat hidey (cylindical, about two feet tall, with flat top and bottom - set about an inch inside the cylinder ends, two round entry/exit holes, one upper and one lower, inside opening between the two levels, and covered with carpet - about $20US)... whenever feline felons begin scratching where they are not supposed to, we'd remove the beast from the inappropriate object (without ranchor, just simply move them) and attach them to the proper facility and encourage the climbing, scratching, sharpening activity there... didn't take too many times to make it the first choice. Furniture lasts a lot longer.
anniemcu
---
"You are what you do, not what you claim to believe." -Gene A. Statler
---
"Olé to you, none-the-less!" - Elizabeth Gilbert
---
http://www.sassafrassgrove.com
---
"You are what you do, not what you claim to believe." -Gene A. Statler
---
"Olé to you, none-the-less!" - Elizabeth Gilbert
---
http://www.sassafrassgrove.com
- Cass
- Posts: 211
- Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 10:13 am
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Lancashire, UK.
We have 2 soft leather sofas, an old cat and a kitten. I have huge pieces of heavy duty canvas over the sofas, and nice throws over the top. When we have guests round, I can take the cat proofing off them, and banish the cats to another room! It's the only way!
Cass.
Cass.
Cass.
Time flies like an arrow....
....Fruit flies like a banana
Time flies like an arrow....
....Fruit flies like a banana
- buddhu
- Posts: 4092
- Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 3:14 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: In a ditch, just down the road from the pub
- Contact:
Now we're starting to see some sense... but cats resent cheap.fearfaoin wrote:So, cheap, easily replaceable furnature, is what you're saying...buddhu wrote:It's futile. The cats are always a step ahead...
And whether the blood be highland, lowland or no.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
- Coffee
- Posts: 1699
- Joined: Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:41 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Anchorage, AK
Try an airsoft pistol maybe?awildman wrote:That's what I do with the roommate's cat. Only it's my fiddle instead of a squirtbottle.Flogging Jason wrote:This only works when you're there to supervise: Spray them with a watergun or spray bottle when they scratch. Eventually, the sight of the water device will be enough to send them running.
"Yes... yes. This is a fertile land, and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... This Land."
- cowtime
- Posts: 5280
- Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2001 6:00 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Appalachian Mts.
I don't have cats, indoors or out, just dogs, but I do have Mission/Arts&Crafts Style furniture. If you decide to go this route, just don't splurge for Stickley or Limbert originals or exact reproductions... They'd be a bit pricey as a scratching post.One thing we've thought of is Mission style furniture
You could make it yourself if you're handy. There are lots of books on the subject and it really is simple stuff for the most part.
"Let low-country intruder approach a cove
And eyes as gray as icicle fangs measure stranger
For size, honesty, and intent."
John Foster West
And eyes as gray as icicle fangs measure stranger
For size, honesty, and intent."
John Foster West
-
- Posts: 192
- Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2005 7:15 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Dillwyn VA
What DON'T cats like to scratch? Let's see.... tungsten carbide, maybe concrete, oh, yes, stainless steel!
We have two cats and our furniture is slightly out of focus, when you look at it.
Don't have any really good suggestions for material unless it's one of the above. Danish Modern in tungsten carbide?
Anyway, best of luck in your search.
Regards,
Steve Mack
We have two cats and our furniture is slightly out of focus, when you look at it.
Don't have any really good suggestions for material unless it's one of the above. Danish Modern in tungsten carbide?
Anyway, best of luck in your search.
Regards,
Steve Mack
Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light get's in.
Leonard Cohen
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light get's in.
Leonard Cohen
- djm
- Posts: 17853
- Joined: Sat May 31, 2003 5:47 am
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Canadia
- Contact:
Ha! Don't you believe it! I was making some patches to the concrete in the basement floor, stepped away for two minutes, and came back to find little paw prints all over my freshly laid patch. I don't know if it was the warmth of the curing concrete that attracted them or what, but there wasn't a bit of it they didn't knead with their paws (the primal knead).In The Woods wrote:maybe concrete
djm
I'd rather be atop the foothills than beneath them.
- chas
- Posts: 7707
- Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2001 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
- Location: East Coast US
Our junior cat for some reason is liking the window frame of our vinyl sliding glass doors. She also scratches, but doesn't really sharpen on, the cherry banisters of our stairs (I think she does that in the middle of the night just because it's loud). Her absolute favorite claw-sharpening place is a tree that can be accessed from a deck railing, about 15 feet above the ground.Nanohedron wrote: Catching, I agree in general, but it's no guarantee. As to what they're likely to scratch on, wagers are destined for failure. In my last apartment, herself only used the door hinges for some reason. I'd never seen that before. And there was PLENTY of wood for her to use instead. . .
There was a cartoon in the paper a few years back that had two cats talking, maybe one on top and one pulling itself up on the back of a couch. One was saying, "The scratching post is fine for the pects, but to get really good glutes you need the couch."
Charlie
Whorfin Woods
"Our work puts heavy metal where it belongs -- as a music genre and not a pollutant in drinking water." -- Prof Ali Miserez.
Whorfin Woods
"Our work puts heavy metal where it belongs -- as a music genre and not a pollutant in drinking water." -- Prof Ali Miserez.
- rebl_rn
- Posts: 810
- Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2001 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Location: Southeastern Wisconsin
- Contact:
Another deterrent to scratching - put some double sided tape on the spots where the cats like to scratch. The stickiness deters them. Eventually, you should be able to take the tape off and they still won't scratch. At least that worked for me.
The tape can be fairly noticeable depending on the type of furniture, but no more than the scratch marks!
The tape can be fairly noticeable depending on the type of furniture, but no more than the scratch marks!
Wash your hands. Cough and sneeze in your sleeve. Stay home if you are sick. Stay informed. http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu for more info.
- Cass
- Posts: 211
- Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 10:13 am
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Lancashire, UK.
When I've got the cat proof covers off the leather sofas, and the cats are in the room, I find that smearing a few drops of pure essential Lavender oil on the leather works really well. It's very offensive to cats! ...These two turn tail and run!:D
Cass.
Cass.
Cass.
Time flies like an arrow....
....Fruit flies like a banana
Time flies like an arrow....
....Fruit flies like a banana