Here’s a new item that might prove to be a good solution for sofa scratching. Cat Scratch Guards are high quality flexible vinyl pieces for use on the corners of upholstered furniture. The vinyl can take the shape of most curved surfaces and is held in place with special pins that are included with purchase. The clear vinyl is meant to be as invisible as possible and will ideally keep your cat from scratching. Of course, it’s important to also provide your cat with an acceptable place to scratch, but this may keep your sofa safe.
I haven’t tried these myself because I just replaced my sofa, opting for a style with minimal upholstery and no arms, but if you’ve tried these, please leave a comment here and let us know how they work for you.
Cat Scratch Guards are available from Amazon as sets of two pieces in three sizes: 7″ x 4.5″ for $11.45, 11″ x 4.5″ for $11.95, and 18″ x 4.5″ for $13.95, all plus $3.95 shipping.
Wow!! I’m going to have to check these out a bit more. Sounds like this could possibly be the answer to my prayers! Both of my babies wear soft paws but when I first adopted them there was a spot on a chair that they took a liking to! I thought it was strange considering it is microfiber.
Wow, how neat are these? (We don’t have any problems with furniture scratching here, as we have multitudinous scratching pads and posts and cat furniture in almost every room of the house. But for those who do, just think of how many more cats will hopefully be able to stay in their rightful homes if their people install these — thanks for sharing!)
I’ve never used these, but I have purchased heavy clear vinyl and the twist pins from a fabric/craft store. I cut the vinyl to the size I need and then hold it in place with the twist pins. It has deterred the scratching and after a while the cats don’t even attempt to scratch those areas anymore. The nice thing about the vinyl being clear is that the fabric shows through.
BTW – My cats never scratched my furniture until after we moved and then they would scratch the arms, not the legs or any vertical part of the furniture. I would extend the vinyl down past the cushion, over the arm and pin it in place.
I was just going to post a similar comment. When I got my couch 13 years ago, I put the heavy clear vinyl on with the upholstery pins/screws as well. I never had to replace them and maybe only re-tightened one or two pins over the years. (I just recently removed them after my beloved cat passed away, they were a sad reminder of her.) So, I think these would work well, but it might be less expensive to “build your own”.
I had actually made something similar to this product myself and attached it to the couch vertically on 2 of the corners they scratched on. After I put them on, they just moved to the other 2 corners, PLUS the back side and completely stopped scratching on the first 2. I didn’t want to find out what would happen if I covered all 4 corners so I left it at that. lol
Sophie, who’s been gone for 3 years now started in on my loveseat to the point were it has no fabric on any of the corners. I patched and patched and patched,,, When I got my Mia ,she decided she liked the side and front of the loveseat better. I would love to replace this piece of furniture, but am afraid to. I have scratching post all over the apartment, but Mia still prefers the loveseat.
I’s the cat or the loveseat, Guess which one wins?
Ursula,
What kind of scratching post do you use? Have you tried cardboard scratching posts or the sisal rope? My late cat Mulholland used to scratch on a chair but he grew up using the carpeted cat trees etc to scratch on. My current two cats use the cardboard and I have never had a problem with the sofa or any furniture.
I have these on my couch and they work great. Despite several other scratching options, one of my cats also likes to mark this couch, so a guard like this is essential. I used the double-sided cat-deterrent tape for training, and that got him through the worst of it. But that tape isn’t a long term solution because it sticks to your clothes if you brush against it. These clear vinyl guards completely deter him.
I was worried that these guards would make my couch look like I’d wrapped it in vinyl, but it’s surprisingly invisible. Note that your furniture must have some padding to allow the upholstery screws to attach.